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Matt 'the other' Wagner

Started by Colin YNWA, 18 March, 2014, 06:25:31 AM

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Colin YNWA

Oh that is good news - Dark Horse's website has it listed then as well - Oh happy day!

Colin YNWA

Well a day of self indulgence means not only have I got my 45 minute sketch done I've also been able to finish the last if the Grendel Comico series and my God do I love it.

These last two arcs are almost as good as the Christine Spar story, if not quite a pure. The first deals with a conflicit between christian church and the businesses that now rule the recovering world. A more damaged vessel for Grendel runs amok in this conflicit as a future Grendel starts to define what the spirit has become. After all if the church is corrupt and evil what must become of the spirit, the devil, it defines as evil in order to defeat them? Its a very interesting developmentand exploration of evil, anger and agression. As the conflicit escalates brilliantly the new vessel for Grendel also slowly comes under its now different control in the form of the leader Orion Assante.

By the end there is a glorious battle, the church is exposed as the realm of vampires, who in defeat seed a new, less controlled plague of the uindead. Its quite, quite brilliant.

After this the final 7 issues are dense, slowly paced piece of craft showing the rise of Orion Assante from business leader, to national president - or Grendel - to world leader. Its not as thrilling and energetic as what has gone before, but in it's cold, plotted delivery no less brilliant. Vampires inhabit the edges of this story and fittingly the back half of the comics in a more traditional strip that details their own development as a nation.

In the simply stunning final comic, issue 40, the take of the life of Orion comes to its end with the glorious revelation that the story we've been reading is the one documented by his step daughter - taking us right back to the start of the series and Christine Spar indirectly (there's a generation seperating them but the parallel is clear). Other tales are set up so we get that perfect end I've mentioned in other threads. A fantastic end in and of itself, but one that clearly leaves doors open for future stories. Which we'll get to soon enough.

One other thing to note is how brilliantly dense and packed these comics are. In the hour or so I typically get to read in the evenings if I'm reading modern US comics I can often rattle through 5, 6 even 7 comics - 2000ad I get through 3 typically. These Grendel comics I was reading at a rate of 2 or 3 an evening. They demand attention and have a lot going on. The work you put in is so richly rewarded.

I'll call it now - and as I've said before change my mind at a moments notice. This is the best comic series of all time - by which I mean my favourite - after 2000ad of course.

Colin YNWA

I underestimated  Grendel - War Child it would seem. A ten issue mini or issues 41-50 of the ongoing if you will sees the comic move to Dark Horse and back to more traditional comic storytelling.

What it lacks in innovation it more than makes up for in craft. Patrick McEown does the bulk of the art and does a fantastic job of being like Matt Wagner while being entirely his own thing. The story of escape, legacy has more akin to the first arc of the ongoing with a more immediately traditional action adventure. But like that story its laced with so much depth and character. Weaved with simple complexity and it just downright fantastic.

A few odds and sods to go - I think I'm skipping the crossovers for now, two with Bats one with The Shadow as I recall they don't work anywhere near as well as these issues (mind I didn't remember how good War Child was so maybe...) and we're done.

Grendel is the best comics out there. Read it.

Link Prime

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 02 March, 2021, 09:20:42 PM
I underestimated  Grendel - War Child it would seem. A ten issue mini or issues 41-50 of the ongoing if you will sees the comic move to Dark Horse and back to more traditional comic storytelling.


I remember picking this up monthly in my early teens solely on the back of Biz doing a few covers for it.
It was one helluva ride back then, and also a second time when I read the omnibus a coupla years ago.
Rock solid sci-fi violence.

Colin YNWA

In the after blurb of Devil's Odyssey we have the wonderful news that when the series finishes Matt Wagner has an "unexpected" sequel coming our way. More Grendel = a better world!

sintec

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 10 January, 2021, 02:33:10 PM
Depending on how you like your comics the Omnibus are available at a decent price digitally and if you eBay you can get a complete set of the Comico run for a reasonable prices - though I imagine with patience you can get them at a great price.

Wandered into the toon today to check out the local comic and record shops (we moved up to Newcastle just before first lockdown occurred so have only recently started to explore properly). Sat there on the shelf was a copy of the first Grendel Omnibus so I snapped that up. Might take a little while to surface in the reading pile though had a sudden influx of books recently so there's a bit of a queue building up.

Colin YNWA

Fingers crossed you like it.

The first Omnibus contains the Hunter Rose stuff and comes from comics created of maybe 30 years so its really interesting form that perspective as well - the omnibus is order chronologically by Hunter Rose's life as opposed to the order the strips were created in.

Its like a choppy diary I suppose.

This thread makes me miss Bolt-01

sintec

Got about half-way through the first omnibus. I'm taking a break for now as it does look like the next chunk is "more of the same" and whilst the same is absolutely superb comics I think I'll appreciate it more with a palate cleanser in between. Going to have to keep my eyes out for more of this - sounds like it only gets better from here and that's a pretty high bar. Maybe these will get a reprint with the TV series about to hit they seem to be rare as hens teeth at the moment.

Colin YNWA

Yeah the Hunter Rose stuff is mined a little too deeply and splitting it with a break makes a lot of sense, but as you said great comics.

I think that's why I enjoy the ongoing series a little more it roams through so much terrority with the same deft craft and innovation.

Colin YNWA

So as well as the Netflix series getting closer it has also done something already that will make it worth while. We're getting more Grendel from Matt Wagner!!! Yes

https://bleedingcool.com/tv/grendel-netflix-live-action-series-getting-matt-wagner-project-tie-in/

I'm guessing (have no idea or information) that it will be based in the TV continuity - assuming they have had to change a good number of things to make the story 'work' for telly. If so that's actually a good thing rather than further mining the comics version of Hunter Rose, which as I've said before has been rather over worked already.

13school

I'm increasingly pessimistic about TV adaptations of comics, but Grendel is one of the few upcoming series I'm excited about (and not just because I've been a fan since I found an Pander Bros issue of the solo Comico series at my local newsagent too many years ago).

For whatever reason, while Wagner really nailed down the broad strokes of Hunter Rose, he's never really developed the character much beyond those strokes despite there being plenty of scope there. He's a creepy yet elegant yet lethal crime lord with an adopted daughter, a well-connected confidant, and a monster as a nemesis... and that's about it, despite there being hundreds of pages of comics covering his (short) life and times.

So the TV series should easily be able to stick to the essence of the original while having plenty of room to add whatever's needed to make it work as a serial drama. Just have a guy in a tuxedo and a mask stabbing people with a weird two-bladed spear and you're 70% there!

(also, any new Grendel comics by Wagner is automatically great news)

Blue Cactus

I've been thinking I should try Grendel for about 15 years now. Might try Omnibus 1.

sintec

Quote from: Blue Cactus on 25 August, 2022, 11:50:12 PM
I've been thinking I should try Grendel for about 15 years now. Might try Omnibus 1.


As someone persuaded to do the same by this thread all I can say is; do it - you won't regret it.

Good luck finding a copy though, they're not the easiest books to stumble across. Keep hoping they'll get a reprint with the upcoming TV show as I'd love omnibus 2 but it's always overpriced when I see it.

Colin YNWA

There's a new version of Omnibus 1 out and the rest are being released in a new format which is in a bigger size (typical US comics size rather than the small Dark Horse Omnibus size) so fingers crossed they are out there. Our get to a Sheffield comic mart as I'm selling my copy of Omnibus 1 as I have the new one!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grendel-Omnibus-Hunter-Rose-Second/dp/1506732305/ref=sr_1_1?crid=37EDDDGJEYZUG&keywords=grendel+omnibus+1&qid=1661494482&sprefix=grendel+omnibus+1%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-1

Blue Cactus

Ok, you guys have convinced me. Forbidden Planet had the first two omnibi for £17 each so I've ended up ordering both!