GRENDEL: DEVIL’S LEGACY
The second Grendel is born, unleashing a deadly cycle of vengeance.

Writer: Matt Wagner
Artists: Arnold & Jacob Pander, Jay Geldhof, Rich Rankin
Colorist: Tom Vincent
Letterer: Steve Haynie
Trade Paperback originally Published by Comico 1988
Republished by Dark Horse in a 12-issue maxiseries
$14.95 (Comico), $2.95 each (Dark Horse)

Reviewed by Brandon Blatcher

GRENDEL: DEVIL’S LEGACY takes place after the events shown in GRENDEL: DEVIL BY THE DEED. In that initial story we were introduced to the man who created the persona of Grendel: Hunter Rose. One of the key points of the novel was Rose’s adoption of a young girl, who would later give birth to Christine Spar, the main character of ‘Devil’s Legacy’.

But who is Grendel? He was the alter ego of Hunter Rose. Rose, as Grendel, wore a mask and carried a long pole, topped with twin blades, that was used a weapon. But this was no hero. Instead, Hunter Rose used the persona to become a major crimelord, killing all who opposed him. Grendel was known and feared throughout society and achieved a sort of iconic status for his ruthlessness and smarts. His major foe was a werewolf like creature named Argent who worked as special police officer and who origins are were unknown.

The story opens with Christine going about her life as an adult. She works at a new job, and things are going well for her and her son, Anson. One night, she and Anson attend a Kabuki show, where they meet Tujiro XIV, the head dancer of the troupe. The next day, Anson disappears and the inability of the police to offer any clues forces Christine to begin her search for her son. With remarkable ease, she assumes the masked persona of Grendel, already a noted and feared criminal. What she learns about her son's disappearance drives Christine to seek vengeance against those who have wronged her.

Christine Spar is an interesting character and Wagner does a great job of illuminating her personality via narrative captions from her journal. We watch as she unravels the mystery of Anson’s disappearance and tracks the kidnappers. Yet in trying to find justice, Christine continually crosses a line of morality. We sympathize with her feelings and initial actions, but her increasingly devious and violent behavior, not only toward the forces against her, but with friends and allies, paints a subtle picture of what she is becoming. These actions draw out the retired Argent and the police, while Christine doggedly pursues her goals, never realizing her own personal, moral transformation. Chapter nine captures Christine’s final descent into amorality and deviance with a nearly wordless tale primarily expressed via the Pander Brothers’ art.

Arnold and Jacob Pander provide jaunty, stylish pencils throughout the series which Jay Geldhof inks compliment very well. The Panders have a unique style and it takes a careful inker to give justice to them, as evidenced when Rich Rankin is the inks chapter three. Rankin’s inks overpower the pencils, turning the stylishly, angular pencils into flatter, less interesting art.

"Whoever wears the mask is a protagonist, using the icon of Grendel for their own purposes"

Each chapter of the story is titled, with the word ‘devil’ somewhere therein. The use of the word has become a Grendel convention, with later story arcs continuing to use ‘devil’ in the title. This underscores one of the best things about Wagner’s creation: Grendel is not a masked superhero. Whoever wears the mask (and there are many in later stories) is a protagonist, using the icon of Grendel for their own purposes, which are not always benevolent.

As for the colors: I reviewed the earlier edition from the defunct company Comico, which was released in 1988. The coloring was done without computers, giving the story a flatter, more graphic look. The Dark Horse rerelease is currently being reprinted in single, monthly issues with all new computer coloring by Jeremy Cox. Compared to Tom Vincent's original colors, Cox uses a much warmer palette and the computer helps to give a more three- dimensional form to the pages. However, Cox has completely changed the colors. Vincent used a lot of blues and greens which went well with the Pander Brothers art and the futuristic setting of the story. As much as I like Cox’s modeling and shading, he should have kept closer to the original color scheme.

‘Devil’s Legacy’ was the first story arc in a monthly series, and as such an early work, it shows a few bumps. The story spans 12 issues, but feels like it could have been shorter by two or three issues. Wagner uses writings from Christine’s ‘journal’ as narrative captions, which helps to define the main character, but it is awkward at times. Because the captions are from her journal and are written after the illustrated events have happened, Wagner constantly explains these time differences; in some cases it just does not make sense. He could have just included the captions without explaining them as journal entries.

"New readers will be left scratching their heads over several plot points"

The Pander Brothers distort figures, making them larger than life and sometimes use strange panel layouts which look good but interfere with the flow of the story. Also, because this story arc is part of a larger series, new readers will be left scratching their heads over several plot points, which aren¹t tied up until later in the series.

Despite these problems, GRENDEL: DEVIL’S LEGACY is worth checking out. It’s one of the early stories of an incredible series. Laid within the context of that series, it’s fascinating to see this early version of character that would grow to change the world.

Recommended (with reservations: Longer that it needs to be and heavy with narrative captions)

Brandon Blatcher is a regular contributor to PopImage.

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