GRENDEL TALES: DEVILS AND DEATHS
European history and American fantasy collide in a raw, heartfelt story of war.

Writer: Darko Macan
Artist: Edvin Biukovic
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Edvin Biukovic
Trade Paperback
Published by Dark Horse 1996
$16.95

Reviewed by Andrew Wheeler

DC's recent WEIRD WAR TALES special, containing short war stories by such acclaimed creators as Jim Lee, Garth Ennis, Paul Pope and Chuck Dixon, was dedicated to the memory of Edvin Biukovic, the young Croatian artist who died of a brain tumor late last year. The anthology contains one of Biukovic's last completed works, scripted by his friend and compatriot Darko Macan. 'A Prayer to the Sun' is by far the finest piece in the collection, and very probably the best, most inspiring, and most original work to be published so far this year.

'A Prayer to the Sun' is a beautifully haunting elegiac poem expressing the loneliness, despair, violence and exuberance that is all part of the fabric of war. On first reading, its patchwork of scenes - casting back across thousands of years, and juxtaposed against the prayer of the woman left behind when her beloved has gone off to fight - may be a disorienting experience. On each successive reading, though, it achieves a greater emotional impact. Each scene in the sequence is perfectly pitched to an emotion or a mood, be it pride, fear, defeat or defiance. It is perhaps as affecting as any eight page comic book story can ever be. It is eloquent, dramatic, and utterly moving.

"There can be no question that Biukovic and Macan show a genuine understanding of their theme."

The greatest strength of the piece may be that, at its core, it holds a great emotional authenticity. There can be no question that Biukovic and Macan, born and raised in the war-torn former Yugoslavia, show a genuine understanding of their theme. Most of us can and should be thankful that we have never had to live with war on our doorstep. Biukovic and Macan have seen it, and in both 'A Prayer to the Sun' and DEVILS AND DEATHS, they share that experience with us.

First published in 1994, DEVILS AND DEATHS may not have the same sophistication as 'A Prayer to the Sun', but even so, for emotional honesty, for pathos, and for the sheer ingenuity of its storytelling, it still stands out as one of the greatest works of recent years. Or rather, it does not stand out, in spite of its greatness. The front cover proclaims the book to be; "MATT WAGNER'S GRENDEL TALES". The "DEVILS AND DEATHS" is a subtitle, discreetly placed at the foot of the cover. It thus gives the impression that it is part of the Grendel Cycle; one chapter in a long and involved saga that meanders through a whole collection of separate volumes. To a new reader, the prospect would not merely be daunting, it would be wholly prohibitive.

For that reason, it is crucial to point out that this story stands alone. It may indeed be part of the Grendel Cycle. It may indeed be one chapter in a developing saga. That isn't relevant, because that greater whole never once impinges on the story presented here. In fact, this is not a story about Matt Wagner's creation at all. That's just the clothing the tale has been draped in. This is a story about the Balkans.

The troubles in Eastern Europe throughout the 20th century have in the past been dismissed as "a little local difficulty". The idea that it is distant makes it less relevant. For that reason, the history that was so familiar to Biukovic and Macan may seem a little more alien to the rest of us. With the Balkan conflict, it is even harder to apply the kind of easy divisions and moral certainty we like to think we can stick to the two World Wars.

"Balkan" is a Turkish word meaning "mountain". The mountains formed the root of the region's troubles, because they created several isolated communities in a relatively small area. These neighbouring clans included the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, collectively known as the southern Slavs. Over the past two hundred years, their homelands have been dominated by a succession of greater powers, who have used the territory as a battleground for their own struggles. At the same time, the natives have fought against these powers and each other for more land and greater self-determination.

For most of the last five hundred years, the Balkans were passed back and forth between the control of the Turks of the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg dynasty of Austro-Hungary. In the early nineteenth century, the area briefly became part of Emperor Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces, before parts of it were returned again to the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Serbia secured its independence from both Austro-Hungary and the Ottomans. The desire of some factions in Serbia to unite the southern Slavs outside of anyone else's empire led to the outbreak of World War One.

The end of the war saw the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, but even here there was dissention, as the Serbs were thought too eager to dominate the kingdom. The kingdom, later renamed Yugoslavia, meaning country of the southern Slavs, came to be ruled by Serbian dictators. With the outbreak of World War Two, the kingdom was forced to join the Axis powers, and was occupied by Nazi Germany. During this time, the Allies encouraged Communist forces within the Balkans to forge a resistance. By the end of the war, the Communists under Tito had taken over Yugoslavia. Thus things remained until the fall of Communism, when the undiminished dissent between Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and the long years of civil strife that have followed.

It is against this background of continuous war and unrest, in which powers shift with each generation, and allies one day are enemies the next, that DEVILS AND DEATHS is set. It is never stated that the story is set in Eastern Europe, and being set at some unnamed time in the future means it is not necessary to impose on it any knowledge from the past. However, the roots of the story cannot be in doubt. The characters carry names such as Goran, Ivana and Igor. The geography is of European mountains and forests. The clothes and villages are all clearly evocative to anyone who has seen news footage of Kososvo, Zagreb or Sarajevo, as are the uniforms and paraphernalia of the forces of the Grendel Khan, which are modelled on those of the United Nations' peacekeeping forces.

DEVILS AND DEATHS is two stories in six chapters. The first two chapters tell the story of Drago, a soldier in the Agrami clan, who tries to serve his people one last time when he learns he is dying. In what must be a deliberate echo of BEOWULF, he volunteers to save the tribe from a murderous monster at the edge of the village. At the same time, he must deal with the treachery of his General, and the sadness of knowing he will never see his younger brother become a man.

The first story largely sets the scene for the second, which takes place ten years later in the same tribe. Its central figure is Goran, Drago's brother, now a young warrior himself. Goran is a hotheaded youth looking to honour his brother and make sense of his embattled life. He meets and falls in love with Marica, a willful and impassioned member of the Savas clan. Their relationship is troubled by war and politics, especially the machinations of the Agrami leader Igor, an arrogant drunk who aspires to be a great leader and warlord. Set against Goran's story is the story of Borna and Ivana. Borna is a defector from the Agrami clan, who wants to start a new life by the sea with his wife and newborn son. His simple ambitions are challenged by the arrival of the great army of the Grendel Khan, which comes to end the wars between the tribes. Thanks to Igor's pride, peace is not likely to come without a fight, and that fight will have repercussions for Borna, Ivana, Goran and Marica.

These are the roots of the tale. The wonder of it comes in the telling. Darko Macan is a writer of tremendous compassion and skill. The opening tale of Drago and the monster is a simple emotional parable, while the second story is more complex, filled with all the passion appropriate to a tale of love and war. The writing is rich in drama and dialogue. Love is expressed with tenderness and feeling. Malice is expressed without melodrama. Even a casual conversation between two young lovers has all the wit and rhythm one would expect.

"Time and again, characters are asked to choose between their lives and their people"

Macan's characters are real and recognisable, even though they exist in a world many of us will never have to see. Borna is a man so compelled by hope and decency that his frustrated wife wishes he would be more selfish, more willing to live for him, for her, and for their son. Marica believes war is about passion, not duty, but when her passions conflict, she finds she has no discipline to control herself. Igor is willing to sacrifice everything and everyone to the fight, even if he loses the very thing he's fighting for. Then, there is Goran, the insubordinate and unbowed soldier who represents the very soul of youth, but through death and love, finds himself forced to take responsibility for the future of the entire tribe. Time and again, characters are asked to choose between their lives and their people, and each decision is unique, intense, and palpably human.

Edvin Biukovic's art is the greatest thrill of all. How many artists are sensitive enough to make each face distinctly expressive and emotional, each glance meaningful, and each movement purposeful? How many artists are equally capable of depicting genuine humour, thrilling action, or widescreen spectacle? The scene in which Borna reaches the sea only to realise he has stepped on a landmine is perhaps the most memorable example of the artist's skill for visual storytelling, but there are many moments as precious as this throughout. A baptism, a swordfight, a lover's tiff, an execution, two people sharing an apple, or a motorcycle in collision with a horse; every scene is invested with the meticulous care and skill of a truly gifted man.

Edvin Biukovic was clearly one of the artistic revelations of the 1990s, and his premature death should be counted as a great loss for the industry. Today's aspiring artists seem always to be taking Japanese manga and the Image generation as their inspiration, when the real art comes from people like Edvin Biukovic. If only more people would take their cue from his work. Talent like his does not deserve to die so soon.

The third man on the team, Matt Hollingsworth, also deserves a mention. His colours set the tone for every scene in the book. His pale, washed palettes show a rare skill for knowing how to use restraint to get the best effect. A rainstorm, a snowy seafront, an autumnal hillside or a full-moon night; each one is captured with a perfect sense of place and mood.

In MAUS, Art Spiegelman created an honest account of his father's experiences as a Jewish man in the ghettos and camps of the Second World War, using mice, cats and pigs as his narrative device. His work was widely acclaimed, and even won a Pulitzer. More than that, it had a deep emotional effect on almost everyone who read it. It might be disingenuous to claim DEVILS AND DEATHS is on quite the same level, but it has many of the same strengths, and its emotional impact is as real. There is a genuine risk that this work could become lost among the bookstacks, dismissed as one brick in the GRENDEL wall. Do not make that mistake. Both for new readers, or for old readers looking for something to revive their spark, DEVILS AND DEATHS is the perfect work. It is the whole story.

This book cannot be recommended highly enough.

Strongly Recommended.

Andrew Wheeler is a staff writer for PopImage.

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