Grendel (comics): Difference between revisions

 

 

The subject matter? Hunter Rose is a bestselling author, a sophisticated gentleman who attends high class parties. He's also Grendel, a ruthlessly efficient assassin who slowly takes over ''all'' the mobs in New York City. Matt Wagner's stories of Grendel are [[Film Noir|noir]] tales, black and white and red only. They are not only tales of a criminal mastermind, but a study in aggression.

This is only one of the few series where the story can continue after the main character's death. There are stories set in the near future, with Stacy Palumbo's daughter, Christine Spar, who wrote a book about Grendel, and even stories in the far, far future, where Grendel has become something of a religion.

 

 

* [[Action Mom]]: Christine Spar.

* [[After the End]]: The ''War Child'' continuity clearly takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Most of the Middle Eastern OPEC states are now an abandoned wasteland, and Europe is shown to consist largely of bombed-out ruins.

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Christine Spar, who adopts the Grendel persona to avenge her son's death. Argent could also count.

** The third Grendel, Brian Li Sung, is a more straightforward example. Shattered by his lover's death, his desire to understand what happened to her, combined with his desperate poverty and his returning alcoholism, makes him feel [[Demonic Possession|possessed by Grendel]] and driven to commit horrible acts. {{spoiler|He's arguably a subversion, as he succeeds in resisting the most violent instincts, leading to [[Redemption Equals Death]].}}

* [[Anything That Moves]]: Crystal Kennedy.

** Her grandfather's pretty close, too.

** Most later Grendels also qualify, though Grendel Prime is a [[Badass Abnormal]], and Brian Li Sung is an [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]].

* [[Big Badass Wolf]]: Argent the Wolf

* [[Break the Cutie]]: What happens to Stacy, beginning with Hunter's death and ending with her husband/therapist raping her and killing himself.

* [[Brother-Sister Incest]]: Orion Assante, [[Twincest|with twins]], even.

* [[Creepy Child]]: Stacy Palumbo, especially given that she's the cause of Hunter Rose's death.

* [[Cyberpunk]]: What the Grendel stories eventually become.

* [[Death Seeker]]: It's probably easier to list characters that ''don't'' have at least overtones of this.

* [[Demonic Possession]]: Occasionally discussed as part of taking on the Grendel identity.

* [[Flanderization]]: In ''Devil by the Deed'', Matt Wagner takes great pains to balance out Hunter Rose's criminal activities with his compassion towards Stacy; later works revisiting this particular character turns him into an unrepentant killer and implies that Hunter believes Stacy is the reincarnation of his dead lover Jocasta. Wagner has admitted he is less fond of Hunter Rose today.

* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: Hunter Rose will die on the roof of the Broadway Masonic Temple following a battle with Argent. The very first page of the very first issue, back in 1983, starts with both characters there.

* [[Gentleman Thief]]: Grendel seems like this ''until he stabs you in the eyes.''

* [[Hero Antagonist]]: Argent the Wolf, an [[Anti-Hero]] example who's determined to take down Hunter Rose.

* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]: ''Batman/Grendel''

** Especially notable in that not only are both crossovers canon for Grendel, the sequel comic serves as a major plot point in Grendel Prime's life.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Tujiro. {{spoiler|Until he gets what he deserves centuries later.}}

* [[Laser Blade]]: Grendel-Prime's weapon of choice.

* [[Legacy Character]]: Hunter Rose to Christine Spar to Brian Li Sung, then a centuries-long gap until Eppy Thatcher. Orion Assante inherits the title from Eppy, and while his son Jupiter eventually becomes Grendel-Khan, the true heir of the Grendel identity at that point becomes Grendel Prime.

* [[Living Lie Detector]]: Captain Wiggins' cybernetic eye lets him read biopatterns.

* [[Lost Superweapon]]: The sun-disc from the ''War Child'' series. {{spoiler|The missing component to make the thing work is Grendel-Prime himself.}}

* [[Mundane Fantastic]]: Grendel is a completely normal man who takes over the New York mob. His archenemy is a werewolf.

** Orion Assante's essentially a well-meaning but slightly perverted bureaucrat. He also takes over the world in a dictatorship, despite being unquestionably the least militant lead Grendel in the series.

* [[Old Shame]]: The Comico black-and-white miniseries, as well as the character's ''introduction in Comico Primer #2.''

** To an extent, Wagner feels this of his original concept of even Devil By the Deed, what with the line about [[True Art Is Angsty|Grendel being the spirit of society's mediocrity.]]

* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]

* [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up]]: Jupiter Assante in ''Grendel: War Child.''

* [[Psycho Serum]]: The Grendel drug that is the source of Eppy Thatcher's abilities and madness.

** Vampires eventually succumb to this in the blood of The First.

* [[Retired Badass]]: Argent, in ''Devil's Legacy''.

* [[Samurai]]: Orion Assante's Grendel army in later series has major overtones of this, right down to the [[Seppuku|ritual suicides]] and the [[Katanas Are Just Better|standard-issue katanas.]]

* [[Shared Universe]]: The "Grendel Tales" spinoffs, taking place after the Grendel ideal's ascent to world domination, and involving characters who aren't actual avatars of Grendel.

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: a huge chunk of ''Behold the Devil'' was about Lucas Ottoman interviewing people about Grendel and eventually coming to realize that he was Hunter Rose. Of course, the readers know nobody knew who Grendel was until ''after'' his death, but it's still shocking when {{spoiler|Grendel nonchalantly slits his throat and sets him on fire}}. More than that, Lucas's girlfriend, Detective Liz Sparks {{spoiler|loses an eye, six fingers, and is burned over forty percent of her body}}. Wagner really doesn't want you to like Grendel.

* [[Skunk Stripe]]: Hunter Rose and Christine Spar

* [[Super Soldier]]: The Paladin/Grendel-Prime

* [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]: The entire point of War Child, which plays with dozens of post-apocalypse tropes at once.

* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: ''Grendel: Devil's Legacy'' about Christine Spar, Stacy Palumbo's daughter

** Given that cybernetics and similar leaps in technology are available, [[Zeerust|the 80s fashion is still overwhelming.]] Despite coming later, The Devil Inside fits this trope better, as only Wiggins' cybernetic eye gets much showcase.

** To say nothing of the Khans themselves.

* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: Lots, including Captain Wiggins, Brian Li Sung, Laurel Kennedy and Abner Heath.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Eighties]]