Grendel: Red, White and Black #2

Written by: Matt Wagner

Art by: see below

More tales of the Devil in red white and black, courtesy of Matt Wagner and friends.

Devil Dreams - Kelley Jones

This is more an Argent story than a Grendel story, but it's a good one none the less. Argent goes to a wizard who makes him a potion to be able to smell out Grendel where ever he goes; but what Argent learns my not be what he wants to hear.

I like Kelley's art (big fan of his work on Batman) and the story gives us some more insight to Argent's past. Nice ending.

Chase the Devil - Mike Hawthorne

Two cops are out on patrol when a dead body lands on the hood of their squad car. Grendel quickly follows and takes out one of the cops. The surviving officer gives chase and...well, I won't give away the ending.

The art has a speedy quality - it makes you feel like you're in a hurry. The story pays off nicely in the end. Best in the book.

Devil's Karma - Andi Watson

Kind of really hate this story. Another set of illustrated text, but this time with a Japanese motif. A story isn't present - it's just impressions of the events. The art is nice, but the piece is overall boring and forgettable.

Roulette Du Diable - Dan Brereton

This story outlines the events of the Eastern Seaboard massacre (when Grendel killed off all the heads of organized crime on the East Coast in a single day) in caption boxes over illustrations of a boring day at home with Stacy. The juxtaposition is nice and the captions allow the mind to create its own violence. We also see Stacy overhear that Hunter is Grendel. Nice little story.

Devil Crossed - Phil Hester

Here we see the events that lead up to the death of Barry Palumbo (Stacy's uncle) who was working for both Grendel and Argent - with his own agenda being the death of both of his benefactors. It explains why Grendel killed Barry and shows a nice tender moment between Stacy and Argent. The art is polished and uses the black and white format to its advantage - not a terrible read.

Well, that wraps up another handful of Grendel stories - not the best of the pack, but all in all a good read.

Buy it at MyComicShop.