Grendel: Devil Quest
Written and Drawn by Matt Wagner
Dark Horse Comics
Cover price: $14.95; Available now

Grendel: Devil Child
Written by Matt Wagner, Diana Schultz
Art by Matt Wagner, Tim Sale
Dark Horse Comics
Cover price: $14.95; Available now

I’ve been catching up on the Grendel cycle lately, thanks to Dark Horse releasing some of the stories in a nice set of affordable hardcovers, so I was pleasantly surprised to see both of the titles at the store last week. Both of them are minor entries into the larger story, but they shed light on some of the characters and both have fantastic art. I mean really fantastic art. Amazing art, art worth buying these collections for by themselves.

For those not familiar, Grendel is writer/artist Matt Wagner’s magnum opus, dealing with the nature of evil and how it affects the world. Evil is personified in many forms, but they are all tied into the Grendel force, typified by the black and white mask. The saga starts with the story of Hunter Rose, continues through the tale of his (sort of) granddaughter, and then continues into the far off future. I haven’t read a ton of the stories yet, mostly since a lot of it has been out of print for a long time, but I’m buying everything I can get my hands on, and can’t wait for the current series, Behold the Devil, to be collected.

Devil Quest takes place towards the end of the Grendel timeline, and deals with the leader of the world trying to track down the robot Grendel-Prime, while Grendel-Prime tries to conduct a ritual to contact the spirit of Hunter Rose. The story is a little light, and doesn’t make a ton of since if you haven’t read the later Grendel stories (like me) but it’s easy enough to follow. Really, its Matt Wagner’s painted art that is the highlight here. The colors are bright, the characters look great, and it’s just a pleasure to read.

Devil Child deals with a character from the Hunter Rose story, Stacy Palumbo, who was Hunter’s adopted daughter, and ended up being responsible for his death. Now she’s in an insane asylum and begins a relationship with her therapist. Let’s just say the relationship doesn’t end well. The story is mostly a bridge between the Hunter Rose stories and the next set of Grendel stories dealing with Stacy’s daughter Christine Spar. Again, the story works better if you’ve read the stories it’s a bridge for, and since I’ve read the Hunter Rose story, I had a better time with this one than Devil Quest. That said, the story is pretty brutal, very adult, and quite amazing. The art is by Tim Sale, who works in his usual style here. It’s got his usual angular line, but he really captures the characters and the horror of the situation. Fans of his work that may have missed this when it was originally out will want to give this a look.

So fans of the Grendel series will want to check out these two collections and readers new to the series may want to look into these to see if the series is for them. They are kind of minor works in the overall story but they add a lot to other stories, and the art makes them worth checking out on their own. My only issue is that both collections are fairly slim, and at $15 they may be a bit overpriced, but they both have nice binding and printing so I feel they are worth the money. If you want to pick up on over the other I’d suggest Devil Child, just because the story is a bit easier to get into, but if you have the money, I’d pick up both.