Matt Wagner’s return to his beloved creation continues with more bloodshed, more battles, more musings, and more discoveries. This is the best issue of the new mini-series so far as Wagner weaves a mesmerizing tale of the first Grendel, Hunter Rose.
Grendel: Behold the Devil #3
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If the first two issues of Matt Wagner‘s new eight-issue mini-series (read about them here) set-up what was to come, here the action really gets started.
We begin with a rooftop battle between Grendel and Argent the Wolf, and move on to Hunter Rose’s realization that Argent isn’t the only one on his tail, a blow-up between Detective Lucas Ottoman and Detective Elizabeth Sparks, and a final panel revelation (so good I can’t spoil it) which will knock you on your ass.
The battle between Grendel and Argent, as witnessed by Ottoman, dominates the first half of the issue. It’s terrifically rendered capturing the frantic action and balancing the sheer animalistic brutality of Argent with Grendel’s delicate and deadly movements. Set to William Blake’s “The Tyger” and ending with Grendel’s escape and Argent standing over the remaining pieces of what was once Grendel’s soldiers, it terrifically starts the tale. The later scenes with Ottoman trying to process what he has seen are also well done.
This series, originally conceived by Wagner as a stand-alone graphic novel, gets better issue by issue. We still don’t know who exactly is hunting the hunter, leaving much more to be told in the remaining issues, but what we have gotten so far is great storytelling mixed with some damn fine trademark Wagner art. I don’t want this series to end.
More please!!! With Behold the Devil and The Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse is putting out two terrific mini-series which I want to see lengthened for years to come. I’m soooo ready to see the next issue of this series!