History ComicBook / Grendel

* TropesAreNotBad: The entire point of War Child, which plays with dozens of post-apocalypse tropes at once.

* WouldNotHarmAChild: Played with. While Hunter Rose seems to have a fondness for children, going out of his way to save, spare, or avenge them, he's also shown to have an unhealthy interest in Stacy Palumbo. At no point, either, do we see him go out of his way to prevent the death of children in the crossfire of his adventures.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** In Issue #1 of "Devils Legacy" Christine was on the PhilDonahue show where she discussed the legacy of Grendel in her family. She mused that Donahue must be about 70 by now. According to recent estimate (based on when the idea of the original Hunter Rose stories being set in the early-mid 80s), Christine's story arc would have to take place somewhere in the mid 2020's. That would make Donahue more likely to be in his 90s by then. Donahue's long running show ended in 1996 and he had a short lived show between 2002-2003. The fact that the second show didn't last a year might reflect how relevant Donahue was in the 2000s (not very). Even if he's still alive, the "serious" talk show format is DeaderThanDisco. So no one is really holding their breath thinking that he'll try again anytime soon.
** During Brian's tenure as Grendel, someone was discussing going home and watching Creator/DavidLetterman although they felt that the "old fart just aint funny anymore". Letterman retired from Late Night host in 2015; that would be about ten years before the events in the comic.

[[caption-width-right:350:Behold the Devil]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grendel-2006_1069.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Meet the face of aggression.]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In Issue #1 of "Devils Legacy" Christine was on the PhilDonahue show where she discussed the legacy of Grendel in her family. She mused that Donahue must be about 70 by now. According to recent estimate (based on when the idea of the original Hunter Rose stories being set in the early-mid 80s), Christine's story arc would have to take place somewhere in the mid 2020's. That would make Donahue more likely to be in his 90s by then. Donahue's long running show ended in 1996 and he had a short lived show between 2002-2003. The fact that the second show didn't last a year might reflect how relevant Donahue was in the 2000s (not very). Even if he's still alive, the "serious" talk show format is DeaderThanDisco. So no one is really holding their breath thinking that he'll try again anytime soon.
** Also, during Brian's tenure as Grendel, someone was discussing going home and watching DavidLetterman although they felt that the "old fart just aint funny anymore". Letterman retired from Late Night host in 2015; that would be about ten years before the events in the comic.

* IntercontinuityCrossover: ''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.
** Also, "Grendel vs Radio/TheShadow", where Grendel is sent back in time to the 1930s, where he stages a coup d'etat to take over the era's mafia and does battle with the famous vigilante.

* VillainProtagonist: Most stories take place from the Grendels' perspectives, and are rarely sympathetic.

Grendel is a comic book series created by Matt Wagner. The titular character first appeared in the anthology title ''"Comico Primer''" #2 (1982). He held his own short-lived black and white series (1983-1984), and also appeared as back-up strip in ''"Mage''" (1984-1986). Before launched in an original full-color series, lasting from 1986 to 1990. Various mini-series featuring Grendel regularly appeared through the [[TheNineties 1990s]]. Reprints and some new material have continued appearing in the 21st century.

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* CanonWelding: Played with. Both of the crossovers with {{Batman}} are Grendel continuity, but not Batman's.

** also, "Grendel vs Radio/TheShadow", where Grendel is sent back in time to the 1930s, where he stages a coup d'etat to take over the era's mafia and does battle with the famous vigilante.

* VillainProtagonist

* ShoutOut: When Laurel Kennedy is declining into insanity, she plays with a group of dolls that include action figures of ComicBook/TankGirl and Milk of ''FunWithMilkAndCheese''.

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Along the the way, Grendel comes across two other important characters: Stacy Palumbo, a young girl whom Hunter adopts after he kills her father, and Argent the Wolf, a cursed werewolf who works with the police to stop Grendel. At the end of the first Grendel story, ''Devil by the Deed'', Stacy, who has found out Hunter is Grendel, manipulates both Grendel and Argent to fight on a rooftop, [[spoiler:where Grendel dies]].

However, this is not the end of the story; the series proper is set in the future after the conclusion of ''Devil by the Deed'', initially featuring Stacy's daughter Christine Spar. The story then continues in the far future, where the concept of Grendel eventually becomes [[spoiler:the basis of world civilisation]].

* DistantFinale: By the end of this far future we see [[spoiler: Grendal has in his very basic essence and concept, '''taken over the world'''.]]

* OldShame: 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 [[TrueArtIsAngsty Grendel being the spirit of society's mediocrity.]]

* PathOfInspiration: In the far future, [[spoiler:the Catholic Church]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Devil Child, featuring Stacy and bridging between Devil By the Deed and Devil's Legacy. Spoilers for real life trauma: [[spoiler: Stacy was raped by a man she trusted. The second issue's letter column reveals that the writer based Stacy's reaction to this event on personal experience.]]

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The title saw a delay of several years due to the bankruptcy of its original publisher (Comico). During the interim, Comico's owners tried to claim Grendel as a company asset and prevent Wagner from taking the character elsewhere. This also held up Dark Horse reprints of the Comico issues, which eventually went through without further complications.