History Main / Grendel

* ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}}'', the comic book series.

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

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 regurarly appeared through the [[TheNineties 1990s]]. Reprints and some new material have continued appearing in the 21st century.

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 [[FilmNoir noir]] tales, black and white and red only. They are not only tales of a criminal mastermind, but a study in aggression.

'''Warning: there are spoilers in the rest of this article'''

Two other important characters in the Grendel series is 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, where Grendel dies.

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.

Has nothing to do with Literature/{{Beowulf}}.

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!!This series provides examples of:

* ActionMom: Christine Spar.
* AfterTheEnd: 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.
* AntiHero: Christine Spar, who adopts the Grendel persona to avenge her son's death. Argent could also count.
* AntiVillain: Hunter Rose was an early attempt at this in comics. While clearly a VillainProtagonist, he's also explicitly shown to have [[EvenEvilHasStandards a strict]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil moral code]], and deeply cares for both his lover and for his adoptive daughter. His rival, Argent, is shown as a savage killer whom even the police fear.
** 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 [[DemonicPossession 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 RedemptionEqualsDeath.]]
** Orion and Jupiter Assante, and Grendel Prime are arguably the [[TropeCodifier Trope Codifiers]] in comics. All three characters commit horrible acts, but the former two appear to do so for TheGreaterGood, while Prime himself is very much an EvenEvilHasStandards character.
* AnythingThatMoves: Crystal Kennedy.
** Her grandfather's pretty close, too.
* ArchEnemy: Argent is Grendel's archenemy
* AscendedExtra: Brian Li Sung, Captain Wiggins, Susan Veraghen
* TheAtoner: Susan Veraghen, in ''Grendel: Past Prime.'' It was her clan that was on guard duty the night [[spoiler:Jupiter Assante was assassinated]]; as a result, everyone except her commits ritual suicide, and she herself goes on a worldwide pilgrimage to locate the missing Grendel-Prime.
** Brian Li Sung is an unusual case in that he's TheAtoner for actions he hasn't committed yet, and desperately tries to avoid.
* AxCrazy: Eppy Thatcher, when he really gets going
* BadassCreed: The Oath of Obedience in the Assante continuity.
* BadassNormal: Grendel has no powers, nothing except fighting skills and an [[ExoticWeaponSupremacy electrified fork-sword-thing]], but he regularly battles Argent the Wolf, who has superhuman strength and ''claws''.
** Most later Grendels also qualify, though Grendel Prime is a BadassAbnormal, and Brian Li Sung is an IneffectualSympatheticVillain.
* BigBadassWolf: Argent the Wolf
* BladeOnAStick: Hunter Rose's 'fork', a weapon also favored by Christine Spar and Eppy Thatcher
* BreakTheCutie: What happens to Stacy, beginning with Hunter's death and ending with her husband/therapist raping her and killing himself.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Orion Assante, [[{{Twincest}} with twins]], even.
* ButchLesbian: Susan Veraghen.
** BuryYourGays: Susan's lovers did not often have long lifespans, and if that wasn't bad enough...
** HideYourLesbians: Crystal Kennedy essentially has Susan exiled to the Dakota compound so she can take up with a new (male) love interest.
* TheChessmaster: How Grendel was able to take over the entirety of New York's mobs within a month
** How Orion Assante takes over the world. He's less effective against vampires, however.
** How Abner Heath and Laurel Kennedy plot to take over the Khanate as Jupiter's regents. It doesn't turn out so well.
* CreepyChild: Stacy Palumbo, especially given that she's the cause of Hunter Rose's death.
* CyberPunk: What the Grendel stories eventually become.
* {{Cyborg}}: A few characters have cybernetic implants, such as Captain Wiggins' artificial eye. CyberneticsEatYourSoul comes into play more than once. Taken UpToEleven with Grendel-Prime, who is a full-body conversion ''powered by sunlight.''
* DeathSeeker: It's probably easier to list characters that ''don't'' have at least overtones of this.
* DemonicPossession: Occasionally discussed as part of taking on the Grendel identity.
* DistantFinale: By the end of this far future we see [[spoiler: Grendal has in his very basic essence and concept, '''taken over the world'''.]]
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness / CharacterizationMarchesOn: The black-and-white stories that introduced the character portray him as something between Don Corleone and an amoral Spider-Man. Matt Wagner once mentioned that Hunter Rose gets a little more evil every time he writes about him.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Hunter Rose is against the idea of harming children and as such stopped child prostitution as part of his role as mob boss. He also withdraws from [[{{Batman}} Gotham]] when he endangers the life of a child he was trying to hold ransom.
** Also holds true with the Forx gang of Grendels, who burn crude oil instead of using it, and definitely true of the post-Assante Grendels, who take sharp issue with nuclear weapons.
* {{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.
* ForegoneConclusion: 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.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Hunter Rose was once a boy by the name of [[EmbarrasingFirstName Eddie]] from the suburbs gifted with superhuman intelligence.
* FunWithAcronyms: The '''C'''onfederacy '''O'''f '''P'''olice in the Eppy Thatcher/Orion Assante arc.
* GentlemanThief: Grendel seems like this ''until he stabs you in the eyes.''
* HeroAntagonist: Argent the Wolf, an AntiHero example who's determined to take down Hunter Rose.
** Captain Wiggins is another example.
* 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.
* KarmaHoudini: Tujiro. [[spoiler: Until he gets what he deserves centuries later.]]
* KnightTemplar: All of the Orion's Sword Grendels who hold true to the code qualify to some extent, but Grendel-Prime lives and breathes this.
* LaserBlade: Grendel-Prime's weapon of choice.
* LegacyCharacter: 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.
** Hunter Rose sees himself and Stacy as this.
* LikesOlderWomen: His first lover was Jocasta Rose. She was '''36'''. He was '''14'''.
* LivingLieDetector: Captain Wiggins' cybernetic eye lets him read biopatterns.
* LostSuperweapon: The sun-disc from the ''War Child'' series. [[spoiler:The missing component to make the thing work is Grendel-Prime himself.]]
** Also Hunter Rose's skull.
*** Averted in that the skull doesn't ''do'' anything - it's just part of Grendel Prime's attempt to understand the legacy of Grendel.
* MadnessMontage: Eppy Thatcher gets these every so often.
* MoralityPet: Stacy Palumbo to Hunter Rose and Argent, which ends up becoming the downfall of Rose and the spiral towards insanity for Stacy.
* MundaneFantastic: 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.
* NoNameGiven: While all Grendels aspire to this in service to the Khan, Grendel-Prime has utterly abandoned his former life.
* 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.]]
* OurVampiresAreDifferent
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: Jupiter Assante in ''Grendel: War Child.''
** Also his father in Devil's Reign.
* PsychoSerum: 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.
* RapeAsDrama: Stacy Palumbo was raped by her husband (and psychiatrist) on their wedding night. He promptly committed suicide, while she remained catatonic for the rest of her life. This produced her one and only daughter, who would grow up to become Christina Spar and the new Grendel.
* 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.]]
* ReligionOfEvil: In the far future, [[spoiler:the Catholic Church]]
** Much less-spoileriffic: the various Grendel cults, as well as the vampire cult.
* {{Retcon}}: Matt Wagner's attitude towards Hunter Rose changed over time. Initially, ''Devil by the Deed'' contained hints of Rose being a NobleDemon (specifically relating to his pseudo-paternal concern for Stacy). But every time Wagner went back to that character, he made him more and more evil - to the point where his affection for Stacy was attributed to the never-before-mentioned fact that [[{{Squick}} she reminded him of his dead lover Jocasta.]]
* RetiredBadass: 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 [[KatanasAreJustBetter standard-issue katanas.]]
** Grendel Tales back covers feature a motif of the symbols of individual Grendel clans. One of them is clearly based on [[IconicLogo Japanese mon]].
* 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.
* SharedUniverse: 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.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: 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.
* SkunkStripe: Hunter Rose and Christine Spar. In one case, it leads to the former being recognized by someone from the same small-town suburbs that he was born in. [[HeKnowsTooMuch His fate is a given]].
* StraightGay: [[spoiler: Argent was cast out of his tribe and cursed to his current form for being this. Jupiter Assante also qualifies.]]
* SuperSoldier: The Paladin/Grendel-Prime
* TropesAreNotBad: The entire point of War Child, which plays with dozens of post-apocalypse tropes at once.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: ''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.
* VillainProtagonist
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Hunter Rose is an uppercrust bestselling author, as is Christine Spar. Tujiro is a respected Kabuki performer and [[spoiler:centuries later, Pope.]]
** To say nothing of the Khans themselves.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Lots, including Captain Wiggins, Brian Li Sung, Laurel Kennedy and Abner Heath.
** Implied to be the source of Grendel "possession", though this may just be Orion Assante's madness talking.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Susan Veraghen, whose natural hair color is bright green. In ''Past Prime,'' she states that all the Veraghens had been genetically modified for green hair and pale skin several generations previous, and comments that "one of my great-great-grandmothers must have liked the look."

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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Hunter Rose is against the idea of harming children and as such stopped child prostitution as part of his role as mob boss. He also withdraws from [[{{Batman}} Gotham]] when the life of a child he was holding for ransom became actually endangered.

* CompleteMonster: Tujiro is the obvious choice, but Grendel himself, in all his incarnations, also has a valid claim to the title.

* MagnificentBastard: Hunter Rose, Tujiro, Orion Assante
* MoralEventHorizon: what Grendel does to [[spoiler:Lucas Ottoman]] in ''Behold The Devil'', what Tujiro does to [[spoiler:Christine Spar's son]] in ''Devil's Legacy''
** What Grendel does to Stacy's beloved uncle and to Argent in ''Devil by the Deed''. Both actions mark Stacy, and when she finds out Hunter's responsible, it leads to his death.
** Hunter Rose, in ''Behold The Devil'', manages to see his entire legacy in the future through supernatural means. He then tears the pages describing this out of his journal, causing much heartbreak later on, simply because he can't fathom anyone else being Grendel.

* {{Retcon}}: Matt Wagner's attitude towards Hunter Rose changed over time. Initially, ''Devil by the Deed'' contained hints of Rose being a NobleDemon (specifically relating to his pseudo-paternal concern for Stacy). But every time Wagner went back to that character, he made him more and more of a CompleteMonster - to the point where his affection for Stacy was attributed to the never-before-mentioned fact that [[{{Squick}} she reminded him of his dead lover Jocasta.]]

* SkunkStripe: Hunter Rose and Christine Spar

** Hunter Rose sees himself and Stacy as this.

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

* DistantFinale

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Hunter Rose is an uppercrust bestselling author. Tujiro is a respected Kabuki performer and [[spoiler:centuries later, Pope.]]

* {{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 [[{{Understatement}} less fond]] of Hunter Rose today.

* 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 [[{{Understatement}} less fond]] of Hunter Rose today.

* LegacyCharacter: Christine Spar, Brian Li Sung, Eppy Thatcher, Orion Assante, Jupiter Assante

Has nothing to do with {{Beowulf}}.

** BuryYourGays: Susan Veraghen's lovers did not often have long lifespans, and if that wasn't bad enough...
** HideYourLesbians: Crystal Kennedy essentially has Susan exiled to the Dakota compound so she can take up with a new (male) lover.

* KnightTemplar: All of the Orion's Sword Grendels who hold true to the code qualify to some extent, but Grendel Prime lives and breathes this.

* NoNameGiven: While all Grendels aspire to this in service to the Khan, Grendel Prime has utterly abandoned his former life.

** 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.

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 regurarly appeared through the [[TheNineties 1990s]]. Reprints and one-shot revivals have continued appearing in the 21st century.

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 [[FilmNoir noir]] tales, black and white and red only. They are not only tales of a criminal mastermind, but a study in aggression.

This series provides examples of:

* {{Cyborg}}: A few characters have cybernetic implants, such as Brian Wiggins' artificial eye. CyberneticsEatYourSoul comes into play more than once. Taken UpToEleven with Grendel-Prime, who is a full-body conversion ''powered by sunlight.''

Has nothing to do with {{Beowulf}}

* BuryYourGays: Susan Veraghen's lovers did not often have a long lifespan.

* GentlemanThief: Grendel seems like this ''until he stabs you in the eyes''

** Much less-spoilerriffic: the various Grendel cults, as well as the vampire cult.

** Much less-spoilerriffic: the various Grendel cults.