GrimJack!!!

Another meme from Scott, these damn things can be addictive.

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Picked up the GrimJack trade over the weekend, recently published by IDW. People who’s opinion on comics I generally trust have mentioned this book as being great and groundbreaking. I was a wee lad when GrimJack made his first appearances, so I can’t clearly recall the book or the relevance at the time, but for a comic not published by Marvel or DC to run 80+ issues in the 80s is a pretty big deal, from any standpoint. At the time I was pretty much reading Flash, DC Presents, Superman and probably GI Joe. I can see now how, judging from those issues contained in The Legend of GrimJack: Volume 1 stand apart from what I was reading. No superheroes in tights; however, John Gaunt (aka GrimJack) does sport a pretty cool cloak/cape. This is a great concoction of Heroic Fantasy, potboiler and Science Fantasy. Just from the first pages, there are references I know that wouldn’t have clicked in my pre-pubescent 11 year world, like Melnibone and some of the other worlds mentioned, that have much more resonance now. Ostrander, in his intro, paints a really cool picture of the genesis of GrimJack, and as I was reading just that part of the book, I grew more excited about what’s down the pipe in the next GrimJack volumes, since Ostrander listed a bunch of authors, like the good ‘ol Texan Robert E. Howard, who’s work I hold in high esteem.

This was also the first purchase of any IDW comic I’ve made, though that changed as soon as I purchased GrimJack: Killer Instinct #1. The inking and coloring process has improved over the years between GrimJack’s first appearance in the new book, but the storytelling simpatico of Ostrander and Truman is still on great display.

One of the folks who got me thinking more about GrimJack is SuperCoolWriterGuy Matt Stover as a discussion on GrimJack has been going on over at [dead cities]. Anybody who reads this blog and has enjoyed Stover’s work should check out GrimJack and conversely, if you enjoy GrimJack RUN and buy Stover’s powerful novel Heroes Die, I reviewed the sequel, Blade of Tyshalle, for SFFWorld a couple of years ago and plan on re-reading it soon.

And oh yeah, Happy Hallmark day,...er rather Valentine's Day.