GrimJack: "Blood and Thunder"

Hey folks. Sorry GrimJack Monday is falling on a Tuesday this week, but as you may have noticed, this blog has entered (once again) a bit of a low-content mode over the past couple weeks. I'm trying to rectify that, but darn it if life doesn't keep happening. I tell you what, anyone wants to put me on salary, I can promise you I'll be more than happy to devote my full time to blogging. Until that happens, well, we'll all have to make do.

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As we learned last issue, the back-up feature GrimJack was primed to make a crossover with the lead story, Starslayer. Here, presented in fairly to-the-point fashion, because I don't think it's very good, is that "BOOKLENGTH THRILLER" of a crossover. From Starslayer #18, featuring the final appearance of John Gaunt within its pages, written by John Ostrander and drawn by Timothy Truman, this is "Blood and Thunder."


This, as the caption above notes, is indeed one Torin MacQuillon, the Starslayer himself. He is an ancient Celtic warrior, plucked from his own time by Tamara, captain of the good spaceship Jolly Roger, and descendant of MacQuillon's wife (who I guess remarried after his disappearance). I don't want to get too much into the backstory of Starslayer, so that's going to have to be enough to get you up to speed. Oh, but you should also know, his headband acts as both an attractive cover for his missing eye, and as a psionic link between himself and Sam, the monkey-like droid who helps him to function in the unfamiliar future. Plus, he's been captured by Count Ariosto, an aristocrat and hunter whom MacQuillon recently bested, and was imprisoned in Ariosto's dungeons, from which he has now escaped, leading a ragtag crew of assorted other prisoners in an attempt to gain their freedom.

Oy! You can see why I didn't want to get into too much backstory!


Here we see that John Gaunt is narrating the tale, which is part of the main reason I have a problem with this comic. Gaunt completely dominates the proceedings, thoroughly overshadowing the regular characters, right down to being the one who tells the story. In all fairness, John Gaunt is far cooler and more interesting than Torin MacQuillon, and I prefer him leading the way. But, from the POV of a comics fan in general, it pains me to read this issue. A comic book guest star should be just that: a guest, serving to accentuate the action and add some flavor here and there, not illustrate how weak the actual stars of the book are. I mean, come on: if the Thing fights the Hulk, you know the Thing's going to triumph if it's in Fantastic Four, and the Hulk will win if it's in The Incredible Hulk. You don't have the Hulk visit FF, and then pants the Thing, shove him in a locker and make him cry. Which is essentially what Gaunt does to MacQuillon here. Ostrander is undermining the comic's main characters at the expense of a crossover guest, and I don't think that's good storytelling.

That's how I see it, anyway.


As we saw last time, John Gaunt has run across the Starslayer gang because he's been hunting down Crayne, a scoundrel, coward, and con artist, and a tenuous member of MacQuillon's alliance. Crayne owes Gaunt a substantial amount of money. Problem is, he doesn't have it, nor do the rest of the group (which consists of Tamara, Sam, and Chris Heyman, the Free Marine whose name has previously appeared in a GrimJack backup story).


That's Chris. And the statuette Gaunt mentions is of course the Manx Cat, the grand MacGuffin of Cynosure, which Gaunt was chasing down in his very first appearance. Again, that's one of the things I love so much about GrimJack: the rich and consistent continuity.

Ostrander has Chris drop a little bit of an in-joke here. She calls Count Ariosto "the Rude Baron," which is a shout-out to Mike Baron and Steve Rude, co-creators of another one of the greatest comic books ever, Nexus.

Heyman and Tamara attempt to enlist Gaunt's aid in helping them spring MacQuillon from Ariosto's clutches. But Gaunt drives a hard bargain.


Tamara is crushed, but she agrees to give up her ship in return for Gaunt's help. As Gaunt and the rest storm Ariosto's fortress, we get an idea of how Sam works, and why he's been unable to contact MacQuillon: MacQuillon's high emotions tamper with their mental link.


Tamara and Heyman create a diversion with explosions and gunfire, allowing Gaunt to slip in the back and make contact with MacQuillon, who is battle-enraged and unreasonable, lashing out at Gaunt. Isn't that always the way with crossovers?


While it amuses me how Ostrander acknowledges the comic book tradition of heroes fighting each other before realizing they're actually on the same side, then subverts it by having the battle between Gaunt and MacQuillon last exactly one panel, again it pains me to see the star of his own comic so easily dominated by Gaunt. MacQuillon has proven himself again and again to be a mighty warrior, and Gaunt deflects a vicious punch from him by catching it in his open palm. Makes MacQuillon look like a total puss, frankly.

"By the way, nice scar." Ha!

Sam receives an S.O.S. from Tamara -- she and Heyman have been captured. Gaunt is ready to bail on them, arguing that he only made a deal to rescue MacQuillon. MacQuillon of course refuses to leave without rescuing them, and his fellow escapees refuse to leave MacQuillon's side. This combination of nobility and stubborness strikes a chord in Gaunt.


He agrees to stay and fight as well. But see, there it is again: the way Gaunt patronizingly regards MacQuillon as a less evolved version of himself is another slight from Ostrander to the comic's actual main character. Constant undermining. Maybe it doesn't bug you the way it bugs me, but you can at least see why it bugs me, I hope.

And now, the final battle is joined. I really dig this image, with Ariosto top left and his wizard ally Sphinx bottom left:


MacQuillon goes sword-to-sword with Ariosto, the escapees rescue Tamara and Heyman, a bunch of people fight a bunch of other people, and GrimJack faces the wizard Sphinx.


Sphinx works in silence, casting a monster of a whammy at Gaunt. Gaunt deflects it with the help of a little trinket called the St. Elvis vial (ha!), and sends the energy back at Sphinx, destroying him. Or almost:


There's that continuity again: Sphinx would indeed become a recurring member of GrimJack's Rogues Gallery.

Gaunt's final line to Sphinx -- "Count on it!" -- was the slogan of First Comics at the time this was written. I wonder if that was intentional.

Meanwhile, all the other good guys win. Hooray!

Now, as to the matter of Gaunt's payment. Tamara doesn't want to give up her ship, and demands to know what MacQuillon is going to do about it. His answer:


And Gaunt's final salute to Torin MacQuillon (after making him look like a bit of a chump for the preceding 24 pages):


Gaunt's noble nature shines through here; it's not always discernible, but it's most often brought to the fore by recognzing the quality in others. So that's two cases in a row now on which Gaunt has gotten stiffed! Nobility doesn't pay the rent, John.

MacQuillon (since he is noble) offers to share the Jolly Roger's captain's chair with Tamara (though, if he were really noble, he'd probably just give it back to her with no strings attached). His fellow escapees become the Jolly Roger's crew. And as for the last member of the group, Crayne, he skipped out on the battle and on his debt to Gaunt.


He's gone from the pages of Starslayer, but he's not gone from John Gaunt's life. Elections, you say? Hmmm....

Next time: the debut issue of John Gaunt's own title, GrimJack!

GrimJack: "Mortal Gods"

I've been reading comics since I was a kid, and seriously collecting them since I was 18. I've read literally thousands of comic books in my lifetime. (I am avoiding both pride and shame in that statement, merely expressing a fact.) And my favorite comics creation, by far, is John Ostrander and Timothy Truman's sword-wielding, hard-drinking, dark-brooding, scar-faced mercenary John Gaunt, better known as GrimJack.

GrimJack was a cornerstone of what I consider to be, pound for pound, the best creative run of a comics company during my lifetime: the heady heyday of First Comics. There was a stretch during the '80s, if I'm not messing up the timeline, and I don't think I am, when in the span of one month First Comics would deliver to you the gift of Ostrander and Truman's GrimJack, Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!, Mike Baron and Steve Rude's Nexus, and Baron's Badger. Holy hell, you try to tell me that is not one ass-kicking of a line-up, and I will give you such a pinch.

GrimJack is the noir-flavored story of hard-living, nearly over-the-hill gun (or sword or mystical relic) for hire John Gaunt. Gaunt goes by the street name of GrimJack, and the street he works is located in the pan-dimensional city of Cynosure ("Cyn" rhymes with sin), in which every reality meets at one time or another. He's well-versed in the ways of violence, but lives by a strict if flawed and at times even dangerous personal moral code. He wears a floppy beret with feathers on it, giant shoulder pads, big hoop earrings, a cape, index-fingerless gloves, one knee guard, and jodhpurs. And he will totally kick your ass.

Once a week (optimistically speaking), ideally on Mondays, for the foreseeable future, I plan on bringing you the stories of GrimJack, sharing my love of these comics with you. These will probably all be very long, image-packed posts. I hope you will bear with me. Maybe none of you will care. Maybe this is a labor of love that no one else will recognize. But maybe some of the more devoted comic fans among you will be intrigued enough to follow along with these posts, maybe even enough to try to find the back issues in your local comic shop, or pick up the deluxe paperback repackagings currently being printed by IDW Publishing. Or maybe (and I tip my hat to you if this is the case) you will want to dig out the copies you already own and rediscover this fantastic series along with me.

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We begin at the beginning, at First Comics' Starslayer. Starslayer was originated by writer/artist Mike Grell (who went on to create Jon Sable Freelance for First), but turned over to Ostrander and artist Lenin Delsol with issue #9. Issue #10, cover dated November 1983, is pictured below. You can see the cover raises two questions:


#1: Why did John Ostrander have such a penchant for including the word "Black" in the names of new black characters? And #2: who is this GrimJack?

GrimJack began as a back-up series to Starslayer, by neophyte comics writer Ostrander and neophyte comics artist Truman. They both had a lot to learn, and a long way to grow, when they co-created their finest work together, but that's not to say GrimJack started out weak. It started out immediately with the hard-boiled narration and lush-but-filthy visuals for which the series would come to be celebrated, and it started out immediately laying the groundwork for John Gaunt's deep, dark backstory, a biography which would become more assiduously chronicled and emotionally detailed than most any other comic character you can name, whether 70-year-old four-color superhero or quarter-century-old b&w indie superstars.

Here we have the first page of the very first GrimJack story, called "Mortal Gods" (Part 1):


Cool artwork! But, uh, not exactly representative of what was to come. I include it here for its historical value. Which is priceless.

Anyway: there's this four-armed, lamprey-faced desert god named, as you may have surmised, Zago. His bloodthirsty minions are intent on destroying the peace-loving worshippers of forest god Manwyyes. The tree-huggers cast a spell which sends one of their own to Cynosure, to locate their god, who is MIA at a fairly crucial juncture (what with all the slaughtering and suchlike). GrimJack is the man who can help them track their god down. But he's a little busy just this second.


Those are the first words GrimJack ever speaks, and I love them. You already get a taste of exactly what Ostrander's going for here: the cynicism and world-weariness of a Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett anti-hero in a sci-fi/fantasy milieu.

GrimJack is running down the Manx Cat, the grand MacGuffin of Cynosure. As we will see throughout the run of the series, it's always getting stolen, and Gaunt is always retreiving it.

And here we meet the man for the first time:


Dig those pinpoint eyes in the first panel! Nice.

Even without the extra-gray eyebrows in the second panel (which get darker in subsequent appearances -- must've used Just For Men: Touch Of Gray), we can see that this is no spring chicken, no wet-behind-the-ears young punk. Gaunt has had a hard life, and it shows in his face.

And we get a sample of his moral code here. Gaunt is all about choices, and living with the responsibility of the ones you make. Frequently, he presents certain black and white choices to his adversaries. I suggest choosing wisely.


And, as Gaunt escapes the fire by leaping out a window, we get another recurring aspect of his character: not only is he old, but he feels it. Time is closing in on this guy, and it's not treating him well.


If that narration is a little too on-the-nose for you, at least rest assured that Gaunt never says, "I'm getting too old for this shit." GrimJack predates Lethal Weapon by four years, thank goodness.

Gaunt wraps up his business with the Manx Cat, then runs into the tree-hugging priestess, Elvanna, who suddenly appears to have been light boxed. I like how Truman throws in these highly rendered artistic variations every once in a while; kind of reminds me of John Totleben, though I think Totleben was more a contemporary of Truman's than an influence. (And please note I am not suggesting that what either of those gentlemen do is anything like the liberties Greg Land takes.)


They invoked... the Rite of Llues, in case you were wondering. It was supposed to lead her to her god's abode; it brought her to Cynosure, where a local told her to get help from Gaunt. It turns out Gaunt knows exactly where she needs to go, and leads her there, taking the scenic route through the Pit.


We get a nice look here at how exactly the pan-dimensional city works. Cross a street, you might cross a dimension! In fairness, the creation of sweet, cynical Cynosure can't be credited to Ostrander. It was created for First Comics' Warp Special #1. It was supposed to be destroyed in that issue, but Ostrander thought he could find a use for it in his writing, and asked that it be saved. Good call. Oh, also: the name "John Gaunt" was cribbed from Shakespeare. From the character John of Gaunt, in Richard II. If you're gonna steal, steal from the best!

Gaunt's narration here always makes me smile: "Some called it Nirvana. Some called it Hell. One poor mook thought it Tanelorn." Tanelorn, FYI, is the Eternal City in Michael Moorcock's fantasy novels, a city which is accessible from all dimensions. As opposed to Cynosure, though, it is not comprised of all dimensions.

And I love Truman's depiction of Cynosure -- more specifically, the Pit, Gaunt's home. Fantastical and filthy at the same time -- garbage-strewn, claustrophobic, plastered with graffiti and band posters. You can't really read the graffiti in this scan, but there's a reference to a "Dash Hammet" (sic), and also an ad for "Tourbot Rental." Tourbots are a concept Ostrander will expand upon in later issues, but I get a kick out of how early he is establishing the depth of Cynosure. And of John Gaunt's place in it: his birth and early life in the cesspool of the Pit are a huge part of his backstory.

Gaunt gets where he's going, prompting this exchange, which cracks me up:


And here GrimJack crushes Elvanna's heart by revealing to her the object of her search:


That wacky Cynosure!

We pick up with Part 2 in issue #11 of Starslayer, where Elvanna is less than pleased with Gaunt's revelation:


As Manny Weese, aka Weevil, aka the god Manwyyes, explains to Elvanna shortly, he wandered into her dimension by mistake and discovered he had powers, godlike powers which prompted the locals to worship him as a deity. But the overwhelming responsibility was too much for him to bear, and he retreated to Cynosure, and the bottle.

Cue Zago, who has also tracked down Manwyyes:


While Elvanna has been gone from her dimension, Zago and his cult have destroyed every single one of Manwyyes's worshippers, and he's come to Cynosure to finish the job. Drunken, powerless Manny is no match for Zago, but Zago's powers are also greatly diminished in Cynosure, meaning it's time for GrimJack to kick some god ass.


Another classic GrimJack trait: the man almost never smiles, except for when he is about to deal out some ultra-violence. Then he can't help but smile. We will later learn this earned him the nickname "Grinner" in his younger days.

As tough as Gaunt is, and as weakened as Zago is, Zago is still a giant four-armed monstrosity, and he proceeds to beat the holy crap out of GrimJack. Gaunt's guns don't work, his swords don't work. He is beaten to the ground. Manny pleads for Gaunt to stand aside, to save himself and let Zago finish Manny off. But Gaunt lays down for him the unbreakable foundation of his moral code:


"I stand by my friends." The main rule by which Gaunt strives to live his life. His greatest tragedy, though, is how often he falls short. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

Gaunt takes Manny's staff, on the theory that something from Zago's own dimension may be able to hurt him. And using the staff, he is able to strike one of the swords from Zago's grip, and recover it for himself. Now armed with Zago's own weapon, Gaunt offers Zago a choice:


And here we get a sweet, sweet sample of GrimJack's savage badassery:


Dude just performed a quadruple amputation on a god. And trash-talked him to boot. GrimJack is awesome.

"I gave you a choice, Zago. Now you're gonna have to live with it."


Looks like he lived with it for a whole second and a half, there. How's that for accelerating the relative hardcore nature of your character: having him, on page 15 of his existence, slay a god. Beat that, Spider-Man.

Denouement: Elvanna decides to stay with Manny. Her world is ruined, so there's nothing to return to. Also, as she tells Gaunt: "I dedicated my life to the service of Manwyyes. Should I abandon my vows because he needs me?" This is another theme we will see recurring throughout the run of GrimJack: everybody, even the most miserable of SOBs, needs somebody. Sometimes, even if it is as a nemesis rather than an ally.

This first GrimJack story, the two-part "Mortal Gods," wraps up with such a wonderfully cynical exchange that I want to let it speak for itself.


And there we have the 16-page introduction of my favorite comic book character ever. Hope you liked it, because I'll be back next week with the five-part epic, "Buried Past."

COMICS: Top Ten

Well, maybe it's not a top ten list, so much as some of my favorite things about comics loosely grouped together.

BEST SINGLE ISSUE

You think I'm going to say Eightball #23, don't you? Everybody says Eightball #23. Well, as you know if you read my original review, I liked it just fine, I really liked it, in fact, but it didn't own my world. That distinction belongs to Street Angel #2. Possibly the single funniest comic I have ever read, bursting with insanely inventive characters and situations and rich and clever dialogue, with humor both subtle and slapstick, I simply loved every inch of this book. (Caveat: I'm not even 100% sure it was released during 2004; maybe it was late 2003. But 2004 is when I first read it. So there.)

Honorable Mentions: Yes, yes, Eightball #23. You happy? Also, New Frontier #5. That was the issue that finally got me into the series. After waiting four issues to click into what everyone else was raving about, issue #5 blew my socks off. It was the best mainstream, superhero-type single issue of the year (is that enough qualifiers?).

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FAVORITE WRITER

At the beginning of the year, I might've said Robert Kirkman or Brian Bendis. But some lackluster extracurricular projects (Kirkman's 2099 and Captain America and Bendis' Avengers Disassembled) kind of took the shine off both those apples. Now, I think there's no question it's Brian K. Vaughan, whose Y: The Last Man has long been my favorite continuing series, whose Runaways was entertaining if light, and whose new Ex Machina is tremendous, funny and controversial and creepy and original.

Honorable Mention: James Kochalka, whose American Elf is the best graphic novel of the year (or TPB, or whatever the hell you want to classify it as), and whose Peanut Butter and Jeremy collection was cute and touching and a pure joy (though I'm pretty sure it came out last year, but I read it this year. So there. Again).

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FAVORITE CONTINUING SERIES

I just said it, right above! Y: The Last Man, much like one of my favorite TV shows, Lost, has a fantastic overarching mystery, several smaller mysteries generated by the fantastic supporting cast, and the ability to create genuine suspense with each issue's cliffhanger.

Honorable Mentions: Street Angel, Fables, She-Hulk, Girl Genius, Invincible.

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WHAT THE HELL?? OF GRANT MORRISON

The Good: We3, my favorite limited series, is just lovely, some of the best visual storytelling I've ever seen (which is what makes Frank Quitely my favorite artist), with an animal cast that's all too human. Can't wait for the finish.

The Bad: The first issue of JLA: Classified did nothing but irritate me. I have no desire to get the second issue.

The What the Hell??: I did get the second issue of Seaguy, and I wished I hadn't. I was even more lost than after the first. I didn't bother with the third. As I've said before, I don't mind being challenged by a writer, but it bothers me when it seems the writer is mocking me with nonsense.

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FAVORITE LIMITED SERIES

I just said it! We3! Pay attention!

Honorable Mentions: The New Frontier, Challengers of the Unknown, and of course, some other thing I'm probably forgetting.

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BEST SERIES I'VE ONLY READ IN TPB SO FAR

Hard Time, just edging out Sleeper.

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BEST TREND FOR THIS YEAR

Getting the "fun" back into "funny books". You can take your Identity Crisis and go sulk and brood in your dark and gritty comics world. My favorite books of the year made me laugh. Street Angel, of course, led the pack (except for the boring PSA that was issue #4), as did another new B&W indie series, the terrifically funny Scurvy Dogs. Phil Foglio's Girl Genius continued in its always reliable comedic ways. And even the Big Two were able to stop scowling long enough to release Plastic Man (which was uneven, but more than worthwhile; the more recent issues have really been great, especially the one with President Lex Luthor channeling Dubya by way of Woozy Winks) and She-Hulk (my favorite Marvel title right now).

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BEST TREND FOR NEXT YEAR

Everything old is new again. Grimjack, my favorite comic ever, is coming back! The news that Ostrander and Truman were reviving the long-dormant (due to legal issues) series was my single favorite moment in comics this year. Oh yeah. Also returning in '05: Mike Baron's Badger, Peter David's The Incredible Hulk, and Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! (the last in TPB form only, not new issues, sadly, but still, that's some good news).

COMICS: Wed. 12/8/04

I bought four comics. Two days later, I've still only read three of them. I'm slow.

She-Hulk: I love this comic. I prefer when Bobillo draws it -- something about that baby-faced She-Hulk, and his other non-traditional depictions of Marvel characters, really gives me a kick. But the writing is consistently entertaining no matter who's doing the art. I like the effort that goes into the minor characters. For example, I have to imagine no one has ever given as much thought to Titania as Dan Slott does this issue.

Powers: Nothing really happened this issue, did it? A lot of treading water. A lot of talk talk talk about whether it's right for heroes to challenge the law and use their powers openly. Then some nobody in a costume died, probably killed by a cop. Which might've been interesting, if they had actually dealt with it in this issue, instead of cliffhanging it. Pretty boring overall.

Punisher: I was a couple pages in, and one panel with Frank's face made me think, that looks like Bill Reinhold art. Which is unusual for me; I'm hardly an expert on artistic styles. But I was right, he's the inker. I had a little late '80s flashback, to when Reinhold was doing the art for Mike Baron's Punisher. As well as Baron's Badger. Those were the days. I wish Mike Baron were still writing comics. I mean, mainstream comics that have a future, not the ultra-obscure titles for mini-mini publishers that he seems to release once a year, which then disappear after the first issue (Faro Korbit, anyone?). In fact, he appears to have released a new book last month, The Detonator, which I've never even heard of. (It was scheduled for November, anyway; maybe it's not actually out yet.) And he's talking about a Badger revival for mid-2005. New issues of Grimjack and Badger scheduled for next year? Heaven!!

What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Punisher. Pretty good issue.

Fables: Haven't read it.

Also picked up (but haven't read) the first TPB of Ed Brubaker's Catwoman. I'd been resisting this, because I bought the first couple-three issues when they first came out, then decided to drop the title. But Ian's enthusiasm for Brubaker's Sleeper recently got me to pick up the first trade of that series, and I really enjoyed it, so now I'm on a mini-Brubaker kick, I guess. Next up: Gotham Central.