Grendel, KY Vol. 1

Artwork and plot are good. Has a cool seventies vibe. They needed to have read Beowulf though.

Grendel, Kentucky #1Set in the early 70’s, this story involves a monster, an all-girl biker gang and the best weed in all of Kentucky. When her adoptive father is killed in a bear attack and her brother comes to get her for the funeral Marnie and her whole gang ride back to her home time to pay their last respects. Grendel has one thing going for it, it has the best harvests of weed in the state, in fact most of the crops around the area are always prosperous, could that have anything to do with the creature living in the coal mine?I really liked this first issue, it felt more character focused than going straight in for the monster reveals to grab you attention, saying that the first pages are a montage of the father gearing himself up for what looks like all out war. We then get introduced to Denny and then Marnie, who is having issue with her role as biker gang leader. I’m getting a vibe that this could be a good mix of Sons of Anarchy and Supernatural all rolled in with the 70’s weed culture, which should be quite interesting going forward. With the name and from a letter at the end of the comic this has references to Beowulf and I wonder how closely it will follow that story. There is more backstory to come and a big supernatural town conspiracy that I am sure will end up with a big biker gang fight, they love that sort of thing.I would say this issue would be a 7 out of 10, and has an ending that leaves you wanting more.

The leader of an all-woman biker gang returns home to avenge her father’s death. Swift, gory, fun riff on Beowulf populated by backwoods weed farmers and take-no-shit Kentuckians. The book anthologizes a four-part graphic story: there’s hell of a movie to be made of this. A straightforward thing done as well as it might be. Recommended.