By Jacob Cordas — Kentucky has a unique position in the imagination of America. It was the original frontier, the first manifest destiny. It became a haven for mining only to become the home of some of the most violent labor wars in the country. Now, it’s shambling on from that legacy as the hills have run dry and nothing has come along to save them. 

And in those hills, there are monsters. Well, one; in this case there is one monster living in the mines and the city of Grendel has to pay it to continue its criminal survival. 

The writing by Jeff McComsey (American Terror, FUBAR) captures the joy of the calm grindhouse. It eases you into the horror that we know is right around the door. This issue takes it time giving ample room for each character, each element of the environment, each detail to breath. But even with that time, there are questions of characterization that still need to be cleared up. This is 20 pages of exposition and I still have clarity questions. It really seems like the series is taking too much time in its expositional build up.

Honestly, it could’ve been condensed down from four issues to three in this issue alone with relative ease. But maybe, the patience with its story will reveal itself to be a good thing as it progresses. Some of the best grindhouse has what seems like a slow start only to reveal that each moment was absolutely necessary.*

Besides if the art is going to look this good, I don’t mind. Tommy Lee Edwards (Mother Panic**, Hazel & Chah Cha Save Christmas) imbues the book with a scratchy and cluttered design. It creates a tension on the page while realistically depicting a city that has already declined. 

I love the way he fills the background of every page with so much trash making the human impact on the environment unignorable. Everything has a thin layer of filth helping ground the story in the generational failings that led them here. 

As first acts of grindhouse go, this is a solid start, slow but steady. It may not give you everything you’re looking for right off the bat, but no good monster movie does. They tease. 

But the question really is at the end of this issue, will the teasing lead to a satisfying climax?

Overall: This is a solid if slow start to a beautifully drawn series. 8/10

*The Spook Who Sat By The Door, probably the best Blaxploitation film ever made, is the pinnacle of this. It takes almost a half hour before you get to the plot, but you can’t cut a single second from it. 

**Mother Panic was a brutally underrated work from the Young Animal imprint. I don’t know why it was ignored. It shouldn’t have been. 

Grendel, KY #1 - REVIEW

Grendel, KY #1
Writer: Jeff McComsey
Artist: Tommy Lee Edwards
Letterer: John Workman
Publisher: AWA Studios
Price: $3.99
For two generations, the rural hill town of Grendel, Kentucky has honored its Faustian bargain with the monster living in its abandoned coal mine: a human sacrifice every season in return for agrarian prosperity the likes of which this rocky region had never before seen (including its greatest cash crop: the dankest weed in the land). When one town elder breaks this pact, Grendel’s only hope is that its prodigal daughter will return home to face down the creature of her nightmares—and bring her all-female biker gang with her.
Release Date: Sept 2, 2020
Buy It Digitally: Grendel, KY #1

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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am not qualified to do this.