Comics Review: 'GRIM' TPB #1
GRIM TPB #1 by Stephanie Phillips, Flaviano, Rico Renzi, Tom Napolitano
action
fantasy
grim reaper
mythology
occult
secret society
violence
My Rating: 5 of 5 stars
The life of a reaper is not a charmed one. Death is an eternal business, with no beginning and no end, and with no rest for the wearisome minds who snare and ferry the dead to the afterworld. Also, it sure doesn't help that human souls are petty, disconsolate, and prone to bitter violence that bleeds them dry. In GRIM v1, a proficient reaper by the name of Jessica Harrow breaks the invisible tripwire safeguarding the breathing and the departed. By accident, of course. And in doing so invokes myriad entropic mayhem and supernatural occultic misgivings. Again, the life of a reaper is not a charmed one.
Jess isn't immune to the problems associated with her duty. When she ferries the dead, they bombard her annoying questions about the afterworld (which, as it turns out, is a labyrinthine bureaucracy). When she smacks an unwilling soul on the side of the head, they complain they never got a fair shot at life (which is obvious, since nobody does). But it's more complicated than that: Jess is the only reaper who doesn't know how she died; Jess traverses the realms of life and death like no one else should; and Jess has a sinking feeling that the sly demoness in charge of the afterworld, Adira, is hiding something from her.
GRIM v1 is the perfect comic book for readers who adore dark mythos with a twist, and who adore authors who rely on character agency to propel a story forward. It's also the perfect comic book for readers allured by the precariousness of uncertainty, a book that never falls into the trap of promising more than it is capable of delivering. This is not a book about killing random people, invoking an eternal war for its own sake, and reveling in the gore in between. GRIM v1 is about Jess's insecurity, her search for her past, and how she relies on her close friends to help her define her future.
The concept and designs for this book are exquisite. Skull motifs are used sparingly but effectively (e.g., when Jess is pissed, her face contorts into a skull). Assorted demonology and demon iconography is localized (e.g., the afterworld is rife with rivers and lakes of lost souls; scythes are stylized but not to the point of excess). And the setting design is clever and fun (e.g., the afterworld's filing system ranges from old bank-style pneumatic tubes to a digital messaging board).
The character designs are slick, diverse, and carry just the right amount of familiarity to goad readers into wishing they had more to consume than they do. Jess's friends include Eddie, an 80s hair-band rocker, and Marcel, a handsome 19th Century Frenchman. Other characters include Annabel, a fit rockabilly gal, and Vincenzo, Adira's right-hand man, whose Elizabethan-style garb is truly delightful.
And the coloring is fantastic. With each passing fight, Jess encounters a sinewy mixture of muddled maroons and bawdy dark reds. With each lurid gaze into the past, readers encounter a seductive cascade of blues, light and dark, paired with a hungry and fathomless spectrum of purple that leaves little room for error.
GRIM v1 boasts impressionable characters, great visual design, and a story that deepens the intrigue with each issue. Jess's past is essential to understanding her future. But the demoness Adira has other plans. More problematic? Those plans may well include a cryptic entity-smothering creature called The End that can smash or devour anything in its path. Is it worth suffering so much destruction just to restore an outdated concept of cosmic balance?
❯ ❯ Comics Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads
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