Tuesday, November 24, 2009

From the Crypt v.2, Item 9: The Devils I Know


7/1/93 (Happy Belated Birthday, Mark!)

Well, unintentionally, I'm continuing the theme of Hell and the Devil with this retro post from '93. It takes two of my then-favorite characters, Daredevil and Grendel, and puts them in a dynamic, but dangerous, confrontation.

As you can see, still going with the super-musculature here. Lots of blacks (Grendel's outfit is meant to be black, but it's pretty hard to show detail like that). For me, a pretty decent dynamic to the figures. I remember enjoying drawing this a lot- like I said, a lot more dynamic than most of the things I drew (then and now), and they were two of my favorite characters.

Most of you probably know who Daredevil is, from the mediocre (at best) Ben Affleck movie if nothing else. But to sum up: Blind Lawyer by day, Blind Vigilante by night. Grendel, however, is a bit more complex. The character of Grendel (in comics) first appeared in the guise of Hunter Rose, a millionaire playboy who dressed up in a stylish costume and went out into the night (sounds like Batman, right?). But in this instance, Grendel was the villain of the piece. In fact, he only lasted for one story; he was killed at the end of it. The story's title, Devil by the Deed, began to make 'Grendel' and 'Devil' synonymous. The character became a cult hit, and was revisited repeatedly, even showing a meeting with Batman, and eventually, Hunter Rose/Grendel became the driving force for the entire planet. Gone was the thief/murderer Hunter Rose; in his place was Grendel, the spirit of aggression. A large number of stories were told in this future world, and how the spirit of Grendel (more metaphorical than literal) affected every single part of the world. I've not revisted the Grendel universe in many a year; perhaps it would be worth another trip. I remember quite enjoying it back in the day.

Anyway, the picture: mostly, I just thought it was a nice opportunity to take two 'devil' characters and put them together. Plus, with Daredevil being a pretty close analogue to Batman, I thought it would work well. No story beyond that.

Happy Thanksgiving to all; I'll be back sometime next week.

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