Friday Night Fights: No corsage necessary

At their heart, superhero comics are about idealizing the qualities we'd like to see in ourselves — heroism, selflessness, courage, strength, honor. And, of course, bad-assery.

And for my money, there are few comics that stand as icons of The Bad-Ass like the various Grendel Tales mini-series. Spun-off and overseen by Grendel creator Matt Wagner, Grendel Tales told the stories of the warriors, soldiers and killers that tried to find some sort of honor in lives inspired by the legend of the original assassin, and one of the most powerful of those stories was Homecoming.

Susan Verhagen might not sound like a very impressive name, but after dealing with doubts about her role as a grendel, returning home and seemingly finding a chance at peace with her unrequited love Avril only to have it all taken away by a brutal gang — well, they don't call her Grendel for nothing.

Why don't I let Susan do the talking in a language we all understand ...


And she's just getting started!

Bad. Ass.

Just like Bahlactus!

Panel from Grendel Tales: Homecoming #3 (of 3)
Pat McEown, writer and penciller; Dave Cooper, painted art

The Pull List: 7-25-07

That thing called "work" keeps conspiring to keep me from posting as regularly as I plan, so this time around the pull list is what I actually picked up and is now sitting next to me, as expectant and goofily sweet as a puppy. Stop making those eyes at me, comics!

Awwww ... you know I can't say no to you!

Now, I've been following the main Annihilation: Conquest title, but not the various tie-ins (it's an experiment, I'll let you know how it goes). There is an exception though, and that exception is called Annihilation: Conquest: Star-Lord #1. Apparently I'm a whore for even half-way decent marketing, because I was hooked when the cover art was released months ago. I mean, look at it - that's bad-ass!

But then I realized Keith Giffen was writing it, and the hooks dug a little deeper. And then I saw the art from Timothy Green II and thought, "Well, that's perfect."

But it got better. It got this:


Here's what else I picked up:

Blue Beetle #17

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5

Crossing Midnight #9

Grendel: Behold the Devil #0

Immortal Iron Fist #7

Elephantmen #10