Random Happenstance

I had to look it up, and Prohibition ended in 1933; so most of this series took place maybe a year prior. Most of it, anyway. From 2014, Grendel vs. the Shadow #1-3, story and art by Matt Wagner.

I've only read the Batman/Grendel crossover issues, so I'm not real up on the character; but this was the original Hunter Rose version: a suave, refined criminal; also ruthless and seemingly unstoppable. After helping himself to a mysterious Chinese burial urn, he reads from the scroll within and inadvertently casts himself back to the past; which to Hunter Rose wasn't just a golden age of crime to play in, but also of literacy: he quickly establishes himself in New York's literary scene, with a novel set to be published shortly. Meanwhile, with his usual brutality and knowledge of the future, Grendel begins consolidating the mobs and preparing to diversify away from alcohol and invest in war materials. That might barely be a challenge for him; but the Shadow might be!

For his part, while Grendel may in fact be a more superior breed of criminal than usual, the Shadow is not impressed. He is wrapped up in the case, though, seemingly too busy to notice his longtime agent Margo Lane considering her future with him, as she comes into money with a rich uncle's death. The Shadow manages to take Grendel's weapon but come away with a broken nose as one point; and Grendel eventually realizes he may have been looking at the past through rose-colored glasses.

I don't think I had seen this one before finding all three issues in the quarter bin, but I know Wagner had done some other Shadow work. And while I'm not positive about Hunter Rose's fate, there seems to be more than a bit of foreshadowing for what's already happened to him.

Even though I got this for less than half the price of one issue (!) I like it too much to wedge into the scanner! The page above is from "Dark Horse's website.