Thursday, December 08, 2022
This isn't sexual harassment, it's, uh, part of your training! Sure.
I don't think I've blogged a lot of Grimjack: it wasn't my favorite First title, but I picked up more than a few on the strength of today's artist. From 1989, Grimjack #59, "Still Waters" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Flint Henry, inks by Jeff Easley.
Grimjack is allegedly training possible new love interest Layla, when mid-spar he goes in for a surprise kiss. Layla's not not-interested, but wanted the training; 'Jack plays it off as an object lesson: if he could get close enough for that, he was too close. But then, time for today's case, a noirish little number: a woman wants to find out if her husband, or her son, is the one trying to kill the other. Of course, since this was the extradimensional Cynosure, the woman was "an aging water nymph" and the father and son were big-brained Kezors, bred for photographic memory and record keeping where computers wouldn't work, or data was too incriminating to keep on one.
The son had been taken in by a creepy, culty Fagin type, a Skeksis-looking thing; who wouldn't mind the son getting the dad's inheritance. The son claims the dad is trying to kill him, and sure, he is; but he claims it's self-defense, that the son had tried to have him killed already. Grimjack had done his research, though: in the Kezors' belief system, the dad had been dishonored and cast out for having a kid outside of their people, and couldn't get to heaven while the son lived. The dad claims that doesn't concern him, but 'Jack understands--well--how what you believe when you're young can change.
The found-family of criminals try to whack the dad, and get shot up for their trouble. The son denies involvement, saying he left when they wanted to hurt his mom; but the dad repeats his accusations. Distraught, the mom begs 'Jack for an answer, but he has to admit, it was a coin toss. Neither? Both? Who could tell, but it was six of one and a half-dozen of another; she would have to make a choice and live with it. Again, pretty noir! I know I have the last issue of the series--one of First's last monthly books--and at a glance, it had Flint Henry art too. Not sure if he stayed all the way through, though.
So who died, the son or the father?
ReplyDeleteNeither! The mom chose security, to stay with the dad, both of them cutting ties with the son. "A good compromise leaves everyone mad," but I'm not sure that was good.
ReplyDeleteFlint Henry does stay on as regular artist from about issue 55 (when the book does a big time jump) until the final issue. There's some other artists in there - Steve Pugh draws the Demon Wars story, Kelley Jones does a 2-parter about GrimJack going to prison - but I think Henry draws around two dozen issues, so pretty close to what Tom Mandrake did.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I like about this series is contrasting how the three major artists - Henry, Mandrake, and Tim Truman - each depict the city, because they all take pretty different approaches.