Grendel: Red, White, and Black

I bought this for $2 at a garage sale along with every other graphic novel there, and I wasn't expecting much more than a Spiderman/Daredevil/ninja thingie that I could keep in the classroom for my students to read. It's actually a very dark book with experimental, superb writing and art—even the "extra" characters are interesting and sympathetic enough that you're kinda bummed out when they get introduced and chopped to sashimi in 3 or 4 panels. The main character is a sort of villain and eloquent nihilist, and when he got killed in the end by that werewolf (spoiler) I was probably sadder than I was when my pet mouse died on Christmas Day when I was a kid. Time's a holocaust, eh?

RATING: 88%

(Image from comicmastersonline.com.)