I'm really enjoying the GRIMM comic book. It isn't as good as the television show, but it is really close, and in some ways it has taken narrative turns that are superior to the show. If the show adopted some of these turns, it could do some amazing things. For instance, the comic book has sent Nick off on adventures in Europe, and in the television show, Nick remains stuck in Portland. There is a ton of story fodder ripe for exploitation if they writers would just bring the European and Portland settings together by sending Nick out, rather than having the Europeans come to him.
On the level of themes and ideas, this one had an interesting twist on an old idea. There have been many movies and comic books that center around the birth of an anti-christ figure. The idea of some group engineering some horrible anti-life being has been done hundreds of times. It even figured prominently in the last two books of the DARK TOWER series, which I recently read. Now, in the recent issues of GRIMM, the story has centered round an attempt by a rogue wessen to engineer a kind of evil uber-wessen from these super high powered 'pure blood' beings.
In this issue, the villain succeeds in his attempt to create this monster to rule all monsters. But to his chagrin (and moreover to the chagrin of the witch who was really behind the entire caper), the child comes out more Christlike than beastlike. The child has vast power, but also a pure heart and a good nature. Rather than engineering a villain, they engineered a hero. I thought this was a fresh thought, and it dovetails with some themes being explored in the television show. A being of vast power is easily corruptible, and often will become evil, because power itself corrupts, especially coercive power (note to self: write a blog post about corrupted persuasive power). But this does not necessarily need to be the case. Jesus, despite giving up so much power, still possessed vast power and yet was not corrupted by it. That is because He used his power to EMpower. He kept it by giving it away.
This twist on the old 'evil baby' trope was a fresh thought for me and it enriched a comic that already had a lot going for it. I like the direction they went, and I thought a lot about all the power young people have today. It may corrupt, but it also can be used for great ends.
My review is as follows:
Storyline: 4.5 Stars
Dialogue: 4 Stars
Pacing: 3 Stars
Art: 2.5 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars
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