Product Description: Complete in one volume for the first time, the acclaimed stories that pit Gotham's dark detective against the embodiment of evil, written and drawn by Grendel creator Matt Wagner! Sleepless protector of his troubled but beloved city, Batman uncovers a new threat when Hunter Rose, the original Grendel, arrives in Gotham. It is a battle of might and minds as the Dark Knight faces off against this sophisticated and deadly assassin. Years later, Batman's ceaseless vigil is disturbed once again, this time by the twisted cyborg Grendel-Prime. Seeking an artifact of terrible dimensions, Prime will stop at nothing to achieve his ends!
Nice collection, but the material is a bit uneven I've been a Matt Wagner fan for a long time. I think his Grendel is a very compelling character, and his previous Batman work (Batman: Faces) was very interesting, so I was intrigued by the idea of these two characters crossing paths.
The first half of the book is the original 1993 Batman/Grendel crossover. The story appears to be set quite early in Batman's career, and features the original Grendel incarnation Hunter Rose. The crossover was a nice change of pace from the typical "heroes meet for the first time, beat the crap out of each other before realizing they're on the same side, team up and fight the real bad guys" story. Grendel is a villain, and a really dangerous one at that. Honestly, he's so cool and calculating that he'd make a great addition to Batman's gimmick-obsessed rogues gallery. This story does a fairly good job of capturing the classic aspects of both characters, as well as the classic Matt Wagner style. I thought there was perhaps too much time spent on the supporting characters, but the parallels Wagner established did make for a more interesting overall story.
The second half of the book contains the 1996 crossover, which apparently takes place several years after the first (Jim Gordon is considerably grayer and the Tim Drake Robin makes an appearance). In this story, Grendel Prime (from the Grendel: War Child epic) accidentally travels back to Gotham, wreaking massive havoc in his quest for the skull (and perhaps soul) of Hunter Rose. This story was a little disappointing, as it came off as a Terminator rip-off. Unlike the War Child series, I had a hard time mustering any sympathy for Grendel Prime in this story. He might as well have been a runaway robot that Batman had to put down.
The first half of the story is worthy of 4 stars; the second half barely 3. If you're not already a Grendel and/or Matt Wagner fan, I don't know how much you'd get out of a collection like this. As Batman stories go, it's perfectly decent, but not essential by any means.
Well done 2 story collection of great opposites I'm not familiar with the character of Grendel at all, but am very well read when it comes to Batman. This trade collects two stories, the first being Batman's confrontation with the hunter rose version of Grendel, the second being a Grendel from the future being sent back to present time. The first is more or an intellectual story, less fighting more talking. While the second is more of a straight up Batman fighting Grendel story. So you get a little of each with this one. Definately worth picking up if you're into either character.
If you love Matt Wagner's Batman, then you'll love this one as well. I love Matt Wagner's work on Batman. I have every trade paperback featuring Batman written by this guy. In case you don't know what they are here is the list:
Batman: Faces Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman: Trinity Batman and the Monster Men Batman and the Mad Monk Batman/Grendel
As you all know by now, Batman/Grendel collects both mini-series of the Batman and Grendel encounters. The first mini-series features Batman and the Hunter Rose incarnation of Grendel. Hunter Rose manages to cleverly and ruthlessly blackmail two women who are close friends/roommates, a man named Leonard Ross, and at the same time fool the police and Batman as well. All the fighting and action doesn't really take place until the second(and final) issue of the mini-series. I won't spoil anything beyond that. The second mini-series features Batman against a cyborg Grendel called Grendel Prime. Grendel Prime has come from the future to steal the bones(specifically the skull) of the now deceased Hunter Rose. The bones were part of a museum exhibit called Gotham City Killers, which was displaying artifacts of Batman's enemies. Unlike the first mini-series, this was an all out fight and Batman gets beat up badly at one point. Robin makes a brief appearance in the final battle and plays a key role in defeating Grendel Prime. Even though Wagner never reveals the identity of this Robin, I'm going to assume that it's Tim Drake because thankfully Robin's costume did not feature short shorts and pixie boots. Tim was the first Robin to have a costume that did not feature shorts and pixie boots(not counting Dick Grayson's Robin costume in Nightwing: Year One). With all that being said I thought this was a very nice collection and I liked the fact that a sketchbook was included at the end of the book as well. If you liked Matt Wagner's other works on Batman, make sure you get this one as well.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
