Customer Reviews

GrimJack: The Manx Cat

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There were many great comics in the 1980s. GrimJack was among the best of them. The pulp noir science-fantasy comic created by John Ostrander and Timothy Truman was introduced as a back-up strip in another comic in 1983, then ran for 80 issues and an original graphic novel between 1984 and 1991, ending only when publisher First Comics went belly-up. The comic was, in many ways, ahead of its time and, a few 80s hairstyles and character designs aside, still holds up remarkably well today. For various reasons these wonderful stories remained out of print for over a dozen years before IDW got ahold of the rights and started publishing collected editions in 2005, beginning with The Legend of GrimJack, Vol. 1; I highly recommend picking them up. IDW also published a new GrimJack story, GrimJack: Killer Instinct.

This book, GrimJack: The Manx Cat, collects a story originally serialized at ComicMix in 33 short segments between October 2007 and July 2008, with writing and art by the original creative team of John Ostrander and Timothy Truman. This story takes place after Killer Instinct and before the first issues of the original series, which may be found in the GrimJack Omnibus, Volume 1. It's a rollicking good tale of GrimJack's first experience with The Manx Cat, an artifact with some interesting properties that was featured in GrimJack's first tale in '83 and subsequently became almost a running gag in the comic, as GrimJack found himself tasked with its recovery time and again.

Because this story was originally published a few pages at a time instead of as a monthly comic, the flow of this book is quite different from most other comic collections; with mini-climaxes every 4-6 pages instead of every 22, the plot moves along very quickly, flowing almost more like an old newspaper serial than a modern comic; the format leaves us with a story high on incident but at the expense of depth -- the story is basically a single narrative without subplots, with plenty of opportunities for pithy observations but not much space for more ongoing ruminations. The story also features, and in some case introduces, a number of old friends sure to bring a smile to the face, and sometimes a tear to the eye, of old fans.

As far as accessibility, this book contains all the information you need to enjoy the story on its own, but it will definitely be a more rewarding experience for fans than newcomers. If you've never read GrimJack before, I recommend starting with the original comics, but if you don't want to make that kind of commitment, I'd recommend at least having read GrimJack: Killer Instinct before you dive into The Manx Cat.

I'll give this story ***½ stars; if you're new to GrimJack, knock it down to ***, as this is a story that, while readable, will likely not be terribly satisfying to those unfamiliar with the characters. If, on the other hand, you're a fan, round up to ****, as this is a fast, fun adventure featuring plenty of old friends with whom it's a pleasure to finally spend time again after far too long.