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Batman Grendel #1
Batman/Grendel: Devil's Riddle
BATMAN/GRENDEL pits the relentless determination of the Dark Knight Detective against the diabolic methodology of Hunter Rose, the first incarnation of Matt Wagner's now-classic creation, Grendel. While Bruce Wayne and Hunter Rose play power games in Gotham's high society, Batman finds himself up against a new and vicious foe of uncanny intellect and evil intent, one more than capable of testing the Dark Knight's formidable skills to their limits.
48 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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104 people want to read
About the author
Matt Wagner
967 books231 followersMatt Wagner is an American comic book writer and artist. In addition to his creator-owned series' Mage and Grendel, he has also worked on comics featuring The Demon and Batman as well as such titles as Sandman Mystery Theatre and Trinity, a DC Comics limited series featuring Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 12, 2025
Just recently reread this two issue series from way back. Matt Wagner's GRENDEL was a favorite book of mine at one time (the Bernie Mireault "Brian" follow up to Christine Spar being my favorite) although I gradually lost interest after Eppy Thatcher, as the far-flung future with vampires and a killer android Grendel was never to my taste.
Here we are, back to basics with Hunter Rose, the "artiste of crime" Grendel, and Matt Wagner during his experimental period where comic storytelling basics like panels and word balloons were undergoing interesting developments in his deft hands. Those who like action-packed comics art might want to avoid, as Wagner uses claustrophobic framing, complicated characterization and dense plotting to tell a tale of Hunter Rose's little vacation to Gotham and his decision to play a game with an equal (or is that a better?), a Knight instead of the usual pawns and lesser pieces he dabbles with.
There's some wonderful artwork here, in Wagner's "reduced Harvey Kurtzman period" style, and his Batman is wonderful as well, all Golden Age Detective, a brawny, broad pugilist in gray and black to stand against Grendel's lithe, fencer's form in black and white. The characterization of the two wealthy playboy personae that each pretends at is also masterful, allowing you to glimpse the keen minds that work beneath. The psyches of the two female leads are nicely drawn, each easily corruptible or manipulated, which ties in to the ongoing theme of the lives Grendel destroys or distorts in its passing. And all this pain for something that is simply a game to Rose - it makes perfect sense that the Batman villain he pretends at, to throw Bats off the track at first, is the Riddler. What's fun is realizing that Hunter brings as much zeal to his crimes as Bruce does to his crime detection. A pleasant re-read.
Here we are, back to basics with Hunter Rose, the "artiste of crime" Grendel, and Matt Wagner during his experimental period where comic storytelling basics like panels and word balloons were undergoing interesting developments in his deft hands. Those who like action-packed comics art might want to avoid, as Wagner uses claustrophobic framing, complicated characterization and dense plotting to tell a tale of Hunter Rose's little vacation to Gotham and his decision to play a game with an equal (or is that a better?), a Knight instead of the usual pawns and lesser pieces he dabbles with.
There's some wonderful artwork here, in Wagner's "reduced Harvey Kurtzman period" style, and his Batman is wonderful as well, all Golden Age Detective, a brawny, broad pugilist in gray and black to stand against Grendel's lithe, fencer's form in black and white. The characterization of the two wealthy playboy personae that each pretends at is also masterful, allowing you to glimpse the keen minds that work beneath. The psyches of the two female leads are nicely drawn, each easily corruptible or manipulated, which ties in to the ongoing theme of the lives Grendel destroys or distorts in its passing. And all this pain for something that is simply a game to Rose - it makes perfect sense that the Batman villain he pretends at, to throw Bats off the track at first, is the Riddler. What's fun is realizing that Hunter brings as much zeal to his crimes as Bruce does to his crime detection. A pleasant re-read.
September 19, 2023
(Batman Week read #12!)
1.5
I wanted so badly to love this one because I love both of the characters that make up the pair. Grendel is one of the most inventive and unique series I've ever read. I'm also a huge Matt Wagner fan, and I'll read anything with his name attached to it. Anyone who knows the first thing about me knows I have a Batman obsession, too.
Batman/Grendel: Devil's Riddle completely falls short of the mark.
Batman and Grendel are already full of potential for an excellent crossover, but Wagner's biggest problem here is that he doesn't use that potential. The fact that this is a Batman/Grendel story changes nothing, and instead it feels like one of the Grendel stories that I forget about right after reading it.
For one, Wagner clutters the pages with 4 different perspectives. I think it might work if it was just Bruce and Hunter, but 4 people in a 50-page story?? Completely unnecessary. The other two characters serve very little purpose, too, but the bulk of the story focuses on them and their troubles. It's more about them than the other two. It's like Bruce and Hunter just HAPPEN to cross paths with them, and even that doesn't happen until about halfway through.
It also just wastes the setting. The most exciting thing about this is seeing how either Grendel or Batman fit into each other's universes, how they react to each other, etc. The story could be a little more tolerable if it focused on the women but utilized the fact that they live in Gotham, but I don't even think it's mentioned, and it's certainly not obvious. This could easily be set in Grendel's city.
So I spent about 40 minutes reading only 50 pages because every page had narration for every single character and I really wasn't into it. About 30 pages in, I wonder how they're going to resolve the story with the space given. 45 pages in, I'm REALLY wondering how. Then, I get to the end and find out that this is just the first issue of a larger arc! This is why I desperately need that little "#1" on the cover. At least I didn't read Paper Girls Volume 2 first, though!
There's so little good here. Matt Wagner is an excellent writer, and I still think he does a good job here, so I guess there's that. This plot is just unnecessarily poor and it should be amazing. He writes a good Grendel and he writes a good Batman. Why did he go off trail and muddy it with unnecessary things while missing things this story needs?
The art is the one thing I can confidently say I loved here. This is Wagner's art at its best, displaying that he really does have talent in more than writing. It's a simple yet compelling style very much reminiscent of Mazuchelli's all-time great art in Batman: Year One. I'm so glad I own this stunning, thick, sturdy issue, but the story leaves a lot to be desired.
This has been a really fun week and I can't wait for next year's Batman week. Happy late Batman Day!!
1.5
I wanted so badly to love this one because I love both of the characters that make up the pair. Grendel is one of the most inventive and unique series I've ever read. I'm also a huge Matt Wagner fan, and I'll read anything with his name attached to it. Anyone who knows the first thing about me knows I have a Batman obsession, too.
Batman/Grendel: Devil's Riddle completely falls short of the mark.
Batman and Grendel are already full of potential for an excellent crossover, but Wagner's biggest problem here is that he doesn't use that potential. The fact that this is a Batman/Grendel story changes nothing, and instead it feels like one of the Grendel stories that I forget about right after reading it.
For one, Wagner clutters the pages with 4 different perspectives. I think it might work if it was just Bruce and Hunter, but 4 people in a 50-page story?? Completely unnecessary. The other two characters serve very little purpose, too, but the bulk of the story focuses on them and their troubles. It's more about them than the other two. It's like Bruce and Hunter just HAPPEN to cross paths with them, and even that doesn't happen until about halfway through.
It also just wastes the setting. The most exciting thing about this is seeing how either Grendel or Batman fit into each other's universes, how they react to each other, etc. The story could be a little more tolerable if it focused on the women but utilized the fact that they live in Gotham, but I don't even think it's mentioned, and it's certainly not obvious. This could easily be set in Grendel's city.
So I spent about 40 minutes reading only 50 pages because every page had narration for every single character and I really wasn't into it. About 30 pages in, I wonder how they're going to resolve the story with the space given. 45 pages in, I'm REALLY wondering how. Then, I get to the end and find out that this is just the first issue of a larger arc! This is why I desperately need that little "#1" on the cover. At least I didn't read Paper Girls Volume 2 first, though!
There's so little good here. Matt Wagner is an excellent writer, and I still think he does a good job here, so I guess there's that. This plot is just unnecessarily poor and it should be amazing. He writes a good Grendel and he writes a good Batman. Why did he go off trail and muddy it with unnecessary things while missing things this story needs?
The art is the one thing I can confidently say I loved here. This is Wagner's art at its best, displaying that he really does have talent in more than writing. It's a simple yet compelling style very much reminiscent of Mazuchelli's all-time great art in Batman: Year One. I'm so glad I own this stunning, thick, sturdy issue, but the story leaves a lot to be desired.
This has been a really fun week and I can't wait for next year's Batman week. Happy late Batman Day!!
October 11, 2018
I highly enjoy The Batman, riddles and Wagner's writing (plus his art is above average when he's at his best) but forgot HOW UTTERLY STUPID GRENDEL IS!
Without the costume, he's the nauseating side of David Niven (at least Wagner can make fun of himself)- an ego-maniacal, minus the funny, BOORISH PONCE who dresses with a lavish gaudiness and to make himself seem unassuming, "so naturally" sporting THE ULTIMATE FASHION ACCESSORY- The Unnecessary Cane!
Also an exhaustively self-congratulatory/satisfied writer, this high-bred and supremely-cultured, unconvincingly-handsome DILETTANTE named HUNTER ROSE becomes GRENDEL: a white-guy ninja (never works) with BALLERINO MOVES that GETS boo-hoo BORED FROM DOMINATING NEW YORK'S ENTIRE UNDERWORLD so he goes to Gotham to PLAY with The Batman by farting out non-riddles while very poorly pretending to be The Riddler. When in combat, he dashes around and PARRIES, (he practices his fencing in his lavish hotel) pokes and prods while undulating theatrically with his long, thin seemingly phallic ELECTRIFIED UTENSIL!
Helpful Backstory: This DASHINGLY-DAINTY, DOUCHE-JUICY DANDY is A DEVIL! He and the other GRENDORKS (not in this story) inherited some sort of horse-puked ancient evil that they use against New York's creme-of-the-crop criminals (unless he's killing cops by the dozen) with his word-balloon represented spooky voice!
***But that's all superseded by his LOVE FOR KIDS (to ensure likability to cheese-dicks) but "DELICATELY" KIDNAPS THEM in this case over a week and kisses them on the cheek while trying to scar this one for life in the vein of Wayne!***
SKIP THIS SERIES: his art is hurriedly half-assed on this one and you'll find yourself wishing it was the actual Riddler because he DOES DO AN EXCELLENT JOB WITH BRUCE, ALFRED AND THE BATMAN!
To clear any misunderstanding via the theme (gauche over-theatricality) of his description- Myself (and Grendal) are proudly pro-gay.
Without the costume, he's the nauseating side of David Niven (at least Wagner can make fun of himself)- an ego-maniacal, minus the funny, BOORISH PONCE who dresses with a lavish gaudiness and to make himself seem unassuming, "so naturally" sporting THE ULTIMATE FASHION ACCESSORY- The Unnecessary Cane!
Also an exhaustively self-congratulatory/satisfied writer, this high-bred and supremely-cultured, unconvincingly-handsome DILETTANTE named HUNTER ROSE becomes GRENDEL: a white-guy ninja (never works) with BALLERINO MOVES that GETS boo-hoo BORED FROM DOMINATING NEW YORK'S ENTIRE UNDERWORLD so he goes to Gotham to PLAY with The Batman by farting out non-riddles while very poorly pretending to be The Riddler. When in combat, he dashes around and PARRIES, (he practices his fencing in his lavish hotel) pokes and prods while undulating theatrically with his long, thin seemingly phallic ELECTRIFIED UTENSIL!
Helpful Backstory: This DASHINGLY-DAINTY, DOUCHE-JUICY DANDY is A DEVIL! He and the other GRENDORKS (not in this story) inherited some sort of horse-puked ancient evil that they use against New York's creme-of-the-crop criminals (unless he's killing cops by the dozen) with his word-balloon represented spooky voice!
***But that's all superseded by his LOVE FOR KIDS (to ensure likability to cheese-dicks) but "DELICATELY" KIDNAPS THEM in this case over a week and kisses them on the cheek while trying to scar this one for life in the vein of Wayne!***
SKIP THIS SERIES: his art is hurriedly half-assed on this one and you'll find yourself wishing it was the actual Riddler because he DOES DO AN EXCELLENT JOB WITH BRUCE, ALFRED AND THE BATMAN!
To clear any misunderstanding via the theme (gauche over-theatricality) of his description- Myself (and Grendal) are proudly pro-gay.
September 14, 2023
Disclaimer, this is the very first time that i have come to read about Grendel , the details are still foggy but what i learned was that he's basically a Venom/spiderman lookalike thief , and he's smart enough to fool Batman so there's that.
As a introduction to a supposed "fascinating" character , i found this book very confusing and filled with a lot of , what felt like , unnecessary dialogues . The art however was very neat although inconsistent at times . I still am confused about what happened in the story at certain points and this book in itself felt like a introduction to Grendel . Batman's role was tertiary and a lot of focus fell on 2 female side characters instead .
Overall , this piqued my interest for the next book , but i felt this wasnt all that great a book since it barely made me knowledgable about Grendel and it basically felt very muddled for majority of the pages
As a introduction to a supposed "fascinating" character , i found this book very confusing and filled with a lot of , what felt like , unnecessary dialogues . The art however was very neat although inconsistent at times . I still am confused about what happened in the story at certain points and this book in itself felt like a introduction to Grendel . Batman's role was tertiary and a lot of focus fell on 2 female side characters instead .
Overall , this piqued my interest for the next book , but i felt this wasnt all that great a book since it barely made me knowledgable about Grendel and it basically felt very muddled for majority of the pages
October 26, 2021
I like Matt Wagner, the writer/ artist here who always has an indie sensibility even when working on mainstream characters. This could have been just an easy money grab, with his Grendel character teaming up with megastar character Batman in a crowd pleasing phoned in plot.
Not Wagner’s style.
He constructs here a very clever, intricately planned story that revolves around two women in Gotham City whose lives intertwine around those of Batman and Grendel. Grendel the villain, Batman the hero. Sort of. The story and art are very dense, and Wagner packs a huge amount of detail into each page, so much so that it can be challenging to follow.
Stick with it, though, it does reward the effort. Style AND substance.
Not Wagner’s style.
He constructs here a very clever, intricately planned story that revolves around two women in Gotham City whose lives intertwine around those of Batman and Grendel. Grendel the villain, Batman the hero. Sort of. The story and art are very dense, and Wagner packs a huge amount of detail into each page, so much so that it can be challenging to follow.
Stick with it, though, it does reward the effort. Style AND substance.
May 12, 2024
Picked this up today and was hoping it would be amazing. I honestly disliked it a lot. First off, there were too many narrators "talking." Too much art was squeezed into the pages, it was a lot of story but it was not evenly paced, plus I didn't like the artwork, but I am just coming off of reading Jack Kirby's New Gods so my standards are insanely high right now. Also, I didn't find the story anything special, it was a mystery we have seen so many times before just with new characters plugged into the rolls and repackaged slightly. I was constantly finding reasons to put this book down and do something, anything else. I am not going to bother trying to locate part two.
August 23, 2020
Disjointed plot with scenes that make no sense overall. Very crude artwork even for early 90s. I’ve gotten spoiled by Johns, Loeb, Morrison, Miller, Snyder in recent years, and art by Lee, Daniel, etc.
December 16, 2018
Soaked up the 90s comic nostalgia
January 24, 2019
Two issue mini-series. Not as good as the Grendel vs Shadow story, but I'm glad I read it. The look and feel of this comic was definitely inspired by Dark Knight Returns.
February 11, 2023
Matt Wagner I love you but these fonts gave me a headache, so I just skipped a lot of the narration. Sorry.
October 22, 2023
Great story with some superb splash panels.
April 9, 2024
I've developed a crush on the red head, I hope Grendel doesn't kill her next issue.
December 18, 2024
El buen oficio de Matt Wagner construye paralelismos sólidos entre ambos enmascarados en un crossover denso y de lectura espesa que apunta a sus lectores más acérrimos.
June 29, 2008
It's late but I'm not tired so I thought I'd revisit the meeting of Grendel and the Batman. Matt Wagner does a bang up job with this story. The plot is good and the way Wagner lays out frames is cool. It definitely seemed ahead of its time when this was published in '93. I also fully dig Wagner's art, sort of 50's with a modern twist. And he draws the old Batman, the Bob Kane Batman! Dark, tense and entertaining.
January 20, 2014
It's not bad- definitely has a '90s style of artwork. I'm not going to lie- I was hoping Grendel was, like, actual Grendel-style monster from Beowulf. Little disappointed. :)
Also, someone cut out page 7/8 from BOTH of the copies of this at the library- so if anyone could break down what was worth extracting on those pages, I would love to know!
Also, someone cut out page 7/8 from BOTH of the copies of this at the library- so if anyone could break down what was worth extracting on those pages, I would love to know!
January 3, 2013
Piece of crap!
January 16, 2026
It does very little to redeem everyone having a different cursive writing style in their thoughts
and some of them are stylistically torn so you can't even read it!!! for no narrative reason
and some of them are stylistically torn so you can't even read it!!! for no narrative reason
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews