What do you think?
Rate this book
Grendel #15
Grendel: Devil's Odyssey
Grendel Prime searches the stars for a new home for mankind, and Matt Wagner returns to his darkest creation!
As civilization comes to an end on Earth, the final Grendel Khan gives Grendel Prime a new Find a perfect planet to be the new home for the human race. But will the deadly and relentless paladin ultimately save humanity... or destroy it?
Features a bonus cover gallery with all standard comic-series covers by Matt Wagner and an all-star run of variant covers by guest artists Fabio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Tyler Crook, Dan Schkade, Ben Stenbeck, and others!
Collects Devil's Odyssey #1–8.
As civilization comes to an end on Earth, the final Grendel Khan gives Grendel Prime a new Find a perfect planet to be the new home for the human race. But will the deadly and relentless paladin ultimately save humanity... or destroy it?
Features a bonus cover gallery with all standard comic-series covers by Matt Wagner and an all-star run of variant covers by guest artists Fabio Moon, Gabriel Bá, Tyler Crook, Dan Schkade, Ben Stenbeck, and others!
Collects Devil's Odyssey #1–8.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 11, 2022
About the author
Matt Wagner
958 books236 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 13, 2021
A little Earth after disaster thing here, and I admit I've not kept completely up with Grendel since the Orion Assante stories.
The cyborg Grendel is tasked to leave Earth with enough genetic stock to re-start the human race, etc. on a new planet.
Avoiding spoilers, Wagner creates some interesting societies out there in the beyond. The story may end in way most do not expect, I know I did not, and the final page leads me to believe more Grendel is forthcoming.
note: read as digital floppies.
The cyborg Grendel is tasked to leave Earth with enough genetic stock to re-start the human race, etc. on a new planet.
Avoiding spoilers, Wagner creates some interesting societies out there in the beyond. The story may end in way most do not expect, I know I did not, and the final page leads me to believe more Grendel is forthcoming.
note: read as digital floppies.
January 5, 2022
Grendel prime stories have always weighted much lower then the Hunter Rose Grendel Stories. But my love of Hunter Rose still causes me to pick up the Grendel Prime stuff. And I think this might be my favorite Grendel Prime story. Its Matt Wagner doing Battlestar Galactica, as Grendel Prime looks for a new world to repopulate with clones of the Grendel Khan and his family. I have always loved Matt Wagners art, and it looks great here. It was fun to see him return to this after returning to Mage.
February 2, 2022
At long last, Wagner returns to the Grendel saga and takes it to the final frontier! This series is well worth the wait. Grendel Prime is one of my favorite characters in comics and through his mission to seek out new worlds to continue the clan, we learn a little more about him (but not so much as to tarnish his mystique). We also visit worlds that are caustic reflections of our own current society. Skillfully illustrated and colored by father and son - it may be the best this devilish saga has ever looked. Vivat Grendel!
June 3, 2022
Grendel: Devil's Odyssey provides the reader with breathtaking colors, action, and humor. The artistic and narrative style that Matt Wagner creates transports readers to an Outerspace adventure similar to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (with more blood, of course). In this journey, Wagner provides an escape from the many stresses of the current world while also guiding how readers may be able to navigate said situations.
Overall, this collection of Grendel Prime has been a treat, and I look forward to reading more of this story.
Overall, this collection of Grendel Prime has been a treat, and I look forward to reading more of this story.
August 7, 2023
I was an early fan of (and still prefer) the original Hunter Rose Grendel, but I followed the story and subsequent Grendel incarnations. However I lost track somewhere in the many Grendel Prime adventures and find the cyborg version less interesting than the human Grendels.
This adventure has its moments and I always enjoy Wagner’s art, but the visits to several planets in search of a possible new Earth are pretty simple stories. There is a Gulliver’s Travels feel to them, as Wagner admits in his intro, and they do allow some reflective commentary on our current Earth’s real problems (including a satisfying Trump takedown). But it all seems to lead to a scenario which allows Grendel Prime to continue doing what he does best, what he was created to do….fight and kill.
This adventure has its moments and I always enjoy Wagner’s art, but the visits to several planets in search of a possible new Earth are pretty simple stories. There is a Gulliver’s Travels feel to them, as Wagner admits in his intro, and they do allow some reflective commentary on our current Earth’s real problems (including a satisfying Trump takedown). But it all seems to lead to a scenario which allows Grendel Prime to continue doing what he does best, what he was created to do….fight and kill.
January 17, 2022
Glad for new stuff
Been reading Grendel since the beginning and I really think this is a great addition with a point for the times we live in
Been reading Grendel since the beginning and I really think this is a great addition with a point for the times we live in
May 11, 2022
Very enjoyable and dementedly fun.
November 30, 2022
Grendel Prime: The Man
Mat Wagner turns out yet another great Grendel Prime story. I love this one. Can”t wait for the Next one.
Mat Wagner turns out yet another great Grendel Prime story. I love this one. Can”t wait for the Next one.
May 13, 2022
Grendel is one of my all-time favorite series, and I've been really excited to read this new volume. I was even more enthused that Wagner was once again taking the story forward. The last few entries have all been tales of Hunter Rose, the original Grendel, but what drew me to the series in the first place was the far-future wasteland of War Child and Grendel Tales. I was also happy that Wagner was taking the story in a whole new direction. Grendel's dystopian future has often mixed Mad Max violence with supernatural horror, but this time Wagner throws all that out the window to serve up a full-on space opera.
The result, however, doesn't actually feel like a Grendel comic. Instead, it's more like a mix of Star Trek and Fear Agent, with Grendel Prime going from planet to planet, having short, little allegorical adventures in which he encounters alien civilizations and bludgeons his way through them. Since Grendel Prime is basically invincible, and the side characters never lasted for more than an issue or two, this series lacked the emotional punch that Grendel delivers at its best.
Nevertheless, the artwork is fantastic, the setting is a welcome change of pace, and the conclusion was just as grim as a Grendel story needs to be. This whole book felt like Wagner getting his Grendel groove back again, and the Devil's Crucible series that will hopefully come soon looks like it will bring back the nightmare fuel that might kick Grendel comics back into high gear.
The result, however, doesn't actually feel like a Grendel comic. Instead, it's more like a mix of Star Trek and Fear Agent, with Grendel Prime going from planet to planet, having short, little allegorical adventures in which he encounters alien civilizations and bludgeons his way through them. Since Grendel Prime is basically invincible, and the side characters never lasted for more than an issue or two, this series lacked the emotional punch that Grendel delivers at its best.
Nevertheless, the artwork is fantastic, the setting is a welcome change of pace, and the conclusion was just as grim as a Grendel story needs to be. This whole book felt like Wagner getting his Grendel groove back again, and the Devil's Crucible series that will hopefully come soon looks like it will bring back the nightmare fuel that might kick Grendel comics back into high gear.
November 25, 2023
One of the most ambitious and interesting series to come out of the '80s comic explosion, yet indicative today of a creator sticking with a character well beyond any reasonable expiration date.
Here, Grendel Prime, essentially Terminator with a lightsabre (simultaneously unkillable (thereby destroying all suspense and mystery from the narrative) and clumsily stupid (thereby creating ridiculous stories through happenstance and accident)), goes on a Battlestar Galactica quest to find a new home for humanity, encountering a bunch of cliched planets, based on conceits old when Star Trek first aired, before a finale featuring the most egregious pillaging of Iain M Banks's Culture novels (I know the man's dead, but his books are still in copyright), down to a character whose name is one letter removed from Banks's Diziet Sma, before a Planet of the Apes ending creates a status that's very quo for a follow-up series of yet more post-apocalypse shenanigans.
Tired and lazy work.
Here, Grendel Prime, essentially Terminator with a lightsabre (simultaneously unkillable (thereby destroying all suspense and mystery from the narrative) and clumsily stupid (thereby creating ridiculous stories through happenstance and accident)), goes on a Battlestar Galactica quest to find a new home for humanity, encountering a bunch of cliched planets, based on conceits old when Star Trek first aired, before a finale featuring the most egregious pillaging of Iain M Banks's Culture novels (I know the man's dead, but his books are still in copyright), down to a character whose name is one letter removed from Banks's Diziet Sma, before a Planet of the Apes ending creates a status that's very quo for a follow-up series of yet more post-apocalypse shenanigans.
Tired and lazy work.
August 2, 2024
Loved it!
Funny thing, several comments here from other readers who feel compelled to point out that they've only kept up with Grendel Prime stuff because they love Hunter Rose and nothing can ever measure up to Hunter. I dig Hunter too, but gotta admit, I'm over him now. I feel Matt's revisited Hunter more than enough times, but I can't get enough of the world(universe!)-expanding Grendel Prime mythos.
Is this ESSENTIAL, LIFE-CHANGING reading? Maybe not, but fuck, it's goddamn fun reading. Prime, accompanied by his guide/narrative companion/mentor, a drone who calls herself Siggy (Prime calls her "drone"), sets off with genetic material from the last great Grendel Khan to find place among the stars where humanity can be reborn. Wagner puts a great deal of thought into each alien culture and world, crafting fun and fascinating vistas (oh, and he draws the shit out of them all!) for Prime and Siggy to explore and cutting culture clashes for the reader to experience.
I'm here for the next step in Grendel Prime's journey!
Funny thing, several comments here from other readers who feel compelled to point out that they've only kept up with Grendel Prime stuff because they love Hunter Rose and nothing can ever measure up to Hunter. I dig Hunter too, but gotta admit, I'm over him now. I feel Matt's revisited Hunter more than enough times, but I can't get enough of the world(universe!)-expanding Grendel Prime mythos.
Is this ESSENTIAL, LIFE-CHANGING reading? Maybe not, but fuck, it's goddamn fun reading. Prime, accompanied by his guide/narrative companion/mentor, a drone who calls herself Siggy (Prime calls her "drone"), sets off with genetic material from the last great Grendel Khan to find place among the stars where humanity can be reborn. Wagner puts a great deal of thought into each alien culture and world, crafting fun and fascinating vistas (oh, and he draws the shit out of them all!) for Prime and Siggy to explore and cutting culture clashes for the reader to experience.
I'm here for the next step in Grendel Prime's journey!
February 17, 2022
As always with the Grendel series, just when you think it's all over and there are no more stories to tell in this universe, up pops something new, something interesting. Once again we return to the most enduring character from the Grendel universe, Grendel Prime.
We open with the collapse of the Grendel Khan's empire. Prime, now weary of constant fighting, is sent on a expedition into space to search for a new home world for humanity. In the style of the Odyssey or a violent version of The Little Prince, Prime spends some 500 years going from planet to planet before returning home, which seems - if that's possible - to have become an even more violent world.
This story paves the way for the three more announced Grendel series. I hope we will see Grendel Prime finally confronting the original spirit of Grendel, the demonic force - unseen since Eppy Thatcher - as the two characters would seem to be at odds.
We open with the collapse of the Grendel Khan's empire. Prime, now weary of constant fighting, is sent on a expedition into space to search for a new home world for humanity. In the style of the Odyssey or a violent version of The Little Prince, Prime spends some 500 years going from planet to planet before returning home, which seems - if that's possible - to have become an even more violent world.
This story paves the way for the three more announced Grendel series. I hope we will see Grendel Prime finally confronting the original spirit of Grendel, the demonic force - unseen since Eppy Thatcher - as the two characters would seem to be at odds.
April 12, 2024
The world of Orion Assante, the first Grendel Kahn, is no more. His ever faithful paladin, Grendel Prime, is tasked with locating a new planet for mankind to start over on.
This is a whole different thing. None of the stark, sleek savagery of the Hunter Rose stories, and there isn't anybody left to people an epic world full of dramas and political machinations. So what we're working with is just our protagonist and his AI sidekick versus a cold, black universe. Something great could have been made from that scenario, but it came off as a sort of throwaway. Some funny looking aliens and a bit of timely commentary.
I would love to be able to say 'classic Grendel,' but I can't. Disappointingly underwhelming. Especially after the four and five star ratings I gave previous collections.
Great art.
There's a new Dark Horse series (Devil's Crucible) coming out this summer (2024) and I am really curious about it. I'll try it for sure.
This is a whole different thing. None of the stark, sleek savagery of the Hunter Rose stories, and there isn't anybody left to people an epic world full of dramas and political machinations. So what we're working with is just our protagonist and his AI sidekick versus a cold, black universe. Something great could have been made from that scenario, but it came off as a sort of throwaway. Some funny looking aliens and a bit of timely commentary.
I would love to be able to say 'classic Grendel,' but I can't. Disappointingly underwhelming. Especially after the four and five star ratings I gave previous collections.
Great art.
There's a new Dark Horse series (Devil's Crucible) coming out this summer (2024) and I am really curious about it. I'll try it for sure.
July 2, 2022
Grendel has to explore the galaxy to see if there's any planet hospitable to redo the human race. There are some fun moments in this, exploring other planets and how their cultures work, alien to Earth. But there was one planet which started off very fun and had some moral questions which were nice to read about and consider...until you get to the Emperor or whatever who was just Donald Trump. Now, let's get this straight, Trump is garbage and evil and very stupid. But to make him a duck and then have him parrot exactly what Trump says in real life isn't satire...it's just poor writing.
Anyway, interesting concept, could've gone farther. (ICCGF)
Anyway, interesting concept, could've gone farther. (ICCGF)
June 9, 2022
Grendel Prime is sent to find a new homeworld for humanity and the result is quest, inspired by Heavy Metal magazine, from planet to planet encountering alien cultures. With some subtle (and some not so subtle, Gama Gorach and his "triumph" over losers)) commentary on contemporary culture the Paladin and his drone Siggy search for a home suitable for humanity. The art by Grendel Creator Wagner is excellent and flashbacks tie this story to the Grendel Prime tales of the past with an ending that promises more Grendel tales in the future. Reprinting Grendel: Devils Odyssey #1-5.
January 12, 2022
So the art is phenomenal and its always a pleasure to see my favorite comics series back in action...but the final issue plays with some very high space fantasy level aliens that ruin Grendel's previously maintained low-fantasy-punk vibe. That being said, its the set up for more future series that look like they could be quite promising so I might hold on final judgement until I see the rest play out.
October 11, 2022
Wagner does Heavy Metal. This is a nice set of stories about Grendel Prime encountering other cultures across the universe. The 1-2 issue stories are well-told with enough twists and turns to keep them both interesting and emotional. In the end, not a lot happens, but the path to get there is delightful.
February 17, 2026
What makes Grendel intriguing (at least to me), is that his various interactions with unique worlds, and despite his best intentions … always ends up costing the inhabitants of these planets.
In that regard. It’s a reflection on humanity, including Grendel’s quest which was brought about by the follies of said humanity.
In that regard. It’s a reflection on humanity, including Grendel’s quest which was brought about by the follies of said humanity.
August 11, 2022
To boldly go where no Grendel has gone before. Grendel Prime is sent on a mission to find a new planet that can support humanity after we'd pretty much destroyed the earth. Different for a Grendel Prime series but the story was much more basic as well.
January 5, 2022
Beautifully cartooned sci-fi; albeit insubstantial & riddled with shallow commentary*
*(the penultimate chapter will smash your ribs to powder with its sharp, pointy elbow)
*(the penultimate chapter will smash your ribs to powder with its sharp, pointy elbow)
March 26, 2023
Grendel Never Disappoints!!
Once again, the most versatile concept in comics takes a new direction that you didn’t know you wanted. Grendel is never what you expect and yet everything you want.
Once again, the most versatile concept in comics takes a new direction that you didn’t know you wanted. Grendel is never what you expect and yet everything you want.
October 28, 2023
It's ok I guess. Goofy scenarios with moral/ cautionary tales baked in. Time skip 500 years and we're back on earth in a new status quo. Half-baked but fun in parts.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews