The Legend of...

Hellbrandt Grimm

This is a "Warhammer Monthly presents" graphic novel, although at 64 pages it's not a particularly big one. It's a simple soft-cover style, the kind used by a lot of comic books when they produce special collections.

The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm is a collection of short stories rendered in a comic book format, all about the title character. Apparently he also appears regularly in the Warhammer Monthly comic.

If you're not familiar with him, he's a hard-bitten mercenary warrior who stalks through the grim world of Warhammer Fantasy, taking nasty jobs and always keeping his word. His trademark is the strange scar across his face, reminiscent of a slash by three claws.

This collection has 9 short tales of Hellbrandt Grimm (I'm sure just by his name you can tell that he's not a happy-go-lucky kind of guy) and his gritty sword-and-just-a-little-sorcery adventures. They're all written by Mitchel Scanlon, but they are illustrated by several different folks, so every couple of tales the art style will change completely. These are all pretty good artists, though, so none of them come out really ugly... or at least, none of them look like they are accidentally ugly. The art really shines in some places and is at worst so-so in others. Which illustrators you like will probably depend on your personal tastes, but there's a nice variety here.

So, on to the stories themselves! Well, one thing I kind of disliked was the utter lack of character development on the part of the main character. Grimm is portrayed as being so tight-lipped and mysterious that we never get the slightest insight into what he's thinking... in fact, all of the tales are narrated by someone else who is telling a story about Hellbrandt Grimm. Even when someone describes Grimm as having been enslaved by orcs as a boy, Grimm neither confirms nor denies the truth of the tale, leaving it as a merely "possible" origin. From the tales we learn that he's ruthless, extremely competent (oh, a few foes slow him down occasionally, but no one appears who actually beats him at anything), and always keeps his word.

Now some of the mysteriousness is for effect. Several tales depend on Grimm pulling a surprise on a foe, so the author wants the audience kept in the dark, too. But it does seem odd to have the folks who encounter Grimm show a lot more change and character development than the main character himself. Still, for some kinds of "tough guy" fiction, that's pretty much the norm, and they seem to be doing their best to depict the title character as the epitome of the "grim warrior."

As far as action goes, of course, there's plenty. Grimm fights warriors, thieves, and the occasional monster. In fact, it almost seems odd that there aren't more monsters, but certainly the human foes are dangerous enough.

Overall, The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm is an entertaining action comic, one where you know that the title character will always end up winning, but it isn't always obvious how. Several tales had cute twists, and the comic was fairly entertaining, so I think it's a worthwhile purchase, especially if you like this style of comic. It might be a hair pricey at $6.95 for a black and white comic, but I think the quality is decently high and I've certainly paid a lot more than that for a comic this size before. That's not a particularly unreasonable price these days.

I give it a 4 for style and a 3 for substance.

The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm
The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm Capsule Review by Frank Sronce on 28/11/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) 9 little legends about Hellbrandt Grimm Product: The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm Author: Mitchel Scanlon Category: Graphic Novel Company/Publisher: Games Workshop Line: Black Library Cost: $6.95 Page count: 64 Year published: 2002 ISBN: 1-84154-239-3 SKU: 6010 0299 022 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Frank Sronce on 28/11/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	The Legend of... Hellbrandt Grimm This is a "Warhammer Monthly presents" graphic novel, although at 64 pages it's not a particularly big one. It's a simple soft-cover style, the kind used by a lot of comic books when they produce special collections. The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm is a collection of short stories rendered in a comic book format, all about the title character. Apparently he also appears regularly in the Warhammer Monthly comic. If you're not familiar with him, he's a hard-bitten mercenary warrior who stalks through the grim world of Warhammer Fantasy, taking nasty jobs and always keeping his word. His trademark is the strange scar across his face, reminiscent of a slash by three claws. This collection has 9 short tales of Hellbrandt Grimm (I'm sure just by his name you can tell that he's not a happy-go-lucky kind of guy) and his gritty sword-and-just-a-little-sorcery adventures. They're all written by Mitchel Scanlon, but they are illustrated by several different folks, so every couple of tales the art style will change completely. These are all pretty good artists, though, so none of them come out really ugly... or at least, none of them look like they are accidentally ugly. The art really shines in some places and is at worst so-so in others. Which illustrators you like will probably depend on your personal tastes, but there's a nice variety here. So, on to the stories themselves! Well, one thing I kind of disliked was the utter lack of character development on the part of the main character. Grimm is portrayed as being so tight-lipped and mysterious that we never get the slightest insight into what he's thinking... in fact, all of the tales are narrated by someone else who is telling a story about Hellbrandt Grimm. Even when someone describes Grimm as having been enslaved by orcs as a boy, Grimm neither confirms nor denies the truth of the tale, leaving it as a merely "possible" origin. From the tales we learn that he's ruthless, extremely competent (oh, a few foes slow him down occasionally, but no one appears who actually beats him at anything), and always keeps his word. Now some of the mysteriousness is for effect. Several tales depend on Grimm pulling a surprise on a foe, so the author wants the audience kept in the dark, too. But it does seem odd to have the folks who encounter Grimm show a lot more change and character development than the main character himself. Still, for some kinds of "tough guy" fiction, that's pretty much the norm, and they seem to be doing their best to depict the title character as the epitome of the "grim warrior." As far as action goes, of course, there's plenty. Grimm fights warriors, thieves, and the occasional monster. In fact, it almost seems odd that there aren't more monsters, but certainly the human foes are dangerous enough. Overall, The Legend of Hellbrandt Grimm is an entertaining action comic, one where you know that the title character will always end up winning, but it isn't always obvious how. Several tales had cute twists, and the comic was fairly entertaining, so I think it's a worthwhile purchase, especially if you like this style of comic. It might be a hair pricey at $6.95 for a black and white comic, but I think the quality is decently high and I've certainly paid a lot more than that for a comic this size before. That's not a particularly unreasonable price these days. I give it a 4 for style and a 3 for substance.