2000 Dark Horse comics, 203 pages

I was given the entire collection of the Grendel comics to read but the combination of small print, the font choice, and the coloring just fried my failing eyes. Fortunately, the last offering in the series is an illustrated novel. Really, I wish we had more of these illustrated large print novels for us geezers to read.

I would describe the Grendal setting as Star Wars set on earth, as done by Quinton Tarantino. This is a dystopian dictator world policed by a loosely bound death cult of mercenaries with clan allegiances—essentially a global feudal Japan as a dystopian future with energy weapons. Of course the author makes every excuse possible for sword fights. Aside from the obligatory samurai weaponry we have the killer babes that no comic can be without. This, ironically, is the story’s strong point. The ink work is spare and harsh with a Buck Rogers on meth feel.

Past Prime is the story of Grendal Susan, a disgraced bodyguard of the slain heir to the global throne. She is on a redemptive suicide quest to find ‘The Paladin’ a 12 foot tall cyborg that went into hiding or was perhaps killed after the death of its master. The bulk of the tale takes place in the Himalayas. This quest is done well, and the combat is very nicely done. Greg is the first author I have read that actually refers to the feint ‘the fake’ that no good real life fighter is without but no fictional hero ever seems to have in his arsenal. Greg Rucka did an admirable job of introducing the first time reader to a long running series at its end point. I did not feel lost at all.

This was a good smooth read, a Three Musketeers bar of its literary kind.