Broken Frontier

***** WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PIECE IS WRITTEN BY A PAUL GRIST FANATIC. PLEASE DO NOT LET THAT TAINT YOUR FEELINGS ON THE VALIDITY OF THIS ARTICLE *****
Paul Grist is beyond a shadow of a doubt the single most talented comics creator working today. His books range in topic from Superhero to Cop Drama to the Human Drama, all with a flawless panache that is unmistakably Grist. His comics have a very unique British perspective on storytelling and character that is quite a bit apart from mainstream comics. His artistic style dances tenderly between absolute minimalism and traditional comic narrative. When you first pick up one of his books, you’re struck by how simple the art is, but, upon deeper examination, you’ll see it is anything but.

Grist’s two major ongoing works are Jack Staff and Kane, both currently printed by Image Comics. Despite sharing the same style of art, the books couldn’t be further apart. Jack Staff is a superhero story that experiments with non-linear narrative like few superhero books have done before. The book has a pseudo-anthology style, following several sets of main characters all living in Castletown. The seemingly disparate stories bring the town’s super beings together in some truly unique battles that never end the way you’d expect, and never leave the characters untouched. Image recently released the entire self-published black and white first volume in a gorgeous trade paper back, which is very reasonably priced for the huge stack of content. To be honest, this really is some of the best superhero work being done, and it’s certainly some of the most inventive.

This upcoming week, we see the re-release of the 2nd Kane trade. Kane is Grist’s pulpy detective story that follows formerly suspended cop Kane’s return to the New Eden Police Force, and everyone is out to get him. The crooks he busted, the cops he "betrayed", and, in this volume, a man in a pink bunny suit. All is made clear upon reading, trust me.

Kane is a stylish tour de force exploring the line that all cops walk, and what happens when one decides which side he’s on. Of course, the beauty is that you are never quite sure which side that is. Kane is obviously a moralistic, driven man, but, the accidental shooting of his partner has haunted him, and informs every decision he makes. Grist manages to sculpt the mood and, like Jack Staff, the plot twists, to tell a tale that has all of the cornerstones of the genre, while still managing to surprise at every plot point.

Image is repackaging all of the Kane trades, and will publish the uncollected Kane issues and perhaps even some new stuff as well.

Grist has also done a few other books, including the recently collected Absent Friends with Phil Elliott, which is a series of vignettes about being a young person in the 90’s, which is pretty wonderful. Grist is also currently publishing Burglar Bill, a much lighter cops and robbers story, following an ill-fated burglar and the equally ill-fated cops who are chasing him.

The only real negative to be said about Grist is his books are far from regular. But, he’s been self-publishing up until recently, and now that Image is collecting a lot of his work, he seems to be getting back on track. To be honest, if you’ve never read Grist before, there’s plenty of catching up you can do before you notice how late the current full color Jack Staff Vol. 2 is.

GUIDING LINE: Grist really has shown a huge amount of range, and a superb narrative style. Yet, for some reason, Paul Grist goes somewhat unknown in America. Although I’m not the first to trumpet his achievements, add me to that increasingly long list. This guy is a dynamo, be it behind a typewriter or on a drawing board, and there’s virtually no one doing as many daring and invocative things in comics today.

- Josh Fialkov