This channel is a great source of inspiration to check out tons of indie/creator owned comics. First it was Cerebus, then Poison Elves, now Mage. These kinds of videos always give me the fuel to start putting together my own stories in my mind that could be made into future comics. Keep up the great work as always!!!
@@StrangeBrainParts With the amount of inspiration being provided by this channel, I’ll hopefully have tons of stories to tell… and hopefully when those stories get released, I would be honored if you could cover them in a video.
I discovered Hero Defined in high school, then worked my way back to Hero Discovered. Truly enjoyed both, then didn’t learn of the final volume until the early days of the pandemic. Didn’t love it as much as the first two, but now that I’m a father myself, I might view it differently given the journey. I’m glad you shined a light on this series. I love the focus on lesser known, but critically praised or overlooked comics. It sets you apart from other comic channels, and I appreciate that tremendously.
Another fine episode, Mr. Parts. Thanks for the recommendation of that edition at the end, and pointing out what you prefer about it over others. I don't have any questions, so I will admit that when you said "a man named Mirth" I went off on a reverie about the character of the same name played by Hoyt Axton in the seventies, and had to rewind a few times. Sorry for rambling; still waking up & foggy-headed. I hope to join your Patreon as soon as able. Thanks again.
I had no idea there was a Hoyt Axton song with the same name. Now I will have to look that up. I have all three versions and I can definitely say the Starblaze Edition is just lovely. You won't be disappointed if you get a good copy of it.
Great stuff. Hero Discovered was handed to me when I was 18 - a friend had them all, and gave them to me, along with his Nexus collection.I read Hero Discovered at my first Jury Duty, and I loved it, but haven't gone back since, despite my continued memory of fondness for the series. The follow-ups seem up my alley, as an older guy myself. Wagner is interesting all the time, even if not always "great". I very much like his art, and will always have a fond remembrance of how much his early works meant to me as I navigated my late teen years.
I was there at the berginning with Comico. I loved Hero Discovered. And since I have loved most of Wagner’s work since. Thanks for another great video.
I would say that is the channel that gives me the most insight when it comes to comics I really enjoy! Having read comics for decades makes me so thankful!
Love it, with this sole exception of Hero: Denied--I don't like risking children if there is no actual threat of death or ruin. Above other things I don't believe will be acted on, the Matchstick children seemed unbelievably lucky if I am to take the possible threats seriously at all. That's it, I own them all. I actually pity people who don't.
Had a chance to buy most of this series back when HASTINGS video stores were open. It almost became my 2nd home. LOL. At least that's what the staff and clerks told me. Ha ha. Hastings had them for $1.00 a piece,bagged/boarded and each issue in-GREAT-condition,also there was the complete run of: THE NAM I wish I had bought too. Still digging the old indie books of the past. GOOD work,hoss.
_Ooh_ Retrospectives like these touch a wound that's never really healed fully, that being that I had a sizeable comic collection back in the 80s & a bit into the early 90s, that was later stolen from me. Seriously-- 12 long boxes of all kinds of 80s comic goodness-- just gone. Among them were Mage & Grendel. God how I miss those books. I've thought about reacquiring some of them but I just get so down every time I start looking. It's not just about the loss of the physical objects & any perceived monetary value (though that's definitely part of it), but there was a certain violation... The time spent poring over those books, the time spent with amazing characters like good friends, & by extension, their creators. The dreams, fantasies, introspection they all inspired. It wasn't just boxes of inky paper that were stolen, it was a part of _me._ Seeing them & exploring them in ways I'd never grasped at the time is bittersweet. Like looking at photographs of a lost love that you wonder if is still out there somewhere, with no realistic hope of seeing again. I mean this genuinely, no sarcasm: Thank you for this. 😔
Somewhere in the collection, I have those wonderful Starblaze editions (Got 'em for a great price!), and fell in love with the story. I also made sure to get the issues of Grendel with the "bridging sequence." (Has that been reprinted?) The two follow-up series I haven't been able to get a hold of yet. Also, you are absolutely correct about artists adding digital blurring effects to old school line art. Knock it off, ya punks! Oh, are you planning on reviewing Wagner's update of "Devil by the Deed"?
This was a great video about one of my favorite comicbook series. I still have all three series that I collected as they were released, oh, those many years ago. Plus, all of the T-shirts. I'm still waiting (hoping🙏🏿🤞🏿) for the third series, "The Hero Denied" to be released in a hardcover format like the first two series were. If you haven't read these, do yourselves a favor, track them down, and read them. You won't be sorry. Thanx for this nostalgic trip down memory lane.
I'm a big Matt Wagner fan and I really enjoy Mage, I mean its no Grendel but its bloomin' good. Unlike many I don't rate the Discovered as significantly better than the other two. I think each has a place in both his tale, his creative development and the comics world more generally. Discovered is good stuff but I still think its creatively a little naive, as you say you see him develop in front of your eyes but he's developing his craft that will be fully realised in later Grendel work. Defined for me works really well in what I imagine is his place in the industry at that time. I think its Defined as in defined by others. I think he's much more confident and developed as a creator, well obviously after producing so much more work and the fact that it drifts a little in the middle I quite enjoy and in many ways does define the industry at the time and his place in it. Its never not entertaining as there is so much going on at the sides of the main story and it entirely entertaining. I absolutely get that Denied could be a little disappointing as the ending of an epic but, well maybe I'm an old softy, but I'm chuffed for a creator that has brought me so much happiness that when it got to his epic conclusion there was no great tragic ending. Rather he does kinda shrugs his shoulders and says "You know what, it all kinda worked out! Wow!". Again never boring and I really like the courage it has not to conform to what was expected. As for the loss of his powers at the end, well for me this speaks to his place in the industry, not his creative powers. He's no longer the figure he was, nor shown to be in Defined, in fact in some ways he's now denied, on the outside. To that end he is no longer the leader he is defined as in the second series, rather he discards that. Steps away from his need to battle the monsters of the industry and is content to do what he wants as long as it keeps his family happy, safe and looked after. He gets to deny the industry's challenges now, step away from the battle and do what he does best, create great comics. Keep on keeping on as ever your videos are brilliant and hope you can get to the stage of funding you wish to soon so we can get more, more, MORE!
Mage came out during the peak of the independant creators in the 80's. Some of the creators did better than others like Dave Sim on Cerebus, or Larson on Savage Dragon, but there were also rans like Too Much Coffee Man, Albedo, Ohmaha the Cat Dancer, and the Carrot. Mage falls somewhere in the middle for success and kept going. Kudos to Matt.
I discovered Mage: The Hero Disovered in the mid-1980s when it was being published, and it became my holy grail...so to speak...for comics. I anxiously looked forward to Mage: The Hero Defined, and I did indeed enjoy it. Alas, I did find The Hero Denied to be underwhelming, and you state a good reason for my disappointment. There was no real danger, no sense of sacrifice. The ending had been telegraphed well in advance, even with the Fisher King finally appearing in the very final issue. Many folks had assumed Kevin Matchstick would die at the end, in the manner of many heroes of epic sagas, such as the one we see here. But since Matt wagner was essentually using his own life as a blueprint for the story, would he allow Kevin to die at the end? Unfortunately, no. I'd pondered this series for a long time, and I think the story could have been worked into a better ending that would still include Kevin's family, and Kevin not being required to die, if it didn't turn out to be so predictable. WHAT IF Kevin himself rebelled against the entire idea of the Umbra Sprite returning again and again, along with the Arthurian (or Babylonian) hero being resurrected in an undending cycle to repeat the same battle endlessly? In The Hero Denied, the Umbra Sprite repeated everything he/she/it had done in The Hero Discovered, all the way to having an skyscraper with an office and a bottomless pit. Aside from the Umbra Spite and its minions being female rather than male, the only difference was that there was no independent gracklethorn who rebelled against her mother this time, the way Emil rebelled against his father in the first series. Kevin could have realized the predictability of this, and realized he was playing a role written for him all the way to the end. What's more, Kevin had been a rebel his entire life, questioning why he was doing all of this. It would have been entirely in character for him to realize this and discover a solution to it, one that would break the cycle and end this evil once and for all. The final two or three issues of the series could have had him taking charge and doing things Mirth had not expected or predicted. The final conversation at the end of the story, where everything is wrapped up, could have been Kevin explaining his actions to Mirth. This could provide a reversal of the endings of the first two series where Mirth (and Wally Ut) explain it all to Kevin, and it would show that Kevin had indeed matured, learned his life's lessons, and had become a leader rather than a follower. Most important of all, it would provide a suitable explanation of why the final series is named "The Hero Denied." It would be because Kevin refused to play out the role assigned to him, denied his destiny, and instead wrote his own ending to the story. Maybe it's not fair for me to consider the ending a disappointment because it didn't do this...but it simply didn't live up to my expectations.
Loved Mage, the story of Kevin Matchstick (aka king Arthur) was great. The Grendel backup was even better, Hunter Rose my favorite Grendel. And Sam Keith's first published work, as far as I know.
I love Grendel, but I found Mage just a bit boring. The first series is the best of the three, but doesn't come close to Matt Wagner's work on Grendel.
Thanks for this. I stopped collecting comics years ago and Mage was one of the few series I missed the conclusion to. Now I gotta search for the Hero Denied to find out the ending. Could you do Tim Truman's Scout at some point. Another forgotten classic.
Might consider buying this comic considering the first 2 arcs are in my half priced books with no signs of disappearing any time soon, though I'll be sure to cautiously manage my expectations.
I still have the first series and really never saw the second and third. Having seen this video I'm happy with just owning the first. It was a joy to read and keep.
Love Mage, to build on your observations I think Wagner having Matchstick sacrifice his powers for a stable life could be a way to amputate the character from himself and allowing him a happy ending, sending him on his way. It gives him life in a way, no longer being tied to Wagner.
I've only read the first two, and it was when the second one came out, so my memory is hazy. I don't remember if the villains represent real people as well as the protagonists. Maybe Comico as the villain in the second one?
Is there a possibility you'd want to cover Twilight by Howard Chaykin? It'd be great to hear your thoughts on it and perhaps enlighten us on its subtexts and nuances in meaning. Either way, I love your channel! 😊
Yeah, I pretty much agree with your critique. I read all three series as they came out, and the stakes do deflate through the second and third iterations. I remember Wagner referring to Matchstick in part II as "out of the college set". I think the reflection was that, even though it was filtered through a fantasy setting, the progression and maturation of a man during his life is one of greater complexity and subtlety with reduced drama and binary themes (unless you're MAGA, I suppose). "Real life" isn't a good vs. evil adventure, and the series ended up portraying a life essentially well lived while sacrificing its own genre tropes. (I had no idea that the secondary characters were meant to be his colleagues). If you want a "big" hero's journey, stop at the first one because that's what youth is meant to be. You see in Star Wars how much they struggled with the idea of a middle-age Luke Skywalker. The odd thing is that I was thirty five years older myself when the final series came out, and from my own more mature perspective, I couldn't help noticing that Wagner was constantly and unnecessarily underlining the action through dialogue and narration. It came off as really amateurish, and as a huge fan of Grendel, I know Wagner is a better writer than that. Was the series intended for teenagers or something? It came off as if it was directed at an audience that couldn't possibly follow the story if he didn't describe every single image and character motivation out loud. I remember him getting critical letters from fans during series two - to which he seemed to always react very defensively. Maybe he felt like he needed to hold the readers' hand or something, but by the end, it got pretty annoying.
I tried reading the Image series years ago and just could not get into it. The same goes with Grendel. I've bought so many different Grendel books over the years trying to give it a go and never could get into it. I hope that you cover that series some day so I get more background and understanding of it overall.
This channel is a great source of inspiration to check out tons of indie/creator owned comics. First it was Cerebus, then Poison Elves, now Mage. These kinds of videos always give me the fuel to start putting together my own stories in my mind that could be made into future comics. Keep up the great work as always!!!
I hope you do sit down and do your own stories!
@@StrangeBrainParts With the amount of inspiration being provided by this channel, I’ll hopefully have tons of stories to tell… and hopefully when those stories get released, I would be honored if you could cover them in a video.
That would be a distinct possibility. For a while now I've been thinking of doing a showcase of independent creators.
I discovered Hero Defined in high school, then worked my way back to Hero Discovered. Truly enjoyed both, then didn’t learn of the final volume until the early days of the pandemic. Didn’t love it as much as the first two, but now that I’m a father myself, I might view it differently given the journey. I’m glad you shined a light on this series. I love the focus on lesser known, but critically praised or overlooked comics. It sets you apart from other comic channels, and I appreciate that tremendously.
Another fine episode, Mr. Parts. Thanks for the recommendation of that edition at the end, and pointing out what you prefer about it over others. I don't have any questions, so I will admit that when you said "a man named Mirth" I went off on a reverie about the character of the same name played by Hoyt Axton in the seventies, and had to rewind a few times. Sorry for rambling; still waking up & foggy-headed. I hope to join your Patreon as soon as able. Thanks again.
I had no idea there was a Hoyt Axton song with the same name. Now I will have to look that up. I have all three versions and I can definitely say the Starblaze Edition is just lovely. You won't be disappointed if you get a good copy of it.
@@StrangeBrainParts Hoyt Axton played the character Mirth on Mork & Mindy. And yeah..... he had some good tunes too.
Right! I forgot about that. He was big space baby from Ork, if I remember correctly.
I have to get denied. I’d love to finish it
Great stuff. Hero Discovered was handed to me when I was 18 - a friend had them all, and gave them to me, along with his Nexus collection.I read Hero Discovered at my first Jury Duty, and I loved it, but haven't gone back since, despite my continued memory of fondness for the series. The follow-ups seem up my alley, as an older guy myself.
Wagner is interesting all the time, even if not always "great". I very much like his art, and will always have a fond remembrance of how much his early works meant to me as I navigated my late teen years.
I was there at the berginning with Comico. I loved Hero Discovered. And since I have loved most of Wagner’s work since. Thanks for another great video.
I would say that is the channel that gives me the most insight when it comes to comics I really enjoy! Having read comics for decades makes me so thankful!
Hey, thanks for watching! I'm glad that I can provide a little more information about a series you enjoy.
@@StrangeBrainParts well, all I can say is a sincere thank you!
All I can say in return is a sincere, "You're welcome!"
Love it, with this sole exception of Hero: Denied--I don't like risking children if there is no actual threat of death or ruin. Above other things I don't believe will be acted on, the Matchstick children seemed unbelievably lucky if I am to take the possible threats seriously at all. That's it, I own them all. I actually pity people who don't.
Had a chance to buy most of this series back when HASTINGS video stores were open. It almost became my 2nd home. LOL. At least that's what the staff and clerks told me. Ha ha. Hastings had them for $1.00 a piece,bagged/boarded and each issue in-GREAT-condition,also there was the complete run of: THE NAM I wish I had bought too. Still digging the old indie books of the past. GOOD work,hoss.
_Ooh_ Retrospectives like these touch a wound that's never really healed fully, that being that I had a sizeable comic collection back in the 80s & a bit into the early 90s, that was later stolen from me. Seriously-- 12 long boxes of all kinds of 80s comic goodness-- just gone. Among them were Mage & Grendel. God how I miss those books. I've thought about reacquiring some of them but I just get so down every time I start looking. It's not just about the loss of the physical objects & any perceived monetary value (though that's definitely part of it), but there was a certain violation... The time spent poring over those books, the time spent with amazing characters like good friends, & by extension, their creators. The dreams, fantasies, introspection they all inspired. It wasn't just boxes of inky paper that were stolen, it was a part of _me._ Seeing them & exploring them in ways I'd never grasped at the time is bittersweet. Like looking at photographs of a lost love that you wonder if is still out there somewhere, with no realistic hope of seeing again. I mean this genuinely, no sarcasm: Thank you for this. 😔
Somewhere in the collection, I have those wonderful Starblaze editions (Got 'em for a great price!), and fell in love with the story. I also made sure to get the issues of Grendel with the "bridging sequence." (Has that been reprinted?) The two follow-up series I haven't been able to get a hold of yet. Also, you are absolutely correct about artists adding digital blurring effects to old school line art. Knock it off, ya punks! Oh, are you planning on reviewing Wagner's update of "Devil by the Deed"?
That bridging sequence is reprinted in the collected Mage.
I always jump the gun on the "until next time". Like I haven't watched dozens of videos. 😂
This was a great video about one of my favorite comicbook series. I still have all three series that I collected as they were released, oh, those many years ago. Plus, all of the T-shirts. I'm still waiting (hoping🙏🏿🤞🏿) for the third series, "The Hero Denied" to be released in a hardcover format like the first two series were. If you haven't read these, do yourselves a favor, track them down, and read them. You won't be sorry. Thanx for this nostalgic trip down memory lane.
I'm a big Matt Wagner fan and I really enjoy Mage, I mean its no Grendel but its bloomin' good. Unlike many I don't rate the Discovered as significantly better than the other two. I think each has a place in both his tale, his creative development and the comics world more generally.
Discovered is good stuff but I still think its creatively a little naive, as you say you see him develop in front of your eyes but he's developing his craft that will be fully realised in later Grendel work. Defined for me works really well in what I imagine is his place in the industry at that time. I think its Defined as in defined by others. I think he's much more confident and developed as a creator, well obviously after producing so much more work and the fact that it drifts a little in the middle I quite enjoy and in many ways does define the industry at the time and his place in it. Its never not entertaining as there is so much going on at the sides of the main story and it entirely entertaining.
I absolutely get that Denied could be a little disappointing as the ending of an epic but, well maybe I'm an old softy, but I'm chuffed for a creator that has brought me so much happiness that when it got to his epic conclusion there was no great tragic ending. Rather he does kinda shrugs his shoulders and says "You know what, it all kinda worked out! Wow!". Again never boring and I really like the courage it has not to conform to what was expected. As for the loss of his powers at the end, well for me this speaks to his place in the industry, not his creative powers. He's no longer the figure he was, nor shown to be in Defined, in fact in some ways he's now denied, on the outside. To that end he is no longer the leader he is defined as in the second series, rather he discards that. Steps away from his need to battle the monsters of the industry and is content to do what he wants as long as it keeps his family happy, safe and looked after. He gets to deny the industry's challenges now, step away from the battle and do what he does best, create great comics.
Keep on keeping on as ever your videos are brilliant and hope you can get to the stage of funding you wish to soon so we can get more, more, MORE!
Mage came out during the peak of the independant creators in the 80's. Some of the creators did better than others like Dave Sim on Cerebus, or Larson on Savage Dragon, but there were also rans like Too Much Coffee Man, Albedo, Ohmaha the Cat Dancer, and the Carrot. Mage falls somewhere in the middle for success and kept going. Kudos to Matt.
I really liked Roachmill. Wish he would’ve had a longer run.
Beautiful video. 😊
I discovered Mage: The Hero Disovered in the mid-1980s when it was being published, and it became my holy grail...so to speak...for comics. I anxiously looked forward to Mage: The Hero Defined, and I did indeed enjoy it. Alas, I did find The Hero Denied to be underwhelming, and you state a good reason for my disappointment. There was no real danger, no sense of sacrifice. The ending had been telegraphed well in advance, even with the Fisher King finally appearing in the very final issue. Many folks had assumed Kevin Matchstick would die at the end, in the manner of many heroes of epic sagas, such as the one we see here. But since Matt wagner was essentually using his own life as a blueprint for the story, would he allow Kevin to die at the end? Unfortunately, no.
I'd pondered this series for a long time, and I think the story could have been worked into a better ending that would still include Kevin's family, and Kevin not being required to die, if it didn't turn out to be so predictable. WHAT IF Kevin himself rebelled against the entire idea of the Umbra Sprite returning again and again, along with the Arthurian (or Babylonian) hero being resurrected in an undending cycle to repeat the same battle endlessly? In The Hero Denied, the Umbra Sprite repeated everything he/she/it had done in The Hero Discovered, all the way to having an skyscraper with an office and a bottomless pit. Aside from the Umbra Spite and its minions being female rather than male, the only difference was that there was no independent gracklethorn who rebelled against her mother this time, the way Emil rebelled against his father in the first series. Kevin could have realized the predictability of this, and realized he was playing a role written for him all the way to the end. What's more, Kevin had been a rebel his entire life, questioning why he was doing all of this. It would have been entirely in character for him to realize this and discover a solution to it, one that would break the cycle and end this evil once and for all. The final two or three issues of the series could have had him taking charge and doing things Mirth had not expected or predicted. The final conversation at the end of the story, where everything is wrapped up, could have been Kevin explaining his actions to Mirth. This could provide a reversal of the endings of the first two series where Mirth (and Wally Ut) explain it all to Kevin, and it would show that Kevin had indeed matured, learned his life's lessons, and had become a leader rather than a follower. Most important of all, it would provide a suitable explanation of why the final series is named "The Hero Denied." It would be because Kevin refused to play out the role assigned to him, denied his destiny, and instead wrote his own ending to the story.
Maybe it's not fair for me to consider the ending a disappointment because it didn't do this...but it simply didn't live up to my expectations.
Loved Mage, the story of Kevin Matchstick (aka king Arthur) was great. The Grendel backup was even better, Hunter Rose my favorite Grendel. And Sam Keith's first published work, as far as I know.
sandman mystery theatre
I love Grendel, but I found Mage just a bit boring. The first series is the best of the three, but doesn't come close to Matt Wagner's work on Grendel.
Nice Video Bro ❤
great job on this amazing video man ;)
Bless you sir.
Thanks for this. I stopped collecting comics years ago and Mage was one of the few series I missed the conclusion to. Now I gotta search for the Hero Denied to find out the ending.
Could you do Tim Truman's Scout at some point. Another forgotten classic.
Scout is on my list. :)
@@StrangeBrainParts Scout was definitely one of those I always regretted we never got the promised next series of.
Might consider buying this comic considering the first 2 arcs are in my half priced books with no signs of disappearing any time soon, though I'll be sure to cautiously manage my expectations.
"I wanted a tale of graceful ends. About a magician who becomes a man. About a man who turns his back on magic." -The Sandman
I still have the first series and really never saw the second and third. Having seen this video I'm happy with just owning the first. It was a joy to read and keep.
i would like to see do a episode on Radiant Black
It a more recent book, but I think you’d get a kick out of Dorris Danger: Monsters Amok.
Love Mage, to build on your observations I think Wagner having Matchstick sacrifice his powers for a stable life could be a way to amputate the character from himself and allowing him a happy ending, sending him on his way. It gives him life in a way, no longer being tied to Wagner.
That's a good point! I hope both do continue on well into the future. :)
I was well entertained by each installment of the "Mage" series - even though some bits (as you said) dragged a bit.
I've only read the first two, and it was when the second one came out, so my memory is hazy. I don't remember if the villains represent real people as well as the protagonists. Maybe Comico as the villain in the second one?
Is there a possibility you'd want to cover Twilight by Howard Chaykin? It'd be great to hear your thoughts on it and perhaps enlighten us on its subtexts and nuances in meaning. Either way, I love your channel! 😊
Hmm. Not a bad suggestion! I will see what I can do.
@@StrangeBrainParts Hoooray! :-)
Yes
For the longest time I thought this was the same Wagner that did 2000AD haha
I always felt Mage would have made a great a M.Night Shyamalan superhero movie or HBO series leaning towards the Arthurian legends.
"Great" and "M. Night Shymalan" don't occur in the same sentence very often these days.
@@noneofyourbusiness4616 That's true, but he might have a second act in him. Jordan Peele would be a better choice.
I will second Jordan Peele!
Yeah, I pretty much agree with your critique. I read all three series as they came out, and the stakes do deflate through the second and third iterations. I remember Wagner referring to Matchstick in part II as "out of the college set". I think the reflection was that, even though it was filtered through a fantasy setting, the progression and maturation of a man during his life is one of greater complexity and subtlety with reduced drama and binary themes (unless you're MAGA, I suppose). "Real life" isn't a good vs. evil adventure, and the series ended up portraying a life essentially well lived while sacrificing its own genre tropes. (I had no idea that the secondary characters were meant to be his colleagues). If you want a "big" hero's journey, stop at the first one because that's what youth is meant to be. You see in Star Wars how much they struggled with the idea of a middle-age Luke Skywalker.
The odd thing is that I was thirty five years older myself when the final series came out, and from my own more mature perspective, I couldn't help noticing that Wagner was constantly and unnecessarily underlining the action through dialogue and narration. It came off as really amateurish, and as a huge fan of Grendel, I know Wagner is a better writer than that. Was the series intended for teenagers or something? It came off as if it was directed at an audience that couldn't possibly follow the story if he didn't describe every single image and character motivation out loud. I remember him getting critical letters from fans during series two - to which he seemed to always react very defensively. Maybe he felt like he needed to hold the readers' hand or something, but by the end, it got pretty annoying.
Mage is a great example of diminishing returns. It became redundant and very boring.
16:08 Hirohiko Araki: : )
Mage The Hero Discovered is one of the best examples of a young cartoonist evolving.
I tried reading the Image series years ago and just could not get into it. The same goes with Grendel. I've bought so many different Grendel books over the years trying to give it a go and never could get into it. I hope that you cover that series some day so I get more background and understanding of it overall.
I did a comprehensive video about Grendel a long time ago:
ua-cam.com/video/Ai9MFWNTPlQ/v-deo.html
good shit
is matt Wagner related to john Wagner?
Do a video on preacher