American McGee's GRIMM

Written by Dwight MacPherson

Art by Grant Bond

Letters by Neil Uyetake

Edits by Tom Waltz

IDW Publishing

I don't play games. Well, sure, mind games, but I'm not talking about those. I'm talking about online or video or MMPRP or BURP or PlayWiiCubeStationthingy... electronic games. Okay, maybe I've dabbled with them, playing a friend's console once in a great while. But I'm no “gamer”. So I wasn't familiar with the lead character of the new comic book from Dwight MacPherson and Grant Bond, “Grimm” from the game “American McGee's Grimm”. I'm a fan of the writer and the artist, though, so I figured it would be worth taking a chance on it. Glad I did. This book is a hoot! Stealing a line from Kevin Smith, it's dumb fun for smart people. MacPherson is erudite enough to use “impuissant”... just a couple of pages after a character lets loose with a “bloody shit balls!” That's the neighborhood we're playing in here.

As I understand it, in the game the lead character comes from, “Grimm” turns fairy tales upside down and violent. Now done with fairy tales, the comic book opens as Grimm the dwarf looks for new absurdities to tackle and butt-stomp – and what could be more absurd than comic books? You don't really need to know the game American McGee's Grimm comes from to enjoy the skewering that MacPherson gives the world of comic book superhero cliches. It does help to know a little about comics, however! Otherwise you wouldn't let out a chuckle as the villains are introduced – like “Westseid”. Heh. There's also “Killer Cock” and the Doctor Doom in red, Baron Putzkammer. Had to look that last name up. Pretty sure it means “little penis” in Yiddish. Yup, we've got dick jokes. Ultimately, Grimm decides to give the villains a makeover so they can REALLY go after the good guys, the “Freedom Friends” and hilarity ensues, in an evil sort of way.

Bond varies his art to reflect the shifting tones of the story. As Grimm first appears the art mimics the look of a video game. The game-style art shifts to traditional comic book looking art, complete with benday dots, as we meet the villains for the first time. When Grimm's makeover kicks in Bond combines the look of the two, the now darkened benday dots keeping the evil characters looking like comic book characters, but with a darker game-style edge. Bond continues varying the look – as Grimm plots, we see his ideas drawn in game-style. But as he leads the villains against the “Freedom Friends”, we're once more in the comic book world of broad lines and benday dots. As we close with Grimm alone we're back into game-style art, as Bond again deftly shifts the look of the book in his continuing balance between the two worlds, comics and games, that are colliding within.

Plot? Well... there ain't much of one here. That's part of the point, I think. The thin, stereotypical plot could be considered part of the “fun with super hero stereotypes”. Although the ending is, of course, a bit more, er, Grimm than usual. MacPherson clearly enjoyed inventing his pseudo-heroes and villains. I could give away more of the names here, but reading them is half the fun of the book (oh, he's like HIM, but... naked?). It's light entertainment – again, dumb fun for smart folks. Smart comic book folks. Maybe smart gamers, too. If you're tired of the latest “Ultimate Secret Crisis” you'll enjoy the way MacPherson and Bond let the gassy hot air out of the bloated old genre. And next time? It's Romance Comics, by the look of it...

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