It’s Gran and Duncan versus the Grendel in Once And Future #11, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Dan Mora, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Ed Dukeshire. What can an old woman and her grandson do against one of the most dangerous monsters of Anglo-Saxon literature? Quite a lot, actually.

In the Otherworld, Arthur and Merlin discuss the work being done on Galahad. Arthur doesn’t like using Beowulf, a hated Anglo-Saxon, but Merlin tells him not only is Beowulf dead, but his monsters are fighting on their side, and that’s a win-win for everyone. At the nursing home, Gran gets everyone inside and attacks Grendel, stabbing him in the soft palate. Just as he’s about to eat her, Duncan has the taxi driver speed towards Grendel… who catches it and throws it. As Grendel goes to finish off Gran, Duncan grabs him, and Gran runs off, getting a chainsaw from the garden tools and cutting off Grendel’s arm. Duncan’s mother watches from the shadows, telling her mysterious benefactor what happened. As Gran and Duncan go to straighten things out, the cops come and try to arrest the two of them but are told to let them go by their higher-ups. In the nursing home, Gran tells everyone to forget everything they saw, and just about everyone agrees… except the old history teacher. As he goes on, Grendel’s mother tears him apart. The next round begins.

This issue is a good old fashioned, action-packed comic. Gillen plays it perfectly, balancing the action with some good humor. It’s a little weird that Grendel gets in on the jokes, but it’s actually pretty entertaining. It might have something to do with how stories interact with the world, one of the themes of the whole book- the modern world working on the parts of the stories just as much they work on the modern world. Regardless of how out of place it seems, it actually works very well.

An interesting little wrinkle in the story is the part with the cops arresting them and then letting them go. Apparently, the government knows about the things that Gran has always fought. It sort of makes sense in a way; if monsters were running around the countryside, some government intelligence service would know about it. However, it’s weird that they don’t have their own people to help out… which may be one reason why Gran didn’t want Duncan and Rose to call them because if they get involved eventually, things could go south. It will be nice to see what happens next with that. Is Gillen setting something up?

Dan Mora was born to draw giant monsters. The action scenes in this book look amazing, as usual. Tamra Bonvillain’s coloring gives the whole thing an extra dimension like it always does. Gran going at Grendel with the chainsaw is probably the issue’s highlight. Gran is covered in blood for the rest of the chapter, which is a nice touch.

Once And Future #11 gives a modern twist to killing Grendel, and it’s a lot of fun. Gillen, Mora, and Bonvillain all do a wonderful job of providing an outstanding, entertaining fight. The issue keeps up the great sense of humor from the installment before. Once And Future #11 keeps up the little Beowulf story in this arc, and it’ll be great to see what the next issue brings.


Grade: B