291, “Grendel: Part 6 - God and the Devil, Pt. 1”

Q: How many drugs was Matt Wagner ingesting during the creation of Grendel? A: All of them. Paul and Arlo arrive at this conclusion in another Four-Color Flashback installment discussing Wagner's comics magnum opus, after reading chapters 1-6 of the "God and the Devil" storyline, collected in Grendel Omnibus: Vol. 3 - Orion's Reign. After the four-part "Incubation Years" arc leapt through time in bold and bizarre fashion, "God and the Devil" finds our heroes (just kidding, there are no heroes) in the year 2530. The world has gone to shit, with the Catholic Church going back to its Inquisition roots under the reign of Pope Innocent XLII. Meanwhile, both corporate auditor Orion Assante and drugged-out street rat Eppy Thatcher fight to bring down the Church...only one of them wears the mask of Grendel, but will both be consumed by his/its force? Plus, Arlo's sick again and the boys pay tribute to Gene Wilder and David Lavery.

 

Next: Wesley "Wezzo" Mead returns for another episode in our ongoing series discussing the seminal sci-fi show The X-Files. This time, we dig into season 3; yes, that's the one with "Jose Chung's."