Grendel Tales: Devil’s Hammer

    (Dark Horse, 1994)
™ and ©1994 Matt Wagner

The Grendel Tales titles offered writers other than Grendel creator Matt Wagner a chance to work with the Grendel characters and mythology.

Devil’s Hammer finds the Grendel mythos in the hands of writer Rob Walton. In the course of its three issues, Walton spins a bleak morality play wherein a young acolyte named Petrus is physically possessed by the spirit of Grendel. In performing the exorcism, the abbot himself must come to admit the crimes he has committed in the name of preserving the church.

Reading between the lines of this allegory, Devil’s Hammer is a surprisingly sharp attack on the Catholic Church which was accused of shepherding Nazi killers to safety in the name of combating “the godless Communists” during and after World War II.
Jump to issue:
  • 1
    #1
    Matt Wagner and Rob Walton painted cover by Matt Wagner and Rob Walton
    Feb 1994
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Matt Wagner, Rob Walton  ·  A: Rob Walton
    Batman/Grendel (2nd Series) prequel
    18 copies from $1.75
  • 2
    #2
    Matt Wanger and Rob Walton painted cover by Matt Wagner
    Mar 1994
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Rob Walton, Matt Wagner  ·  A: Rob Walton, Matt Wagner
    Batman/Grendel (2nd Series) prequel
    16 copies from $1.40
  • 3
    #3
    Matt Wagner painted cover by Matt Wagner
    Apr 1994
    Cover: $2.95
    W: Rob Walton, Matt Wagner  ·  A: Rob Walton, Matt Wagner
    Batman/Grendel (2nd Series) prequel
    14 copies from $1.75