Review – Griff Gristle: Here Be Monsters (Madius Comics)

Posted on March 21, 2019 in Small Press Reviews

Publisher: Madius Comics
Writer(s): Rob Jones, Mike Sambrook
Artist: Rory Donald
Currently available on the Comichaus App (DOWNLOAD HERE).

Griff Gristle is the salty sea dog that other salty sea dogs can only dream of becoming. Besides being a true master of the waves, he is also a master of the arcane and hunter of the monsters that haunt the deeps. And when a number of ships go missing near Charlesberg, Griff sets sail, armed with nothing but his trusty boat “The Betty”, a hold full of arcane books and a magic spear.

With the impending Kickstarter for the third and final part to this story arc I thought it was about time I introduced you to another fantastic series from the Madius Comics stable.

I’m a sucker for anything even vaguely Lovecraftian, and if you can throw in the mysteries of the deep, cyclopean subterranean landscapes and the supernatural then you’ll have my undivided attention. Griff Gristle has all of these in spades, and is another fantastic example of the creativity and skill that seemingly goes into everything Madius releases.

I love the artwork, it’s got just the right gritty feel to it to suit the characters and whilst it’s got its own definite style is sufficiently reminiscent of Mike Mignola’s work to make you feel in comfortable and safe hands as you start on this journey. If you take my advice and read the second book in the series, you can see it develop and become more polished as the characters and story becomes more developed and polished. That’s not to say this first book isn’t brilliantly realised, but you can see that Jones, Sambrook and Donald are becoming much more comfortable and confident with their creation as we move along and it’s great to see.

Here Be Monsters is clearly influenced by the work of Mike Mignola, with some of the humour of Eric Powell thrown into the mix and you know what? It works! It would be very easy to slip into parody, but Griff Gristle is very much its own story and the team’s own creative influences shine out loud and proud.

There have been many times when I wish I could have got in on the ground level and watched a particular character/writer/artist develop organically, and whilst I’m a little behind the curve with Madius Comics, I don’t feel that I’ve been left behind, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where they take Griff next.

Rating: 4/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK]

As well as being available on the Comichaus App, you can also pick up all manner of Madius Comics goodies from their newly refurbished website (CLICK HERE).

The writer of this piece was: Mark Scott
Mark Tweets from @macoy_comicgeek ‏