coolest style award has got to go to Matt Wagner.
but the sophistication, finesse, and charm is not empty or merely for show, for the seductive sleekness is only cohort to rigorous form, and is a lot more than meets the eye...
half way through his 1993 Batman and Grendel 2 issue special, and reminded of how enamored i was with his unique and innovative technique (wasn't he one of the first to use those tiny frames?), as well as the unimpeachable story telling, when i first read the Grendel series many years ago... such attention to detail, audacity and ambition... not prolific by any means, but every story he touches is exquisite, reinventing cliches and full of neurotic, delicate life... it is pop noir, to be sure, with all its excesses and limitations, and doesn't pretend to be anything profound, yet biting social commentary and complex psychological puzzles find their way into these tales, which blossom like some exquisite evil rose in the garden-maze of the devil.
love everything having to do with Grendel. is he the only "evil" protagonist in comic history??? the moral ambiguity (sometimes giving way to cruelty) means this is a character not bound by borish righteousness, and acts out of boredom more than anything else... i've always thought Hunter Rose was gay, but in this story he remembers girlfriends... so maybe he's bi?
everything has been quality, even when it's others doing the art: the super 80s series, the futuristic War Child, and all the off shoots i can get my hands on... but there are no contenders if its a story written and illustrated by Wagner... this Batman Grendel is probably the best story in all of Batman's cross over history, and there has been so many good ones... for sure something to re-read in the years to come.
short overview of Grendel h
ere.