Matt Wagner - Grendel: Devil by the Deed, page 22 blue-line

A genuine piece of history! Matt Wagner's Grendel: Devil by the Deed blue-line, hand colored by Matt Wagner in the classic 1980s color palate (this has since been completely and differently recolored at least 2 more times). Grendel was my favorite comic book at the time and this story was the only one available if you wanted to understand who Hunter Rose was, given that the original Comico comics were impossible to find (or expensive) and the Christine Spar version of Grendel (and subsequent iterations) was the only one for a while, until years later Wagner revisited the Hunter Rose character. I love the art deco influence and the clean lines and smooth early style of Wagner.

The blue-line consists of an acetate overlay of the pencil and ink page and a separate board containing a blue-line reproduction of the original page; Matt Wagner hand-colored the blue-line himself using watercolors and airbrush, the two techniques he used in this book, and has signed the piece. The original blue-line is done on a board that measures approx. 7 1/2" x 10 1/4" with an image area that is approx. that of the published comic book.

Thanks very much to Jim Warden at DOA Original Comic Art for making this available on Comic Art LIVE!

I've included an additional pic of the hand-colored artwork as well to show off the detailed work.