Back in the 80's, John Ostrander and Tim Truman ran a back-up 8-page strip in STARSLAYER, with a decidedly different hero. John Gaunt, known as Grimjack on the streets of Cynosure, was a fifty-year-old man, considerably older than most heroes currently published. Yet the cynical, streetwise, world-weary Grimjack had a phenomenal charm of his own, and his back-ups often exceeded the lead story in quality (no mean feat, considering that the same writer did both; evidently it wasn't only the readers who liked him). He demanded his own title, refusing to be confined to the small backup slot, and it was no more than a few short months after his introduction that he got it.

Grimjack's story is based in the wonderful city of Cynosure, the city at the heart of the multiverse. Cynosure sits at the center of all realities and dimensions, and nothing stays the same in Cynosure for very long, not even the map; dimensions fade in and out of Cynosure, as they pass through its axis, and you can't expect a shop you saw in the morning to be still around an hour later. If you don't like the local laws, you can cross the street to look for more favourable ones. And that includes the laws of physics and reality. There are dimensions where highly advanced technology acquires sentience; and dimensions where the people are made of cardboard; and dimensions where the air is closer to a murky waterlike mix; and all places in between. Things don't necessarily stay within their own enclaves, either; the City occupants must contend with moving sections of reality like the rolling snowball dimensions, which, not content to stay in one place, roll around the city, enveloping different sections into their own reality.

The City is also home to several Trading Houses. Cynosure's nature, keeping it at the center of all realities, makes it the perfect basepoint for merchants who wish to trade goods between realities; and Cynosure's merchants, long-settled in the City, are a powerful force within the ranks of the citizenry. They can make (and break) City governments, and do so when needed, even occasionally going to the extent of using their Corporate Marines (usually much better armed and equipped than the Government forces) to settle a Trade War.

Cynosure also has a Time Research Center, which is maintained under very tight control, due to the possibilities inherent in it. Time-travel is very strictly policed, since unscrupulous citizens might use it to do things like invalidating business contracts after the fact (one of the most vile crimes imaginable, in a merchant society).

This setting gave Ostrander a unique freedom to move the story into any and every genre he pleased; Grimjack's tales ran the gamut from detective to action-adventure to romance to science fiction to fantasy to comedy to war to Western to outright whimsy. Like the City, you could count on nothing from this book ... except an excellent story.

Ostrander combined strong stories with deft, snappy dialogue, excellent, distinctive characters, people you came to care about, a real sense of excitement, a sense that nothing about this book, not even the protagonist, was sacred. One of the best parts about reading Gaunt's tale is the immense uncertainty, the lack of predictability, the sense of real change and growth. Gaunt is always on a roller-coaster ride, and the story smoothly communicates that sense of urgency, pulling the rug out from under your feet when you least expect it.

Grimjack also boasted a gallery of fine artists over the course of the years, but the two finest artistic runs on the book were arguably those of Tim Truman (Grimjack's co-creator, along with John Ostrander) and Tom Mandrake (a frequent collaborator of Ostrander's). Several other notable artists including Flint Henry, Doug Rice, Shawn McManus, Stan Sakai and others contributed to the book, if not in the main feature, then in the "Munden's Bar" backup, where Ostrander could play with the wonders and lunacies of Cynosure and its bar-hopping residents, without disturbing the flow of the main story. These artists also brought in their own sense of humour, with innumerable little in-jokes drawn into the corners and backgrounds of the story.

Ostrander works very well with his artists, knowing when to let the dialogue tell the tale, and when the art, lending a cinematic strength to the book. His close personal links with Truman and Mandrake undoubtedly assisted those runs.

Gaunt, with the time-tossed crew of the Dynamo Joe, in one of Ostrander's most marvellously ambiguous conversations

John Gaunt, Grimjack, is a fifty-year old man at the start of our tale. Grimjack's led a long and full life (which he has no intention of departing any time soon): he was born in the Pit, the desolate slums of Cynosure, and was condemned to fight in the Arena, with the Wolfpac. He fought his way out of there, winning his freedom through his combat skill, finally choosing to pursue a mercenary career (since battle was all he'd known). A veteran of the Demon Wars, a robosoldier pilot in the Mellenare War, a cop with the Trans-Dimensional Police (TDP) ... Gaunt's been all this, and more. Now, he runs a mercenary business, handling some of the odder jobs in the City, including, occasionally, work for the Government of the week. He bases himself in a bar he owns, named "Munden's Bar" ... the best damn bar in the Multiverse, run by the extremely capable Gordon.

While Gaunt is dourly cynical about most things in life, he does maintain his own code of honour. Friends are important to him, and he'll do whatever's necessary to keep them safe. On the other hand, he's no preux chevalier; he's perfectly aware of his limitations, and does whatever he needs to do, to survive within those boundaries. Reputation is all a mercenary has, and Grimjack guards his, viciously.

Violence is a way of life that the City has taught him is necessary to survive, and it's a lesson that none have mastered as well as Grimjack. The best fighter the Arena ever saw.

Well ... second-best, actually.

You see, there was the Dancer ...

A long time ago, the Dancer became a legend in the Arena of Cynosure. He made a lethal, graceful art of killing, and doing so, became the favourite of the crowd. He left the Arena long before Gaunt graduated into the real fighting, so the two never physically clashed there; but he was always acknowledged as the greatest fighter the Arena ever produced.

He's one foe Grimjack truly does fear, since the Dancer combines both extreme skill with a ruthless determination to do whatever necessary to achieve his goals.

Now, aided by a deeply loyal contingent of allies, driven by his phenomenal will and naked ambition, the Dancer plots and schemes to take over the rulership of Cynosure ...

The elegant, monocled Mayfair runs an organization called Cadre. Cadre's orders are extremely simple: they are to take care of any and all threats to the safety of Cynosure. The organization was originally created to handle the problem of the Dancer's rebellion, but has since metamorphosed into a large and many-tentacled octopus, willing to use any means necessary to solve their problems. And Mayfair defines what those threats may be. A well-intentioned man, with no thought other than Cynosure's safety.

And nothing is quite so dangerous as a man who has absolutely no doubts about his actions, no scruples about the methods used, and no limits on his power to carry them out ...

Kalibos is an immensely strange foe; once a legendary member of the technologically adept Free Marines, his brain was placed into a mechanical body. Now, he is a cyborg, with a penchant for wearing human skins; an anarchist who believes in perfect freedom, and willing to do anything to achieve this. He experiments with humans to gain more knowledge (and for his own pleasure). Unlike the Dancer, who chooses to open demon-gates to gain power, Kalibos does it merely so that the demons may go free. For all his eccentricities, he's one of the most dangerous foes Grimjack has.

Katar is a foe with a much more straightforward motivation: hate. And the worst part is, Grimjack deserves his. A long time ago, Grimjack killed Katar's father. He was only a low-level bouncer to the world, but to his son, he was his God, and Katar worshipped him. It was such a commonplace action to Gaunt that he doesn't even recall it; but Katar does, and would do anything to kill Gaunt. Not even the survival of the City is enough to halt his vengeance.

An immensely sadistic man, the Major has gone by many names. A bounty hunter, an assassin, a mercenary with no honour; he typifies the darkest extremes of Grimjack's career. He rides with a group of mercenaries called the Lawkillers, and his path has crossed Gaunt's, often enough, to Grimjack's ill fortune. But each time the Major's killed, a rickety cart comes by the next day, to collect the body ... and soon enough, the Major returns. How do you get rid of a foe who won't stay dead ?

BlacJacMac is a ladies' man, an incorrigible flirt, but a man with a deep sense of friendship. BlacJac was a member of the WolfPac in the Arena; Gaunt was the first person whom he ever met who treated him like a person, rather than something to be exploited, and he values the man and his friendship dearly. He mocks Gaunt, is often convinced that Gaunt's going to get him in more trouble than they want, is pestered by his girlfriend to abandon Gaunt, because she knows Grimjack'll be the death of her love (not too far from the truth)

BlacJac's held up his end of the friendship loyally; they may argue, or even come to blows, but when it comes down to brass tacks, nothing shakes their friendship.

And it's strained, often enough, especially since BlacJac's lover, Goddess, can't stand Grimjack, and is sure he's going to be the death of her lover (not without reason); the continued friendship doesn't make for domestic bliss. BlacJac himself comes from a deeply dysfunctional family; his father killed his beloved mother, and sold him into slavery in the Arena. Now, his father, MacCabre, is one of the Dancer's most trusted lieutenants, and a person whom BlacJac would dearly love to kill.

Roscoe was Gaunt's old partner on the TDP (Trans-Dimension Police) and is one of the few cops Gaunt still likes. Gaunt's lackadaisical treatment of the law often strains Roscoe's temper, and has led to words between them in the past. But when all's said and done, Roscoe still maintains a fondness for Gaunt, and trusts him to do the right thing, more often than not. But he knows that won't always happen ...

And a host of others; Spook, his ghostly love; Rhian, his first love; Maethe Mathonwy, Master Mage and mentor; Chris Heyman of the Free Marines; Jericho Noleski, the stubbornest cop on the road; Gordon, the incomparable barman of Munden's Bar: for a cynic, Gaunt has a tremendous ability to inspire loyalty in his friends.

Ostrander tossed yet another monkey-wrench into the dizzyingly-changing works, explaining how John Gaunt's soul was stuck in an endless loop, doomed to reincarnate in Cynosure, time and time again.

Even death wasn't the end of Grimjack; merely the prelude to still greater changes, still more potential tales. The tale jumped into the future, to the next incarnation of Grimjack, a newer, unknown world, as Cynosure had changed in the interim. Everything familiar was new again, and once again, the reader only had tantalizing glimpses of what might come next. A female Grimjack, twin Grimjacks ... all of these were presaged before the event that did manage to put a stop to Grimjack. The unfortunate ending of the comic was caused by the finish of the publishing house, First Comics. This also had the sad effect of tying up all rights to the title with the dead company, preventing Ostrander from doing any more Grimjack stories (though this might be undergoing a change, as I write this in December 2001).

With any luck, Ostrander may manage to do something about the legal entanglements and retrieve his magnificent creation. In which case, it's still not too late to hope for another incarnation of the man called Grimjack.

Review (c) Bala Menon, 2001
All images on this page (c) First Comics, and used under the Fair Use doctrine
GRIMJACK (c) First Comics
STARSLAYER (c) Mike Grell