Jack Staff: Everything used to be Black and White
by Paul Grist (Image, 2011)
Dark-tinged speculative fiction rendered in black and white across 350 pages. Visually, Grist is always experimenting. His blocky, agreeably homespun technique is offset by a multi-viewpoint, intricately non-linear storytelling so oblique as to make following the plot a satisfying act of problem-solving.
The Visitor: How & Why He Stayed
by Mike Mignola & Chris Roberson; ill. Paul Grist (Dark Horse Books, 2017)
An engaging enough graphic novel on the peripheries of Hellboy’s world. Instead of assassinating the infant Hellboy, a mysterious alien chooses to observe his development—while himself living a human life and effortlessly repelling demonic manifestations. Murky, glossy, at times distorted artwork.