5 from Below: When Passions Run Grand
If you haven’t been here before, I’d like you to know that this is a series of articles I’m doing to give some exposure to some comic book titles that you might have missed recently because of the downpour of crap coming out of bigger publishers. But hey, maybe self-respect is more of an option for you – and one you choose not to have –, so feel free to enjoy all your bat crotches and Spider tits all you want; that’s your thing. In any case, I’m going to talk about a title that you could say is the perfect example of what being underrated and underappreciated is. The series in question: James Robinson and Tom Feister’s Grand Passion.
You see, the reason I think that Grand Passion has gone off of most people’s radars has more to do with the publisher than with the creative team behind it and the title itself. After all, James Robinson, if anything, is a pretty stellar name in mainstream comic books, which means he can more or less pull the numbers (or, as Axel Alonso would put it, “move the needle”). That is not to say, though, that Tom Feister’s art is something to be overlooked. I admit that Grand Passion is the first comic I’ve picked up illustrated by the said artist, but I find his work to be very apt for the series, not to mention it’s better than some of the work I’ve seen from other bigger names and publishers (then again, that’s just my preference). All in all, Feister’s art for Grand Passion is great, especially for what he and Robinson set out to do. To an extent, I will even say that it adheres to the Dynamite in-house style, if there was one: that’s what it really reminds me of. Speaking of Dynamite publications, I mentioned earlier that they’re more – let’s just say – “responsible” for letting Grand Passion go under most nerds’ radars, but that’s only because I believe (and I’m sure you guys might bludgeon me with you’re Walking Dead Negan Lucille replicas for saying this) that Dynamite, in spite of the quality titles they’ve put out and are continuing to do so, looks like the kind of publisher where comics come to die. Don’t get me wrong, what they’re doing is actually admirable when they try to keep pulp franchises alive, but I really can’t shake off the fact that they’re like the retirement home for really old properties. Still, I’d rather have something like Grand Passion be published by Dynamite than not have it come out at all.
So, what is the comic all about? Simply put, it’s a miniseries that traces the footsteps of action romantic comedies like Bonnie and Clyde, except this one also has a pretty heavy dose of Natural Born Killers in it. Grand Passion is what happens when a femme fatale falls head over heels at first sight with a straight arrow small town cop, who feels the same way about her.
Oh, and Dynamite managed to get John Cassaday for the covers on this series, so there’s that.