This weekend’s escapist superhero blog post will examine the infamous independent creation Grips. His gritty, ultraviolent escapades ranged from fighting street crime to stopping Saddam Hussein from using nukes on America.
GRIPS
First Appearance: Grips #1 (September 1986). His final appearance came in March 1992.
Secret Identity: Martin Kane, artist for Fat Ninja Comics
NOTE: Created and written by Kris Silver and with his earliest adventures illustrated by Tim Vigil of Faust fame, Grips was a cross between Wolverine and the Punisher. However, as a character from an independent company whose internal pages were in black & white his violence and other mature themes went WAY beyond anything featuring either of those two Marvel Comics creations.
Think of the over the top, seldom realistic violence of films like Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, or maybe Sonny Chiba’s 1970s Street Fighter flicks.
As I indicated in the title of this blog post, I consider the Grips tales to be what low-budget, disreputable Grindhouse movies of the past were to glossy, professional films from major studios. The writing and artwork in Grips seldom approached the standards of the Big Two publishers, but the visceral violence, profanity and often taboo subject matter more than made up for the overall shoddiness of the finished product.
One thing is certain – you’ll consider Wolverine and the Punisher to be as bland and corporate as Richie Rich comics after you’ve walked the Sacramento streets of Kris Silver’s deranged vigilante called Grips.
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