There are a lot of comics out there but some just stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we look at “Grass Kings” from Boom! Studios, a watercolored rural mystery series that chronicles the struggles of a kingdom on the outskirts of society.
Who is this by?
“Grass Kings” is written by Matt Kindt (“Mind MGMT,” “Dept. H”) and illustrated by Tyler Jenkins (“Peter Panzerfaust”). With colors by Hilary Jenkins and letters by Jim Campbell, it’s the perfect storm of talent.
What’s it all about?
“Grass Kings” is ostensibly the story of outsiders who have formed their own sovereign trailer park fiefdom. The eldest of three brothers run this outlaw community, which is an affront to neighboring city of Cargill and the Feds at large. This feud becomes an all-out turf war that threatens to tear the kingdom apart. Think Ruby Ridge or Waco with more likeable characters and none of the religious undertones.
If that weren’t enough of an existential threat, a serial killer dubbed the “Thin-Air Killer” leaves bound and strangled bodies across the land. Although not the primary focus, the whodunit mystery adds a paranoid tension, casting a pall of suspicion over many of the Kingdom’s denizens. Other unsolved mysteries such as the death of Jen Handel and the disappearance of King Robert’s daughter add intrigue to the town’s complex history.
What makes it so great?
Every issue opens on a beautiful double page spread, usually an establishing shot of the land the Grass Kings call home. Tyler Jenkins’s pastoral illustrations prove the perfect complement to Kindt’s script. The artistic style resembles Kindt’s past work as an illustrator and water colorist. The kingdom and its inhabitants are drawn with a shaggy, windblown aesthetic, which captures the rough and tumble lifestyle these people lead. Hilary Jenkins plays a key role in the art’s success with her rustic watercolor work. Flashbacks unfold like a rural dream as faint watercolors bleed together with the absence of panel borders. Fiery autumnal forests, a spectral blue lake, or the magnified detail in a patch of green-brown grass are crucial to establishing the bucolic tone. The Jenkins have created this idyllic vision of a community at the precipice of society, somewhere between the United States and Canada, and between reality and imagination.
“Grass Kings” is an ensemble piece weaving in and out of its Kingdom’s various citizens. Matt Kindt is a patient storyteller, sometimes dedicating entire issues to develop these multifaceted characters, chronicling their disparate lives and how they came to seek a better life in the kingdom. Kindt ensures his eclectic cast of characters has their time to shine. King Robert and his two brothers, Bruce and Ashur, lead the narrative with Humbert, Cargill’s sheriff, serving as antagonist. Other characters include: Maria, Cargill runaway; Shelly, who found solace in cars and the Kingdom away from domestic abuse; Hemingway, the town’s novelist who is chronicling the history of the Kingdom; Baron, the pilot; Pike, a loner survivalist; Archie, an expert marksman with a complicated romantic past; and a slew of other personalities. “Grass Kings” finds its success in the strength of its character work.
The Grass Kingdom itself is a crucial component to the story. Let’s avoid the whole setting as a character cliché and proclaim that yes, the Grass Kingdom is one of the most fully realized settings we’ve seen in comics for quite some time. Settings are backdrops, a geographic locations and spans of time. From issue #1, the history of the land is chronicled, spanning nearly a millennium within the first few pages. Native Americans lived and died, fauna flourished, and communities arose and fell and rose again. Flashbacks persist throughout the series, showing the constant struggle for survival on this patch of land. There’s blood in the soil—tragedy is the legacy of the land and its settlers would do well not to forget that. The Kingdom is inextricably interlinked with the characters and ultimately, provides the catalyst for the story’s conflict.
“Grass Kings” makes a case for the close intimacy of small town life as opposed to the depersonalization of overpopulated urban expansion. These are hard people, molded in the crucible of hardship and tragedy, handpicked for their usefulness in the Grass Kingdom. Their strength as a small community is tested throughout the series when encountering extreme adversity. It hearkens back to the day of tribes, where each member brought unique value to the team. Robert says it best: “Our security? Thing that keeps us safe ‘round here? Each other. Everybody knows everybody. We’re preserving the art of treating each other like human beings.”
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How can you read it?
“Grass Kings” #14, the penultimate issue, hits stores today. Next month, “Grass Kings” concludes with in an oversized finale. Trade collectors can jump into Volume 1 now. Volume 2 is out in June, with Volume 3 concluding the series in November. As always, digital back issues are available on your preferred digital outlet.
