Grendel as a model for a global community: frightening fact or fiction?

Matt Wagner's Grendel: Devil's Reign is an eerily accurate example of our future world (with the literal exception of vampires). The world has truly become a global economy in this case, but clearly unified. It is remarkable that the United States has in fact become the world leader, something that we are accused of trying to attempt even now. In order for you to see the broad scope of things I am going to a give brief plot summary before I go into specific moments in the novel. And for those of you who are big Batman fans, I think Orion has some similarities to Batman. The similarities can be quite interesting so I will talk a little about those too.

Grendel: Devil's Reign is set in the far future in a world plagued by vampires and nuclear power. The vampires have been cordoned off into a casino in a defunct Las Vegas, strictly regulated by the government after the country has seen a massive infestation. An unstable government was quickly unified when Orion Assante came into power bringing together North America, South and Central America, and Australia. This was a move that was viewed warily by the other world powers including China, Japan, and Africa. Shortly thereafter Africa, the country with the world's only nuclear power, supposedly kidnaps Orion's wife (also his co-ruler). Orion then disarms and takes control of Africa in order to free his wife, only to learn that the kidnapping was backed by Japan. A cold war began in which China aligned itself with Japan, resulting in a global war. As things were not going well, Orion felt he was possessed by the devil and disappeared for a while. During this dark time he had an inspiration for a new weapon called the Sun-Disk which he then used to devastate Japan. China then surrendered and Orion became ruler of the world. It is at this point that he embraces the name of Grendel, elevating the status of Grendel to an honorable one. During all of this the vampires found a way to escape from Vegas, setting the scene for future concerns within Orion's newly unified empire.

What I find interesting is the relationship the new world order has to the vampires. Clearly there has to be some lateral representation going on, but who are the vampires in our world? It isn't like America hasn't created prison camps before and with the threat of terrorism on the rise there is little to keep us from doing it again. We, as a country, do not tend to see people in the Middle East as humans. In fact it is not uncommon to hear ignorant people say that we should just bomb the Middle East to hell. This highlights another similarity between the real world and Grendel's, only in the graphic novel Orion just bombed the shit out of Japan instead. Oh wait, we did that already in 1945. So what is this all saying? Is a unified global world a good or a bad thing? And how do the vampires complicate things? Are they really representative of another country or are they more like our collective evil consciousness? I personally feel that globalization is inevitable and that we need to start looking at people from other countries as just humans like your neighbor down the street. A child in Africa deserves no less than a child in Wisconsin. I do think that cultural preservation is important and heritage is something to be proud of. On the same note, I think that die hard nationalism is immature and a little bit like high school football. But enough of this, I want to talk about Batman. As the Joker would say, "Why so serious?"

As you may have garnered from previous posts, I find the twisted nature of Batman fascinating. So it is no surprise that I find a similar twist in my favorite character of all time, Grendel. Both Orion and Batman are conflicted in their roles. Batman is unsure of who is in control, he or the Bat. Orion is unsure of the dark side of Grendel, fearing it may take over his person. Both characters are in fear of a possession by their alter egos. Are they leaders or just men? Are they good or are they evil? Do they have autonomy or are they puppets? And then there is that whole parallel between the vampires of Grendel and the bat of Batman. So much to ponder. And so fun to ponder it. And in my next post we shall ponder one man's idea of what it takes to be a superhero in Jimmy Corrigan: the Smartest Kid on Earth.