Grommets #7 // Review
There’s a fire on the lawn. When he goes out to investigate, he gets hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat. Then there’s a bear trap and blood. A kick to the throat makes eyes flie out of their sockets. And then a still beating heart is pulled out a chest. Of course...this is all just a daydream of a kid sitting in a room at a police station in Grommets #7. The writing team of Rick Remender and Brian Posehn conclude their opening coming-of-age dramatic comedy. Artist Brett Parson brings the reality of the American mid-1980s to the page with colorist Moreno Diniso.
Rick and Brian aren’t in the best frame of mind to deal with the police...particularly as it is the case that the police have already decided that the whole incident was entirely their fault without any kind of further investigation. The other kids involved WERE big kids with the local football team, so it’s totally understandable that the cops would be looking to blame someone other than them. Rick’s going to recover, but he’s still got to deal with the local scene. He’s still got three months before he moves to Phoenix...or...does he?
Remenber and Posehn maintain a certain amount of energy and momentum. The ensemble wraps itself up pretty solidly. The issue seems to be split-up into four 8-page scenes that wrap-up a few loose ends. The final scene DOES feel a bit tacked-on at the end of the issue as everyone is settling-in to Phoenix. Remender and Posehn throw-in one final coming-of-age moment that there really hadn’t been a whole lot of lead-in to over the course of the rest of the series. It’s a fun moment, but it feels kind of weird and distended from the rest of what had come before it.
Parson has a few different disparate scenes and a few different moods to deliver to the page in concise, little eight-page packages. Some of the moods work better than others. The drama of the opening daydream doesn’t quite feel as intense as it could have been. The tension inside. the police station feels a bit weak as well, but so much of the erst of it is beautifully placed and paced on the page...whether it be a long skateboard adventure or one last goodbye with a few friends.
The series has come to an end, but there’s plenty of time left to go in the 1980s and lots of time left to go before high school graduation for Rick and Brian. There’s a lot that could happen. It’d be interesting to see where Remender, Posehn and Parson might take the series into Phoenix in the second half of the decade as the two protagonists move on ever closer to adulthood. There’s a definite evolution and awakening as pop culture moves beyond the Reagan era and the two kids contemplate what the future might be like.
