Graphic Novel Review: The Grot: Book One in the Story of the Swamp City Grifters by Pat Grant

Posted on February 4, 2021 at 9:44 am by Gene Ambaum

The Grot: Book One in the Story of the Swamp City Grifters by Pat Grant with colouring by Fionn McCabe. Top Shelf, 2020. 9781603094665.

In The Grot a family (two brothers and a mother) sets out to make their fortune in Falter City. Most who go are out to find some of the valuable algae. The rest are grifters, with the exception of the family — they’re out to start a yogurt business. Misguided? Probably.

The most beautiful thing about the swamp around Falter City is that it seems to run on pedal power. Everything else is gross, from the yeasty air to the plague to the stinking mud that’s everywhere. It’s a place filled with misery and animal fights. The family should have paid more attention to the fact that so many people on the road were headed the other way, apparently with good reason.

It’s twisted fun to watch idiots get conned, and the filth didn’t leave me feeling too grimy. That was because the art is wonderful, largely due to the little details and McCabe’s colors. Grant really knows how to draw a sickly chicken and a yeasty poultice.

You can still read The Grot at http://thegrotcomic.com/