GrizzlyShark #1 Review: The Return Of GrizzlyShark

By D. Goodman | Apr 6, 2016

Invincible artist Ryan Ottley brings back his creator-owned title GrizzlyShark and I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.

GrizzyShark #1 (of 3)
Written by Ryan Ottley
Art by Ryan Ottley
Colored by Ivan Plascencia
Published by Image Comics

I’ve read a lot of odd comics over the years. Some have tried to be funny and failed spectacularly. Others have tried too hard to be serious and have come off looking stupid. And then there is the 20 minutes of my life I’m never going to get back after reading an issue John Byrne’s incredibly awful Star Trek: New Vision series.

However, I can honestly say I have never, ever read anything like Ryan Ottley’s GrizzlyShark. But I know I need more of this comic in my life, the sooner the better.

I knew I was in for something special as soon as I got to the sequence early in the book where a father has to save his son, who has just been torn in half (literally) by the GrizzlyShark while the two were camping. So of course he takes the top half of his son and puts him in the campfire to cauterize the wound. A few jokes about having to pee later and I was officially in love with this comic.

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GrizzlyShark tells the twisted tale of a shark that lives and hunts in the forrest. And if that sounds stupid, it is. What makes the book so much fun is that Ottley is well aware of how stupid the book is and uses that to his advantage.

The characters are all idiots and rednecks that pretty much deserve what they are getting. You find about halfway through reading GrizzlyShark that you start to root for the shark, which just takes it to another level of fun.

Ottley’s art is a lot more raw then what you see when he’s working on Invincible. It has a much more sketchy, cartoony style that reminds me a lot of Skottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland, just, you know, with a shark in the woods. And of course it is a perfect fit for a comic like this. Every time I watched GrizzlyShark jump out of some trees to attack someone while he was screaming “RAWR”, it brought a huge smile to my face.

I would add some nice comments about the coloring by Ivan Plascencia, but there is just so much blood that most of the time the only color you notice is red.

Look, if you are searching for the next Saga or Walking Dead, this ain’t it. But if you are looking to have a good laugh with a comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously, GrizzlyShark may be right up your alley. And there is nothing wrong with supporting pretty much any creator-owned book, even one as spectacularly ridiculous yet thoroughly entertaining as GrizzlyShark.

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The Bottom Line: GrizzlyShark #1 is gory, offensive, funny, goofy and just a complete blast to read. I cannot wait until the next issue, the trade paperback and hopefully a regular ongoing series.

Seriously, why would Ottley waste his time working on Invincible when he could be giving the world more adventures of… GrizzlyShark!