I must admit I was rather surprised at recent twists Liliy has introduced with her contemporary fantasy comic The Adventures of Wiglaf and Mordred after Wiglaf’s dad kidnapped Mordred out of the belief his son can do better and intending on turning Mordred into a sentient magic item like Grace, Bliss, and others who’ve appeared in the comic. Today’s update, however, managed to dumbfound me with the normally vicious and vindictive Grace demanding that the others go and stop Wiglaf’s dad (and I suppose rescue Mordred while doing so); this may be one of the most surreal moments I’ve seen in a comic that has made it a tradition to invoke weirdness and surreality.
Naturally there’s more to this than a sudden bout of heroism with Grace. He sees Wiglaf as a worthwhile rival to his wielder, Azrael, and has rightfully realized Wiglaf would lose it if Mordred died (or was transformed into part of the “set” as Grace refers to his fellow sentient magical items). Amusingly, he discounts Azrael building friendships elsewhere or finding a different rival; whether he considers Wiglaf the only worthy rival to Azrael or if he thinks no one else could prove to be a challenge remains to be seen. What’s more, Grace’s little monologue provides us with a glimpse into not just who and what Grace was… but on the others as well.
It isn’t much of a surprise that Grace was a serial killer when human; from the very first moment we saw the real Grace, it was clear he wasn’t anything noble or decent; especially given the bits of dialogue we’d been given. He twisted Azrael into the monster he is today. But Grace’s last words suggest that the true villainy is not with Grace, Azrael, or even Mordred’s family; instead, it’s with the people Wiglaf’s dad works for, and their tendency to snag people and rob them of their lives out of a twisted sense of humor. Though I’m sure this perception will change in time as well once Liliy pulls her next twist out from under us.