Christine Spar

Real Name: Christine Spar

Identity/Class: Normal human (? - may be human possessed by demon)

Occupation: Writer

Enemies: Argent, Tujiro XIV, Police Captain Wiggins

Known Relatives: Stacy Palumbo-Olliver (mother, deceased), Anson (son, deceased), Hunter Rose (adoptive grandfather)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: San Francisco

First Appearance: Grendel #1 (Comico, 1986)

Powers/Abilities: Christine seems to grow in skill and power the longer she wears the mask of Grendel, becoming incredibly agile and athletic, as well as more prone to anger and rage. She is armed with the original Grendel's fork, which as well as being armed with twin blades, can also be electrified at the touch of a switch.

History: It is 2022, and Christine Spar, daughter of Stacy Palumbo-Olliver, who in turn had been the adopted child of Hunter Rose, has penned a biography of Grendel, entitled Devil by the Deed. A few years after the publication of that volume, Christine and her son Anson attend a Kabuki performance, and witness a performance by Tujiro XIV. They are introduced to the performer, who surreptitiously steals a lock of the boy's hair. Shortly afterwards Anson goes missing.

When the police come up blank, Spar investigates for herself. Talking to another grieving mother whose child vanished under similar circumstances, she comes to realise the link between a spate of child kidnappings and the touring Kabuki company. Intent of finding her son or revenging his death, and knowing the police will not aid her, she steals Hunter Rose's mask and fork from the museum which houses them, before following the performers to San Francisco.

Spying upon Tujiro, she discovers that he is in fact a vampire with a taste for young boys, and a penchant for keeping one eye from each victim, her son included, as a souvenir. His Kabuki troupe is the cover for an international slaver ring. As she engages in a war with the fiend, seeking to bring about his destruction, she also falls in love with Brian Li Sung, the stage manager for the troupe's San Francisco venue. And back in New York, the crippled wolf Argent, who sensed Grendel's return the instant Christine put on the mask, listens to police intelligence about the vigilante's actions on the other side of the continent.

After a number of fruitless encounters with the vampire, Christine confronts him when he comes to kidnap Brian. Having discovered that the oriental undead is vulnerable to water, she hoses him down, forcing his transformation into cat form. She succeeds in putting an end to his troupe, but the cat Tujiro escapes. Christine finally believes that the nightmare is over. Intending to give up being Grendel and to leave Brian Li Sung without the grief attached to her life, Spar returns to New York, where Argent, the wolf who had been crippled by Hunter Rose, assisted by a policeman named Wiggins and sporting a lie-detecting implanted eye, confront her. Unable to prove anything, they are forced to let her go.

Brian follows her, but a San Francisco cop whose father was killed by Hunter Rose, and who has been working on the case back on the West Coast, follows, and in a fit of rage beats Brian up. Upon finding about about this, Spar plays a vicious game of cat and mouse with the cop, finally killing him. Argent brings Brian in for questioning, and has Christine's place ransacked. Feeling that her life has been destroyed by the police, she dons the mask again, and confronts Argent in his lair. Both die in the ensuing battle, leaving Brian to grieve for her. The date is 30 September 2026.

Comments: Though it is never explicitly stated, Christine Spar is at least partially possessed from the point she puts on the mask of Hunter Rose - Argent senses "his" return the moment she does it.

CLARIFICATIONS:

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