Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Caitlin Kittredge, Coffin Hill, Comics, dynamite, entertainment, grimm, Maria Sanapo

Coffin Hill's Caitlin Kittredge Takes On A New Grimm Series

Published Fri, 15 Jul 2016 16:00:57 -0500

Caitlin Kittredge talks Grimm #1, on sale in September from Dynamite. Cover by Maria Sanapo

BYRON BREWER: Caitlin, congratulations on writing this new series for Dynamite. How did you become involved in this latest incarnation of Grimm?

CAITLIN KITTREDGE: Thanks very much! Very excited to be involved in this project. I was approached by Matt Idelson at Dynamite, who'd read my comic Coffin Hill from Vertigo and thought I would be a good fit.

BB: Any similarities to you between Coffin Hill and Grimm?

CK: Both are contemporary fantasy-horror stories, and although the mythology of Grimm is very different from Coffin Hill, there are a lot of similarities—magic, monsters, characters with dark secrets and plenty of action.

BB: Of course, this comic is based on the NBC series, but is it attached to its regular continuity? If so, where in particular?

CK: It's set during Season 4, after Juliette has unwillingly become a hexenbiest. I envisioned it as taking place during the "winter break" between the midseason finale and where the series picks back up again, but since the whole five issues take place over about two and a half days, it could really slot in anywhere after Nick regains his Grimm powers.

BB: For the uninitiated, whomever they might be, tell us a little about the book/TV series Grimm in general, and the particular storyline involved in this series.

CK: Nick Burkhardt is a Portland police officer who discovers he's the last in a long line of Grimms, people who hunt monsters known as Wesen. Wesen live among us, and look like regular people to most. Only Grimms can see their true visage. There are good Wesen and bad Wesen, and as Grimm progresses the line between good and bad becomes steadily more blurred. Our story actually mostly deals with Nick's long-time girlfriend Juliette Silverton, who started off as a veterinarian but quickly found out Nick's secret and decided to help him keep the world safe from Wesen—to her detriment, as she ended up being turned into a hexenbiest (the Grimm equivalent of a witch) against her will and having her entire life turned upside down.

BB: Tell us more about Juliette and some of your other protagonists.

CK: Juliette is a fantastic character because she's so conflicted. She never wanted the power that came with her transformation, but she also finds it addicting. She has darkness in her she hasn't fully accepted and it's leading her into disaster. I'm also excited that I got the chance to bring in Rosalee, a Wesen herbalist who often helps out Nick and Juliette, and Theresa, aka Trubel, one of the only other Grimms in existence besides Nick, who is a bad-ass chick with a machete … 'nuff said. Complicating this trio's attempts to keep Portland safe during the story is Adalind Schade, a hexenbiest who's a bit obsessed with Nick—to the point that she disguised herself as Juliette through magic and slept with Nick to steal his Grimm powers. Needless to say, putting Juliette and her in the same room is asking for trouble.

BB: As a writer, how do you see Nick as a character?

CK: Nick is an equally complicated guy. He was one of the good ones before he discovered he was a Grimm, and he still tries his best—unfortunately, the ruthless world of the Wesen breaks everyone eventually. Nick is insanely protective of his loved ones, and still trying his best to be a good guy…but he's losing his grip on who he was before the show started, just like Juliette.

BB: As you mentioned, one of the big plot points on TV was when Adalind impersonated Juliette and slept with Nick. I hear that is going to rear its ugly head for Juliette again in this series?

CK: Oh yeah. You can't do a story with Juliette and Adalind and not address it. Juliette, while not the type to go after you with a baseball bat or start a screaming fight, has an iron will and she does not brook anyone messing with the people she cares about. Adalind victimized and violated Nick on a lot of levels with what she did, and I imagine in her perfect fantasy Juliette would just light Adalind on fire with her mind and be done with it. But she can't, because she needs Adalind's help, so how she deals with this particular devil is a big crux of the story.

BB: And finally, how is it re-teaming with artist Maria Sanapo? Seem like Coffin Hill old home week?

CK: Maria is fabulous and I would love to work with her always. (smiles)

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