History[]
Grell is a character from the 2000 AD strip Grey Area. He originally worked as an Exo Transfer Control or ETC officer in the Global Exo Segregation Zone (the 'Grey Area' of the title), where aliens wishing to visit Earth were quarantined. Grell was recruited to the ETC's ranks after a huge God-Star had almost destroyed the Earth. He was a deeply unpleasant, bigoted, extremely right-wing man who hated all aliens, as well most humans who weren't him. This meant that he enjoyed his job, because it gave him the chance to be horrible to aliens and humans (his unfortunate subordinates in squad eight, which he led) without too many awkward questions being asked.
For a while, circumstances seemed to favour Grell's love of abusive and occasionally violent behaviour. Grey Area was based in a semi-lawless area of New Mexico where petty tyrants like him were able to act with impunity. Furthermore, since the God-Star's attack the public's opinion of aliens had soured considerably, with politicians like Senator Mabelline Masters calling for Earth's borders to be closed. Despite this, an alien named Compelling Male Musk Odour was given permission to serve as an ETC officer as part of a cultural exchange between Earth and his native planet, Homeworld. Unluckily for him, the squad he was assigned to was Grell's. Musk's new boss referred to him by the name 'Stinky' and regularly showered him with insults in an egregious display of workplace bullying that the lonely and confused alien did not disclose to anyone.
Grell's team was asked to assist squad eighty-six (led by Musk's human friend Bulliet) in apprehending some rogue ETC officers who were smuggling aliens out of the Grey Area in exchange for cash. Grell tackled the situation by fatally shooting all of the traffickers and the aliens in cold blood, saying that he would tell the authorities they were collateral damage. When Musk protested he was about to shoot him too, but was prevented by the arrival of Bulliet and his team. Although Musk was too frightened to tell anyone what had happened, Bulliet suspected that Grell's actions had been immoral and illegal. The event was swept under the rug because the ETC could not afford any negative publicity.
The ETC finally sacked Grell after he refused to answer a 'signal six twenty-four' distress call from a spacecraft in Earth orbit — in other words, a distress call to which he had a legal obligation to respond. Grell was unwise enough to voice his refusal on an open and recorded channel. The fact that the spacecraft contained 18,000 alien refugees who had been taught the signal by Bulliet and his friend Kymn, who could speak any alien language, was not a good enough excuse to stop Grell losing his job. The like-minded members of his team were fired too, and the decent ones — including Musk — were redeployed. An enraged Grell vowed to avenge himself on Bulliet. He was later offered a job running a 'black ops' version of the ETC by the xenophobic Senator Masters.
Powers and abilities[]
Abilities
Armed combat; making his subordinates' lives miserable.
Strength level
Human male who gets regular strenuous exercise (running, shouting and firing guns).
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Body armour.
Weapons
Guns.
Links[]
- Appearances of Grell
- Character Gallery: Grell
- Images that feature Grell
- Fan-Art Gallery: Grell
- Grell quotations