32 pp. (unnumbered), b/w illustrations through p. [19] and color illustrations beginning on p. [20]; includes an Afterword ([31]), and the title page is at the back ([32]), following the Afterward. A very large-format (approx. 17 x 14 inch), finely crafted paperback with elaborate art, published in a limited edition of 250. A thoughtful and informed approach to the story, both graphically and verbally (see authors' comments below), covering the Grendel portion and ending with a "To be continued" ([30]). (The Afterword also indicates the authors' intention to finish the story in two more installments, but none was published.) The text is a direct translation of selected passages of the poem, made from George Jack's student edition, as the Afterword explains.

The English text sometimes has some Old English words and phrases from the poem mingled in (e.g., "Bat the bone frame, blod streams dranc … | swallowed the synsnǣdum; he choked down all of the unlyfigendes … | … even the feet and hands. | Never in middle earth, eorþan sceata, had this fyrena hyrde felt a harder hand grip from any man. His heart was scared and his mind was hinfus, he could not flee to darkness any faster, to seek his company of demons," [24]), and the page design occasionally includes some Old English (e.g., the "Hwæt" carpet page, [1]; Cædmon's Hymn reproduced in Old English and then translated, [4]-[5]) or Latin (e.g., "hic: sceldvs: rex defvnctvs est | hic portatvr: corpvs: sceld[…]," [2], running into page border).

From the Afterword:

Drawing on both modern criticism and archaeological evidence, we've attempted to depict not only the artifacts and landscapes of Scandinavia, but also some of the visual styles of the Anglo-Saxon manuscript tradition.

One important feature in our Beowulf is the interplay between the knotwork borders—interlocking patterns based on Celtic manuscripts and Viking carvings—and our main artwork. The borders represent the voice of the Christian scribe, who often commented on the characters of the poem … A good example of this appears on Pages 4 and 5, which use the borders to tell how the poet linked the pre-Christian monster Grendel to the progeny of Cain.
…
Instead of just putting pictures to the words, we've attempted to combine images with text such that neither can stand alone. This is essentially what all good "comic books" do, and the result is not nearly as anachronistic as it may seem. Indeed, many artifacts contemporary to Anglo-Saxon England used pictures and words together to communicate. Two good examples are the lavishly illuminated Gospels of the British Isles—the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels, to name a couple—and the embroidered Bayeux Tapestry, a narrative that blends images and text in an account of the Battle of Hastings.

Our opening page introduces many of these sources, which become visual elements in our translation. This is a "carpet page" evocative of the illuminated gospels of the Celtic tradition.
…
One of the more difficult aspects of Beowulf is the tendency of the poet to embark on "digressions" … We've tried to keep many of these digressions in our translation, though they often appear in the margins or the knotwork of the page.

On the other hand, some of the information in our margins is not even in the original poem. In the upper-left of the first page is a short narrative of a sparrow, which flies out of darkness into the mead hall, and then back out into darkness … Bede tells us that when King Edwin was considering converting to Christianity, he gathered his counselors to discuss the merits of this new religion. One of them explained that life is like the warmth that the sparrow feels when he flies through the mead hall, but that everything outside of that hall, before or after life, is dark, chaotic, and unknowable. He then added that if Christianity can help one to understand the afterlife, then it is a teaching that should be followed.

We illustrated this passage, and incorporated the image of the sparrow throughout our translation, as a way of locating the messages of the pre-Christian characters in Beowulf with the explicitly Christian tone of the poet. ([31])

BAM (copy no. 1, viewed in the Special Collections of Stanford University).