FULL
DISCLOSURE – I received a review copy of this comic from Zenescope.
This is the first free anything I have ever gotten from any kind of
major entity.
Also,
Zenescope is sponsoring Whose
EFF Is It Anyway?,
the game show that I am hosting with Miss Lady Flex at Dragon Con
(and possibly elsewhere). Whose
EFF
starts at 10 PM on Saturday night in the Marriott M303-304.
I’m
writing this before I read the comic and I have no intention of
letting the sweet deal I’ve set up color my opinion of the comic.
I’ve never read a Zenescope comic book before because I’ve always
dismissed them as gratuitous T&A comics. Mrs. Troublemaker, on
the other hand, is a fan of Zenescope and actually owns a bunch of
the comics. So this should be interesting. Here we go.
The
press release specifically notes that going forward the book will
have a “YA” feel, which took me a minute to figure out meant
“Young Adult”.
The
cover definitely leans more T&A than YA, but what’s inside is
quite different (aside from the get-up Sela Mathers – the seeming
main character – is wearing. At first I thought it was a little
weird, but it’s basically just Snow White crossed with Wonder Woman
with some thigh-high boots thrown in for good measure. It’s a
little cheeky from behind, but overall not anything crazy for comic
books. I think the trenchcoat makes it seem weirder.
So
here’s the story:
There
are four realms surrounding Earth – Wonderland, Neverland, Oz, and
Myst. I get the impression that these realms aren’t really supposed
to interact. Sela is some kind of Guardian that I think maybe keeps
that from happening. The opening scene depicts Sela and her daughter,
Skye, tracking down some stray orcs on Earth and blasting them back
to Myst. Skye is the narrator and – true to the YA feel – the POV
character.
Over
the course of the book we are introduced to a few other characters
that don’t really get developed too much, but only because this is
just one issue. We get a sense for them and, of course, have the
introductory paragraph to describe them. But they aren’t really the
point of this book. The point is to establish what the premise will
be going forward.
After
Sela and Skye dispatch the orcs, they proceed to a school and meet
four new students, each from a different realm. Some familiar teenage
roles are established and it is revealed that Sela and Belinda – a
character we don’t really know anything about other than that she’s
a reformed enemy – will be teaching/training these kids. One of the
kids – the dim, hunky, mischievous dude – finds trouble and we
have a cliffhanger for the next issue.
I
was expecting the characters to be influenced by the ones from
classic fairy tales – if not the characters themselves – so I was
a bit surprised that none of them were clear derivatives. Even Sela
with her Snow White look felt distinctive and different. Over the
course of time I think this will be a good thing, though for me as a
first time reader it made the characters a little more difficult to
identify with.
For
the most part I really liked the writing style. “My life – until
now – has been a weird, twisted bowl of suck” is a line that
caught my eye because it’s different and conversational. It came
from Skye and is just so un-comic-booky. It reminds me a bit of the
way Tim Seeley wrote Hack/Slash.
The narration and dialogue are both much more straightforward than I
expected from a title that borrows from Grimm fairy tales. I guess I
mean that the book doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously.
That’s a good thing.
The
art is quite good, if a little lacking in personality. The movements
and facial expressions are great and the artist’s storytelling
ability is solid. I never had trouble deciphering what was going on,
which is frequently a problem with comics from two other publishers
whose names I won’t mention.
As
a matter of fact, that was the big triumph of Grimm
Fairy Tales #101
– the storytelling format. The pages were clean and easy to read,
the panels had an obvious progression, and the artist kept everything
simple and nice to look at. There aren’t any annoying visual tricks
or weird pages where it becomes difficult to determine which panel to
look at next. The action was always clear and intuitive to read.
I
can’t say that I would pick up the next issue if I had bought this
one. With the amount of comics I already buy I just couldn’t
justify following one that wasn’t my thing. And young adult fairy
tale comics are not my thing. Having said that, the cliffhanger got
me and I am looking forward to reading the next issue. It’s a very
well done comic book that stands out in today’s market for having
solid storytelling and a clear concept. Also, it is, indeed, a solid
starting point. While I felt the presence of a preexisting story, it
didn’t bog down anything that was going on in this issue.
If
you’re into fairy tales and new takes on old concepts, I’d say
you should give this a try. Plus, Sela totally looks like the
Baroness, just all fetished up in a Snow White costume. And that’s
great.
Grimm Fairy Tales #101 will be available from your Local Comic Book Shop on August 20th, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment