By Phantom Troublemaker
In this Comic Book Wednesday I’m taking a look at the
Grimm Tales of Terror 2016 Holiday Special. It’s available today at your Local
Comic Book Shop!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays – it’s time to return
to Zenescope’s Grimm world for four tales of Yuletide terror (and one
wraparound story)! Each of the stories represents a different aspect of the
holiday season; ones that we’re a familiar with. There’s a mall Santa, the
office Christmas party, the temptation of peeking at gifts, and caroling. What
could possibly go wrong with Christmas carolers?
Dinner
Party
Story
Joe
Brusha
Ralph
Tedesco
Dave
Franchini
Writer
Dave
Franchini
Artwork
Juan
Nicholas Cerone
Vincenzo
Riccardi
Colors
Valentina
Cuomo
This is the story that ties the rest of the shorts
together. It’s not so much a story as it is the narrator addressing the audience
and laying out themes that lead into each tale. Sometimes the writer strains a
bit to make this happen, but it all works in a Tales from the Crypt kind of way.
The narrator is the common element from the Grimm Tales of Terror series. She’s like
the Cryptkeeper, only not dried up and gross.
The art is solid, with the colors being particularly
nice, but the cinematic look of the panels is what I liked most. I could really
visualize these camera angles moving around in a live action setting. The
progressions of the characters actions as she’s talking make sense, too. Very
often artists don’t worry about telling a visual story as much as they do
making splashy panels. Each panel leads into the next here while providing cues
as to what action is taking place and why we’re seeing it.
After the two opening pages, each of the interstitial
sequences only takes up a page and gets a brief story across until the big
finale of this piece, which is, indeed a finale.
Mall
Santa
Story
Joe
Brusha
Ralph
Tedesco
Writer
Ryan
Lynch
Artwork
Alessandro
Miracolo
Colors
Jorge
Cortes
If they’re not absolutely perfect – real hair and beard,
high-quality tailored suit, rosy cheeks – mall Santas can be pretty creepy.
Zenescope knows that and is using it to make your skin crawl.
Some of the panels lack any kind of background, but I
think it’s mostly because of the economy of space, here. When you are telling a
story that requires as much information as this one does in eight pages, you
have to make things tight. Lots of narrow panels.
Otherwise the art is solid and consistent. Characters’
facial expressions are good and they’re recognizable from page to page. The
look is a little cartoony, but that allows for a lot more dynamism throughout
the story.
The twist is visible from a mile away, but it’s
satisfying.
Pollyanna
Story
Joe Bbrusha
Ralph
Tedesco
Writer
Dany
Roth
Artwork
Moy
R
Colors
Fran
Gamboa
J.C.
Ruiz
This one is about an office Christmas party where the
characters refer to the gift exchange as a “Pollyanna”, which I have never
heard before and had to look up to discover it is a regional term from
Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. On the one hand I don’t know how
wise it is to use a colloquialism with such a small base in your
internationally published comic book. On the other hand, I suppose if these are
Jersey girls, that’s what they’d say.
The story plays out more like a traditional Tales/Vault-type
narrative. As a matter of fact, I think this one would work much better as a
half-hour TV episode. Once again, there’s a lot to get across in eight pages. Pollyanna would have benefitted from
more backstory and character interaction. You have to make some jumps to get
the point of what’s going on.
The art reminds me a lot of the EC stuff. If the colors
weren’t as glaringly modern, I could see this fitting in with some classic
horror stuff. I also like the 80s setting, though it isn’t utilized for much
more than a mention.
 |
| This is the face of a kid that got out of going to school. Or was poisoned by the Joker. |
Sick
Day
Story
Joe
Brusha
Ralph
Tedesco
Writer
Michael
Dolce
Artwork
Babisu
Kourtis
Colors
Erick
Arciniega
Remember that last day of school before Winter Break? The
excitement of the impending vacation mixed with the dread of one more day spent in the hell that is
the public education system?
Kevin isn’t interested in doing all of that. He manages
to convince his parents he’s sick and start that Christmas vacation a day early
so that he can search the house for presents.
The story itself is good, but feels truncated like the
others. I realize these shorts aren’t necessarily intended to be character pieces,
but I found myself wanting to know a little more about these people in order to
fully appreciate their situations. The end of this one falls a little flat because
as the readers we don’t really have an idea of how the outcome affects the
family.
But the biggest problem with this one is Kevin’s age. His
parents say that he is twelve, but in several panels he is drawn looking about
the size of a five-year-old. There are some serious anatomical issues going on.
In other panels without Kevin’s parents around for reference his proportions
look entirely different.
Due to the lack of perspective on the family and the weird
proportion issues with Kevin this was my least favorite of the stories. It’s
strange, too, because otherwise the art is good.
Mr.
Mendelsohn
Story
Joe
Brusha
Ralph
Tedesco
Writer
Sina
Grace
Artwork
Marika
Cresta
Colors
Robby
Bevard
The final story involves Christmas caroling and an old
grump. It’s a little more atmospheric and creepy than the others. The art is
solid and the story has a nice tension to it. If you’ve read these kinds of
horror comics before or watched Tales
from the Crypt or Darkside you know
where this is going. But it’s still a good and satisfying read and the art is
great. I love the lurid colors towards the end.
All in all, the Grimm
Tales of Terror 2016 Holiday Special is a gruesome, fun read for the
holidays. If you can grab a copy at your Local Comic Shop you should.
If you enjoy comic books, Christmas, or Needless Things, you might enjoy SupportPhantom.com.
If you enjoy comic books, Christmas, or Needless Things, you might enjoy SupportPhantom.com.
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