GRIMM FAIRY TALES: APRIL FOOLS EDITION
Published by: Zenescope
Story: David Seidman, Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Raven Gregory
Art: Chris Moreno
Well, this was a fun surprise. When I first opened the cover I just expected this to be a slightly more humor filled entry into GRIMM FAIRY TALES. What I didn’t expect is that the “fooling” here would be the writers re-wording the dialogue in already published tales. I have not read the original stories so I cannot really comment on how they’re altered and if they’re better/worse in their newfound state, but I sure had a great time reading them as is.
This is all pretty ridiculous. I mean, they turn Red Riding Hood into the village slut, who sleeps with the same men that her grandmother does. It is pretty sordid stuff and gleefully ridiculous. There’s even some pop-culture references thrown in for good measure. A couple occasions, I wondered if they had to change the artwork to coincide with the new narratives as some of the images are hard to take seriously, like Red’s grandma in bed with an assortment of townfolk. Not sure how that panel was pulled off outside of this parody format. Stil, this is a great read, for fans of GRIMM FAIRY TALES and newcomers alike.
The writing here is clearly why this issue exists. It is basically just riffs on already established material, sort of along the lines of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000. This is the creators of the material going back and just having fun with it though so it comes off as genuine rather than forced, and it is all pretty amusing. The jokes can be obvious at times but they hit more than they miss, which is definitely a good thing.
The artwork is solid throughout. I have not seen how these were originally presented so I’m not sure if any details or whole panels were altered for this issue, which I imagine a couple must have given how closely they correlated to the humorous narrative content. Regardless, it is strong work and compliments the witty writing nicely.
This April Fools issue of GRIMM FAIRY TALES is a fun read. It is accessible to those who have little or no experience with the series and prides itself of being as ridiculous as possible, which it is. If the idea of reading a story titled Hansel & Gretel 2: Electric Boogaloo interests you, than pick yourself up a copy.
