Grimm Fa
iry Tales #54
Written by: Joe Brusha
Drawn by: Dafu Yu and Tess Fowler
Published by: Zenescope Entertainment Inc
Revelations and surprises–this issue has both in droves.
Having been tasked with reviewing a three-issue arc of Grimm Fairy Tales, and having approached those reviews as an inchoate consumer of Zenescope comics, I found myself asking two or three questions for every answer the texts evinced:
Who is Erik, and what is his relationship to Sela?
What is the source and extent of Sela’s powers?
Who is the mysterious green-skinned leader of the Horde, the malevolent force that is sweeping across the enchanted lands of Myst?
And, perhaps most perplexingly, what, or rather who, are the Falsebloods?
Fumbling along through issue #52 and #53 left these and many other questions on the tip of my tongue. It was most fortunate, then, for me to have come across #54, which serves not only as a wonderful stand-alone story–one filled with dynamic action; a fair shake of death, life, and rebirth; and, most importantly answers–but also as a good fill-in-the-blanks issue for newish readers like myself.
Though it would be imprudent and downright malicious to reveal the answers to my own ruminations regarding this series, let me say nonetheless that my and many more sources of obfuscation are elucidated in this particular book. One thing I will comment on is the nature and forceful manifestations and mutations of Sela’s immense power. She is certainly a capable warrior, wielding steel and magical energy with equal acumen. But it is the gifts that come to light in this issue–for instance, her ability to revive the dead–that illustrate the full scope of her magnanimity.
Seeing a dead duck–and I mean that literally–slain by the arrow of a hungry orc, Sela explodes with forceful violence, taking hands, heads, and of course many orcish lives. She saves the remaining duck, but intuits that the creature will die of sorrow without its mate, whom it has bonded with for life, as many duck species are known to do. Summoning courage and mystical energies vast and mysterious, Sela removes the arrow and replaces it with revivification. Sela’s companion, a sardonically irreverent dwarf named Bolder, can only marvel at the breath-taking–or perhaps breath-giving?–spectacle.
A story this well told–writer Joe Brusha really is at the top of his game–deserves better artwork, quite frankly. The penciling team of Dafu Yu and Tess Fowler are simply not up to the task–their sprites are flat and cartoonish, with almost comic anatomical features and static modes of expression. I cannot fully fathom the depths of Zenescope’s decision to change artistic teams mid-arc–what of Alisson Rodrigues and Roberto Viacama? Theirs was exceptional artwork that was worthy of Brusha’s fine writing and the gravity of the material itself.
Graphic shortcomings notwithstanding, this is still a vibrant, engaging alternative to more mainstream DC and Marvel titles. I give this series, though not necessarily this issue, my highest recommendation.
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- Zenecope Announces San Diego Comic-con Plans (graphicpolicy.com)
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Beyond Wonderland #6 (comicsforge.com)
- Escape from Wonderland #2 (comicsforge.com)
- Zenescope Releases Horror In “The Theater” (graphicpolicy.com)
- Grimm Fairy Tales #55 (comicsforge.com)
- Escape From Wonderland #3 (comicsforge.com)
- Grimm Fairy Tales: Beyond Wonderland #5 (comicsforge.com)
- Zenescope To Release Grimm Fairy Tales’ The Library (graphicpolicy.com)
