Zenescope is known for their incredibly sexy women in their hot comic series. I have been waiting to get my hands on the first Issue of their popular Grimm Fairy Tales for quite some time (I love me some sexy comics), and at long last I have it!
Description of Grimm Fairy Tales Issue #1:
“Exploring the connection between sex and violence, the adaption of Little Red Riding hood confronts that line. The werewolf displays the lust and animal nature of sexuality while Red symbolizes the innocence and purity of love. The hunter is the balance between them both, taking you back close to the original story of the brothers Grimm rather than the doused down version we know today, the true moral behind the story is displayed.”
Written by Ralph Tedesco and Joe Tyler
Pencils by Joe Dodd
Colored by Lisa Lubera
Art: 2.5 out of 5
Newer issues of the Grimm comics are AMAZING – super sexy and stunning. I was expecting the same thing here and I didn’t get it. Joe Dodd’s pencils were fantastic, his original drawings were just what I wanted, but the colorist ruined them. Honestly, it looked like they were colored in with crayon, they were terrible. The coloring turned clean, skilled and beautiful pencils into a rough mess. I hated it. Thank goodness Zenescope eventually got different artists to color the comics, because as I said, the newer comics are perfect.
Story: 3.5 out of 5
The story in Issue #1 is the retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. The story was a hit and miss for me. As the description above states, the issue explores some interesting themes, however, you barely pick up on them in the comic. They could have done more in the story. What I did love was that the Big Bad Wolf was a shapeshifting werewolf. That was fantastic.
Overall, I was a bit disappointed by this first issue into Zenescope’s hit Grimm series. I will totally continue reading them, but I just might skip ahead to the newer issues.
– Moonlight
About the Author
Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to werewolves and other supernatural beasties. She writes for top genre sites like Vampires.com and Werewolves.com. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of folklore with coffee in hand. Touch her coffee and you may lose a limb. You can stalk her via her Twitter.
“The hunter is the balance between them both, taking you back close to the original story of the brothers Grimm rather than the doused down version we know today, the true moral behind the story is displayed.”
Ugh. Or, more specifically:
“taking you back close to the original story of the brothers Grimm”
The Brothers Grimm didn’t author ANY fairy tales. They collected AND EDITED German folktales. As in they committed a particular slice of ORAL LITERATURE down to paper. There is no original in oral literature. It exists in the mouth of its teller and the ears of its audience in a multitude of variations, each as valid as the next. Each storyteller alters the story according to their preferences and their expectations of their audience, a good one can do it on the fly based on their audience’s reactions.
There is such thing as a “true moral behind the story” when it comes to folktales. That would assume the existence of a true canon version in a medium defined by its amorphousness.
In actually the Grimm Brothers themselves had a history of bowdlerizing the stories from edition to edition as they got comfortable with the idea that they could make money selling the stories to children rather than acting as chroniclers of local folk tradition.
/end rant.
Just an FYI, that description was written for the comic, not by me. My review is below.
I know, you’re far too involved with folklore to make such a statement. It just irks me something fierce when people just don’t understand their source material.
I had a similar reaction when a lit professor told us Edgar Allen Poe was British. Nerd flailing. You know.
Lol, I totally know the feeling. One big pet peeve of mine is when people think Disney movies accurately portray those old tales. Ahh, drives me crazy. Have you ever read the original Little Mermaid? So SO not like the Disney version.
Agreed. Though it is true that the fairy tales in the Grimm collection are much darker the things children know nowadays, I don’t believe that the collectors edited any of the tales; they wouldn’t have anything to benefit for it.
@paisley – Are you a folklorist?
Didn’t actually read too much of this series. I got a couple of trades of the spin-offs though (Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths and Legends). The Red Riding Hood one was okay; it wasn’t the best thing I read, but it wasn’t the worst thing either. However, the Beauty and the Beast one, I thought, was one of the best comics I’ve read. But then again, I have a thing for Beauty and the Beast. =)
O.o