Comic Book Review: Grimm Fairy Tales Myths & Legends Issue #11

As some of you may remember, earlier this month, I revealed a secret to you. I, girly girl extraordinary, have a thing for comic books. I know this shocked many of you so I've given you a few weeks to mull this over and come to terms with it before posting my 2nd ever comic book review. I really do hope that you've come to terms with it because as of..well, recently, I'm an "official" reviewer for a couple of really awesome comic book publishers. I ought to ask them if they have awesome blog buttons or anything, but honestly, that's a total sidebar and not the reason y'all are still reading...right? Let's get to the review!

For my very first ever Zenescope review, I was sent a copy of Grimm Fairy Tales Myths & Legends Issue #11.*  As you can see, they were nice enough to even include a graphic of the cover to include with this post. I find that especially handy if you read this and then have a desire to go out and buy the book for yourself once it hits store shelves/their website.

With any review, I tend to start by judging a book by its cover. In this case, the cover art was done by Romano Molenaar. While I actually appreciate the talent that went into this cover, I do have an issue with it. In fact, I bet you can guess what it is. Why in tarnation does she have boobs the size of brontosaurus eggs? Seriously. I know that sex sells and generally, I quite appreciate the body of the lovely heroine, but this cover drives me nuts.

Now, before anyone jumps to any conclusions, I need to say that this isn't a gender issue. It isn't even a "women are being exploited" issue. It's logistics, people. As someone who has huge boobs, let me assure you that they do not stay in place like the artist has depicted. Let me also assure you that they get in the way of everything! In my head, I can see our lovely heroine, in all her glory, jumping into the air..and presenting the sea witch with all her glory. Do you catch my drift here? If you're going to use svelte, big boobed heroines, that's awesome. I'd love to see more strong female figures with bigger assets. Let's just make it realistic, ok? While I can suspend reality for a good story, it's tougher when the images just don't align.

That being said, I really did enjoy this story. I was honestly disappointed that I hadn't had the opportunity to read the other books in this series. This issue picks up with the 4th and final installment of The Little Mermaid. It includes back story on the sea witch that I found really interesting. Like a lot of people, I'm mainly familiar with the Disney version of this story, so this was a nice change of pace. (FYI, Disney stories are rather changed from the Grimm Brothers versions.)

I really don't want to give away the story, so I'm just going to focus on a few of the details that I picked out while reading. Hopefully, it will pique your interest enough that you'll pick up this series for yourself.

The Art -
Throughout the book, I noticed what I consider classic symbols in literature. For me, it really raised the level of this book to more than just a fluff piece. It showed that serious thought and effort went into the telling of this story. As someone who is new to comic books (and who is hoping that I can get Raven to sit down and give me a lesson), I don't know who makes the call as to what goes into the art work. I do know that whoever put this story all together knew what they were doing. Let me give you some examples:

Page 5/6 - Use of pink implying a feminine power.
Page 7 - Panel 1: Cascading Water equals a combination of power and purity.
Throughout - Red sky foretelling troubles ahead. The red also matches the red of the blood of Venus.

The Story -

While I clearly have missed a lot of this story line, what I did find very impressive was how in just a few short pages, you actually come to not only care about the character but you can empathize with them. This is something that many authors struggle to do, but in this book, it feels almost effortless. By the time you reach the end of this book, you've got your fingers crossed and your hopes invested in the "good guys."

I won't give away the ending, but I will say to the folks who put together this comic, I'm impressed. I'm impressed that you didn't go the easy way out. You wrote an ending that is just as real as the one everyone hopes to see. Sometimes, the good guys don't win. Sometimes, they do. In the end, what matters is that they didn't give up and that they'll be back for another issue.



*To all new comic book readers, I don't suggest that you jump into a series at issue #11. If you cannot find the first issues to purchase, ask around and see if you can borrow them from anyone. Trust me, the story lines make so much more sense if you start at the beginning.

I received a copy of this comic book for the purpose of this review. I received no monetary compensation and the fact that the author himself called me and asked me to review his book before another author's book had no bearing on my opinions. However, it did cause me to smile a lot, feel really special and for my kids to roll their eyes frequently at me. 

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