This series has done well enough when it has recaptured what made the original series so strong from Grimm Fairy Tales.  Instead of just telling a fairy tale, it managed to put that into a modern perspective with some issue that is enough of a problem in society so as to be worth addressing.  Sometimes though with this series this format is pushed aside for something closer to a pure horror story, often with a little bit of a moral attached, but enough off target to be more for scares than for a deeper meaning.  This one ends up being a bit of a combination of both, because of its inverted structure as it is not the main focus of the story that has a comeuppance here but rather the side story.

The story focuses on female hitchhikers, and because of that could probably have been deeper in some ways.  The concept of the hitchhiker in horror and science fiction is a common enough one, and generally speaking the hitchhiker comes along with some unnatural abilities.  That is the case here evidently, but the lesson learned from the main story is a bit weird, as clearly the villain of the story is hard to ascertain.  This story does address an often ignored social problem, and that is of the danger posed to female hitchhikers, particularly those in some parts of Canada where it is the only legitimate form of transit and where murders or disappearances are often and unexplained.  Through such a prism there is a bit of an actual moral payoff in this story, but it is more implied than verified.

This series has been unexpectedly good at times, but this particular issue does not manage the same impact that others had, either in terms of the scary horror moments nor in therms of any morale coming out of the story as told by the series main character Keres.  What is left is a story that works on some levels but is unfortunately unbalanced in its outlook, and a little misguided by not digging a bit deeper.

Story: Steve Yockey Art: Eleonora Carlini
Story: 7.3  Art: 7.3 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Pass

Zenescope provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.