Review: Grimm Tales of Terror #5
It seems that whenever Grimm Fairy Tales goes off the regular script from their main universe that there is a lot of good stories to be told by some talented creators. This fifth issue of Grimm Tales of Terror is an excellent case in point. Trying to style itself off of the horror classics of the 60s and 70s, this series uses Keres as a malevolent force of balance, punishing those that do harm. This story incorporates in a lot of different inspirations from different horror movies such as The Sixth Sense, Annabelle, The Others and The Haunted House, but it does so without being too dependent on them. This issue tells its own story, and generally succeeds in doing so.
In terms of genres to depict in comics, horror is one of the more challenging. Even in film it is a genre which counts only a few in its list of greats versus a wave of others that challenge with gore and cheap scares. Even so it is hard to catch the same ambience in a comic as the story is not aided along by such staples as spooky music or characters bursting out of nowhere when the scenes go silent. That this issue manages to build and deliver some spooky moments is therefore all the more impressive.
The preamble to this story says that “Zenescope goes back to its roots” and there is maybe more to that than what they meant to say. When left unimpeded by its generally weaker shared universe, the story here gets a chance to shine, or more accurately to scare. While there are fans of the superhero-like universe of Grimm Fairy Tales, it is really worth remembering that it did not start out that way, and that those where the most groundbreaking stories in the original series lie. This issue does not forget those lessons and thrives because of it.
Story: Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco and Meredith Finch Art: Joel Ojeda
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Read
