Review: Realm War #7
Zenescope has a strange property on its hand with Realm War. Company-wide crossovers are familiar enough to comic fans but they are usually restricted to the Big Two, and not to the independents. Part of the appeal of the crossovers is to get fans to read a lot of books that they would normally never touch, and thus to boost sales and to gain exposure for other properties. While comic fans are mixed in their appreciation of this common stunt, it is nonetheless one which is built somewhat on the idea of a large shared universe. Zenescope has tried large crossovers before, most recently with the ongoing Age of Darkness, for which Realm War forms the central narrative of the crossover. What Zenescope is mostly missing though is the shared universe. It has had success with its flagship series Grimm Fairy Tales, and a spin-off from that called Myths and Legends (since canceled.) The only other ongoing series are Robyn Hood and Wonderland, neither too close to the main story lines of Grimm Fairy Tales, but both still tied in. Realm War thus acts as the driving force for a crossover of three series, a scope which is small in comparison to the other companies.
The short version of Age of Darkness is that there is a Dark Queen that has taken control of the Earth and merged the different realms, or at least parts thereof, into one. Real War tells the story of those fighting back against the forces of the Dark Queen, and it is a story that is often lacking in focus. One of the main criticisms of Grimm Fairy Tales is that it draws upon too much from myth, legends, fairy tales and so on, and ends up with too little. Failing to realize that less can be more makes the series hard to follow at times, and even likable characters get lost within. Notably here, Britney Waters, the poster girl for Grimm Fairy Tales (having appeared on the first cover of the main series) is rendered inert by being forced into the story, which is decent on action but fairly weak on plot.
When considered in a meta-sense, of those that analyze comics both inside of the medium and for their place in pop culture, this series is full of unnecessary cliches which don’t advance the story beyond basic levels. Fans will know what these are, that there are things in comics which are never permanent, and they show up here, but so too do other cliches like an unbeatable hero, or a fight against all odds. It feels at times with thee story line of Age of Darkness that the writers are assembling it as if it were a paint-by-numbers, but losing the picture in the end.
Story: Joe Brusha Art: Sami Kivela
Story: 5.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 5.0 Recommendation: Pass
Zenescope provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.
