GRIMM FAIRY TALES: MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Raven Gregory and David Miller
ZOMBIES VS. CHEERLEADERS #2 Brandon Jerwa, Remy Mokhtar, Bill Maus, et. al.
ABATTOIR #1 OF 6 Rob Levin, Troy Peteri
and Bing Cansino
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #1 John Rogers
and Andrea Di Vito
WARLORD OF MARS #1 Arvid Nelson
and Stephen Sadowski
VICTORIAN UNDEAD: SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. DRACULA #1
Ian Edginton and Davide Fabbri
O
nce upon a time, back in 2005, Zenescope Entertainment began publishing a horror comic, called Grimm Fairy Tales, with a unique twist. Each issue saw ordinary peo-
ple unwillingly thrust into twisted and bizarre versions of famous children’s stories, in the hopes that they might learn valuable life lessons and avoid whatever horrific fate the real world had in store for them. Guiding the hapless travellers is the mysteri-
ous Dr. Sela Mathers, the human possessor of a magic book that transports people from Earth into the realm of Myst, a dimension populated by familiar mythical characters. Initially, Myst was merely the setting in which the Earth characters re-enacted classic fairy tales, usually with ghastly results. But as the series progressed, readers learned more about the realm and its denizens, especially the evil Dark One and his attempts to seize the magic book and use it to transport an army of monsters to Earth. Despite the compelling mythology being built
within the comic, however, the series’ main ap- peal continued to be its take on classic fairy tales. “I think there is something about the sto- ries that really speaks to the readers,” explains Raven Gregory, executive editor at Zenescope. “They are different than anything else out there right now and I think that is something really special in a market where it seems like everything has been done. There’s also a comfort at revisiting the characters you knew as a child with new and more mature themes. It really makes for fresh and interesting stories.” GFT proved to be a
surprise hit and even managed to spin off as- sorted one-shots and miniseries throughout the years, the most pop- ular being the Return to Wonderland saga, an even more twisted version of Lewis Carroll’s creation, primarily written by
RM52
Gregory himself. Meanwhile, GFT recently celebrated its landmark 50th issue with an epic storyline that culminated with the an- nouncement of a brand new on- going title: Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths and Legends, set to debut this month. “This is something we had
been planning to do for a while,” reveals Gregory, who will be the main writer on the new title. “Zenescope founders Joe Brusha and Ralph Tedesco, who also write GFT, have brought the main series up to and past issue 50. That’s the issue where the shit hits the fan, so to speak. Now we have multiple storylines and characters to follow.” For those who missed GFT
#50, it sees the war between the kindly inhabitants of Myst and the vicious armies of the Dark One finally come to a violent head. The long and bloody battle climaxed with the evil Baba Yaga (Sela’s arch nemesis) using a magical gem to capture a large amount of the gruesome crea- tures from the Myst realm that had come through to Earth with the Dark One. Needless to say, Yaga has her own reasons for supposedly saving our planet. “We’re going to see exactly what
GFT: Myths and Legends is set to further warp fairy tales this year.
the result of that is in the new series, as well as watch how Samantha, Sela’s protégé, deals with this event,” says Gregory. “The focus of the new series will be on Samantha, but it will be similar to how small a role Sela played in those first few arcs of GFT. This way each of the new arcs have that stand-alone vibe even though there’s a continuing thread story moving the series along.”
As a treat to long-time readers, the new series will also see the return of Brittany, a character
featured in the very first issue of GFT. Consider- ing that Brittany once played the role of Red Rid- ing Hood, it’s a safe bet that there’s a big bad wolf hiding in the shadows. “She’s now working as a therapist at an isolated facility for at-risk teens. What she doesn’t know is that a creature from another realm has found her and will stop at nothing to destroy her,” reveals Gregory. And of course, you can also expect more
warped renditions of classic fairy tales. “Those fairy tales lacked compromise,” asserts Gregory. “Their morals and lessons were bloody and messy, which translates well to the horror medium. Don’t talk to strangers, don’t walk alone at night, be wary of monsters that lie behind each and every corner. These are warnings that were used to teach children important life lessons dur- ing their youth. They’re eternal lessons and what is horror really if not a lesson that there are some things you should just not fuck with?”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72