Review: Grimm Fairy Tales 2020 Holiday Special

After the surprisingly enjoyable Halloween Special, Grimm Fairy takes a scary crack at the most wonderful time of the year. Whilst Christmas shopping and wrapping presents sounds like hell, Grimm has more horrific situations than you can imagine.

Twelve months ago a crime occurred in a little town where tradition is king. The crime was left unpunished, right up to this point, when a vengeful spirit decides to take matters in her own demonic hands. What follows is a trio of stories with three different casts, which begs the question, how are all three connected?

The writers involved include Dave Franchini, Kevin Townsley, Robert Menegus and Mark Bertolini which covers an introduction as well as the aforementioned stories. Given that the intro bears little or no relevance to proceedings, I am going to jump straight into the the first story, which happens to be the best. Townsley writes quite a nice little psycho drama that kind of focusses of loss and its impact on the mind. There are some interesting quirks along the way. The second story is a tad obvious; Menegus goes for a monster type of affair. Finally Bertolini goes for a douche bag getting his comeuppance for all his nasty do-deering.

As with the writing, there is a quadruple of artists on show; Babish Kourtis, Marcelo Basile, Dario Tallarico and Rodrigo Xavier. Zenescope has a house style, which I have mentioned before. Basile’s work is dark which fits the story, as the juxtaposition between the fun of Christmas and the darker side of the holiday. The last story probably has the weaker of the art, fitting as it fits the Zenescope style, though I think the point could have been made more subtly. Colors are provided by, Vinicius Andrade, Michael Bartolo, Maxflan Araujo and Ceci De Le Cruz. All provide the usual Zenescope quality of colors, though at time the colors can look a little too digital. Finally, letters are provided by Carlos M. Mangual who delivers a consistent font across all the various stories.

Christmas and horror don’t usually go hand in hand, and to be honest, I am not wholly sold on the idea that they mesh that well now. Of course there are any number of scary elements or versions of Santa Claus that have waylaid the festive season. So, you are looking for a less traditional Christmas, this book may serve you well.

Writing – 3.5 Stars

Art – 3 Stars

Colors – 4 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating]

Written by; Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini
and Kevin Townsley, Robert Menegus and Mark Bertolini
Art by; Babish Kourtis, Marcelo Basile, Dario Tallarico and Rodrigo Xavier
Colors by; Vinicius Andrade, Michael Bartolo, Maxflan Araujo and Ceci De Le Cruz
Letters by; Carlos M. Mangual
Published by; Zenescope Entertainment Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network