Review: Grimm Fairy Tales 2022 Swimsuit Special

Ah, summer is in the air which (not that witch by the way), means that it must be time for another round of swimsuit specials. No, I am not talking about Sports Illustrated; it’s swimsuits Grimm Fairy Tale style. As you would expects for this type of one-shot, there is the small matter of a story to wade through first.

Where there are swimsuits, there is water. In this case a stranded on flotsam young lady who is thirsty and hungry, stuck on undisclosed ocean baking in the sun. With this being Grimm, things are not quite as clear cut as they seem, to the point that if the movie Titanic ended this way I would have enjoyed it a lot more!

Written by Zenescope veteran Dave Franchini delivers a story that, with only 8 pages needs to setup the plot and then drop the hammer. Franchini keeps the reader interested with a rolling monologue that serves to misdirect as much as it shocks. Franchini manages this well, especially with the small page count.

The art of the story is supplied by Alvaro Feliu who does well to hide the surprise in the tale. There are some nice heavy lines in use that really accentuates the character in the book. The heaviness kind of reminds me of John Romita JR. in places, and everyone know how much I love JR JR! It’s Zenescope book, so you know that the colors are going rock. This time around Jorge Cortes drops a dark scheme that works well with the heavy inks. Letters are provided by the always professional Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph who manages the flow of the monologue extremely well, matching the tone well.

Of course the main draw for this book ire the pin-ups, of which there are quite a few. The majority of the Zenescope girls are on show, including Skye, Van Helsing, Gretel and Robyn. As with the story, the production values shine through with a myriad of artists and color artists displaying their wares.

There have been a number of these specials over the years, so you know what you are going to get re the style of the book and the art. If it’s your thing, great; if it’s not your thing, then its great as well, given how many different books, topics and genres that exist on the comic book racks.

Writing – 4 Stars

Art (Story) – 4 Stars

Colors (Story) – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Dave Franchini
Art by; Alvaro Feliu
Colors by; Jorge Cortes
Letters by; Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
Pin-ups; Various
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