Review: Gretel #2

I must confess a bit of naivety where the Zenescope Entertainment Universe is concerned. I mean I certainly have been aware of the bodacious beauties featured on the covers of the various Zenescope titles for some time, however I have never explored the worlds within the pages. This changed with the current Gretel mini-series.

The Brothers Grimm have provided the basis for not only this series, but for several of Zenescope’s offerings, however these are not simply retellings of the classic fairy tales. In fact, Zenescope’s prolific creators have taken the children’s stories and imbued them with mature themes and graphic images throughout, transforming the source material into darker, more violent endeavors. Gretel is certainly par for the course in that respect.

The story is built upon the German fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel, originally published in 1812 as written by the Brothers Grimm. This modern re-tooling of the tale is written by Ben Meares from a story co-written by Meares with Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco and Dave Franchini. Gretel and her brother Hansel were lured into the woods and captured by an insidious witch. After a prolonged imprisonment the witch slaughtered Hansel right in front of his sister. Then in an act of absolute evil, the sinister sorceress offered a starving Gretel her brother’s heart as sustenance. In eating her brother’s heart Gretel unleashed an unknown power within herself, a power that she would learn after escaping her captor, that among other things, slowed her aging process. The full effects of her powers would be revealed to her by Samuel, her mentor who would teach her to use her magic and harness its power for good. Gretel would soon set off with Samuel on their mission to save other children from the fate she and her brother suffered.

This issue begins with Gretel and Samuel in New Orleans. In an intense juxtaposition Gretel has saved her mentor’s life during a pitched battle on the streets of New Orleans. Once safely hidden from the pursuing horde, Gretel catches a rat and feeds the heart to Samuel, facilitating the healing process. She is then expected to regale Samuel with her exploits since last parting ways with her mentor. To his surprise there isn’t as much to tell as he had hoped, opening the conversation to Gretel’s queries concerning her own past. Meares does a fantastic job of weaving exposition into the narrative at this point, utilizing the dialog between the two to more deeply develop not only Gretel and Samuel as characters, but to shade more light on their relationship. The chemistry these two characters share provides the heart and soul of the narrative while speaking to Gretel’s back story in a way that gives the overarching plot more dramatic weight.

A huge part of Gretel’s personal journey is obtained when she learns the name of the witch responsible for her brother’s death and her being cursed. The name has eluded her all these centuries and now that she has it she and Samuel have attracted some extremely unwanted attention from not only the witch, but her minion Dae Denunito, a powerful witch in her own right with the ability to summon insidious demons. The action reaches a fever pitch as the demons sent at the behest of the as yet unseen adversaries. The sequence is thrillingly choreographed as artist Allan Otero creates a cinematic feel by making use of long, page width panels. The action is scarcely contained, spilling from panel to panel giving the pace an explosive boost. Before Gretel and Samuel can make good their collective escape yet another unseen foe makes her presence known. This time in the form of an unnamed assassin. This lethal lady strikes from the rooftops armed with a sniper’s rifle and on a mission to kill. As the threats to our pair of protagonists multiply the tension and drama increase exponentially. There is more of a Bond-esque feel to the action at work here than I had anticipated, the explosions, the gunfire even the covert plotting of the witches adds a sense of espionage to the whole affair. This is certainly not what I was expecting from a Zenescope Entertainment title, of course I was guilty of judging a book by its cover. I’ve heard this was a bad thing to do and now I can speak from experience. Ben Meares and company have taken a traditional German fairy tale and grafted modern tropes and storytelling elements onto that foundation to dramatically intense results. The characters are engaging, the protagonists are likable and complex with dimension and depth while the antagonists are dark, sinister and cunning. You can almost feel the heat from the boiling cauldrons as they plot and conjure demons in their evil machinations. This is an entertaining comic book full of action, excitement and dark images. The writing is solid including the dialog which rings true minus any pretense and corny fantasy vernacular. There are elements of fantasy, horror and action all working in concert to fully tell an engrossing story.

Visually, Allan Otero creates tense, action-packed pages add eye-catching effects and well designed characters and what you have is one heck of a fun comic book. Ceci de la Cruz’s colors are a huge part of this equation, particularly early in the issue where the difference between the flashback past and the present are so vividly shown via de la Cruz’s versatile pallet. The visual complexity of this book calls to mind the kinetic energy of a video game and the intensity of an action film all within the framework of a fantasy role-playing game. There is something here for a wide audience to appreciate, whether you enjoy fantasy, horror or super hero action it’s all here. While I cannot speak to all of Zenescope’s titles, I found the female characterizations to be strong and not at all exploitative. The costumes may be skimpier than necessary, but no more so than many other female characters from other publishers.

Overall, this is an entertaining and engrossing chapter in a narrative that is complex and exciting. The characters are solid and well written. If good storytelling is the barometer you use when deciding what comic book purchases you ultimately make, I suggest giving Gretel a try. 3.5/5

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Story- Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini, Ben Meares
Writer- Ben Meares
Artist- Allan Otero
Colors- Ceci de le Cruz
Letterer-Maurizio Clausi