When I go out for a romantic meal, I, like everyone else, scour the menu for the best meal. Do I go starter or dessert? If it’s dessert my normal, default choice will always be cheese and biscuits. However, very occasionally, I go for something sweet. At those times, it has to be cheesecake.
Taking a break from “serious” books about “serious” issues and whatever hubbub that a certain West Coast comic convention may have caused, I have found my comic taste buds demand for cheesecake sated by the Girls of Grimm. Now, this being Grimm, there is a tale to tell. In this issue a number of disparate people have all won a trip to a sun kissed island and a night-time luxury boat ride on a, in part, glass bottomed boat. From here it’s twist and turns; not one is real surprise, until the end of fishy tale.
Writer Dave Franchini isn’t going to win any Harvey awards soon, if this is the level of story he can provide. Its tame setup, followed by tamer plodding before an equally unsurprising climax. Its hard not to feel a little sorry for Franchini as it has to be said, the majority of the people buying this book aren’t interested in his story at all. Even if that’s the case, it’s no excuse for Franchini to give up on the story.
The art for the story is by Butch Mapa who has produced work for a number of indie publishers. His art here has a well polished look, which you would expect from a Zenescope book. The work has a cartoony feel to it in places and shows strong square lines in others. The difference isn’t to distracting to the whole. The colors are provided by Michael Bartolo. You would be hard pressed to find a publisher that colors their books so vividly and consistently as Zenescope. This is no exception.
The rest of the book is handed over to a variety of artists including, Tina Valentina, Jamie Tyndall, Dawn McTeigue and Nathan Seals, the latter pulling off a reasonable J. Scott Campbell style. Now, some will say that this book is exploitation and demeaning to women. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. For me, a lot of fans like looking at this type of book so who am I to judge. Here’s an interesting fact, women can buy and wear a bikini at the beach or on holiday. That bit is part of real life. Yes a couple of images may be considered as over sexualization, but that is very much in the eye of the beholder. If you feel that you are going to get offended by looking at this book, then simply put, just don’t buy it.
As for me, a man can not live on cheese and biscuits alone.
Writing – 2 Stars
Art (Story) -3.5 Stars
Colors (Story) – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
(W) Various (CA) Various
Publisher: Zenescope
Author Profile
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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
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