Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: The Library #5 (of 5)
Publisher: Zenescope
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artist: Giovanni Timpano (cover by Marat Mychaels)
Colors: Timothy Yates
In this, the final issue, we witness the last battle between the Wicked Witch and her minions, and young Sela and her champions! On the side of the Wicked Witch, there’s just about every evil being from every universe you can think of. On Sela’s side, there’s her little brother, Father, the former owner of the library, and a few of history’s heroes. Pecos Bill, Robin Hood, and Hercules, to be exact. The library is now full of evil beings that are currently following the orders of the Wicked Witch, but she will soon be betrayed by one of her own accomplices. It’s up to Sela to rally her troops, stop the Witch, Baba Yaga, and try to send all the creatures back into their own realms before they destroy the whole world!
What a great series by Joe Brusha! This little peek into the life of a young Sela Mathers was absolutely fantastic. Brusha brings to light an enormous challenge in her life, and also a few other things about her family. The best part about this book was of course seeing all the monsters together in one splash page. Just think about it; Frankenstein’s Monster, dinosaurs, Dracula, zombies, the Mummy, and so on. Nothing except non-stop action, with some truly genuine sentimental moments that didn’t seem trite at all, even though they were used several times. Through five issues the story never got stale or seemed to stall. Good solid pacing, good character development, and of course action times ten!
From an artistic standpoint, things were on right track. The renditions of these classic monsters, plus others that are more contemporary, looked great. The Wicked Witch was probably the best of the lot, but Frankenstein’s Monster was very good, too. The settings only changed a couple of times, so that took away slightly from what could’ve been. If you just take it for face value, though, the library setting is just fine. Overall, the artwork was consistent and solid. The covers have been another strong point to this series. Most weren’t your typical overly sexy Zenescope covers, but I’m sure that’s mostly due to the more “all-ages” feel of this book. (Alternate cover below by Joe Pekar.) Rating 4/5
From beginning to end, this series was very entertaining. It’s one of the many reasons why more and more people should be buying Zenescope. Sometimes there is trepidation because of the sexy covers you see, but in most cases, there is still a significant story inside that is worth reading.
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
