Grimm Fairy Tales Volume 5

OK so Volume 5 pretty much ignores the shocking ending of Volume 4 right up until the last few pages. Sela's fate seems to have more in store for her. Overall this volume was pretty solid, the artwork is gorgeous as usual. The stories themselves are not ending on happy notes anymore since Belinda is pretty much running this piece unchallenged for now. The King Midas story although cool and well drawn didn't make a lot of sense to me in relation to the modern story running parallel to it. I mean I kind of get it but not really. The King Midas tale has always been about how greed is evil and how there's more to life than riches. However, the way that it is told here it's not even Midas is fault that he is cursed with the power to turn everything he touches into gold. It's his daughters fault. He is actually given this gift/curse for being nice. I'm guessing this version of the story is Belinda's twisted version, which would make more sense, since she is evil and wants to promote evil as good. The stories are getting darker, more brutal, and the plot is thickening. Grimm Fairy Tales is keeping it's edge.

Disclaimer: Spoilers. As always the Grimm series is engaging and fires the imagination. A focus on the chaotic and evil nature of Belinda with her interpretation of the tales of legend as she continues to use the books power to ruin lives, as opposed to the compassionate way the book is used by Sela to give warning to folks that might stray the path of the fallen. I am not sure what is Sela's fate in all this but she seemed powerless in this volume, and right now I know little of her captures. As soon as I get some expendeble cash, volume 6 is a must buy.

A well drawn but not traditional twist to Grims Fairytales. Uses fairytales by Grim in new morality plays that do not always end happily. I think most readers will like the stories. They are definitely different.

Good twist on Grimms Fairy Tales!

Loved this entire series all the way up until around vol 7... highly recommended.

Belinda rules. That explains the current darker twists in the tales (already quite moody in former installments), but also explains the changes in the compiled version second edition (the white covers). Thinner paper, lack of cover gallery, much more pages dedicated to promoting other products, more stories with cliffhangers... Anthony Spay cover art is gorgeous, teaming with john Lowe and Ivan Nunes to make a very believable character (although obviously in the physical parameters of the series). The stories and interior art, as usual, vary considerably. "Three Blind Mice" is my personal favorite having great art and fabulous story. "The Little Mermaid" tells a tale of a bad business gone badly in a nice story with averagely drawn, although powerful, art. "The Ugly Duckling" is competently drawn, but the plot is quite evident from the beginning. "The king Midas" shows a tale where ambition, selfishness and greed will eventually destroy everything they hold dear...in the tale the lesson is for the princess, in the "real world" for the hitman (although he sees himself as a essentially nice fellow wanting to quit is "job", he keeps killing people for money, little realizing the impact his actions have on third parties) - great story, chilling finale, the art could be better. "Rip Van Winkle" gives you an update on Sela and the Highborn...the fight goes on. I will definitively keep following this series, but improvements can be made.

Excellent

Bent, covered in something sticky that won’t come off with ANYTHING including soap & water, a baby wipe, a towel and I broke my nail trying to scrape it off. A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY

Arrived early, as described and a great read :)

I fumetti di Zenescope per me sono stati una piacevolissima scoperta e questo volume in particolare. Il volume presenta delle rivisitazioni di sei fiabe tradizionali con una svolta inquietante e grottesca, il finale della sirenetta poi è di una crudezza che non mi sarei aspettata! Mi è piaciuta molto questa lettura dark e avvincente che, come nella tradizione delle migliori fiabe, contiene una morale diretta ed efficace!

good read

When I discovered Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales comic series, I knew that it was a darker look at the classic stories I heard and read as a kid, and I was prepared for it, and enjoyed it. But the last few volumes have been getting more and more miserable, and this is the result: Five stories (one being a two-parter) with not one hint of what I would call a happy ending. It makes me sad, and a little scared, too. For those of you who have never read one of these comics before, but are curious, I'll tell you how things work. In any one comic, we are introduced to one or more individuals who are in some trouble, and are met with one of two lovely ladies (Sela or Belinda) who tell them a fairy tale. Now this fairy tale will almost always end badly, as it gets its meaning across to the listener, it's then up to said listener to decide what to do to get through his and/or her trouble. Now the reader of the story usually makes a fair-sized difference. Sela, a raven-haired beauty who seems to be the definition of 'sexy librarian', is the hero, who uses these stories to try and help people make the right choice in their times of need. Belinda, however, is quite the opposite; a sadistic redhead who goes to all lengths to ruin the lives of as many people as she can, and since Sela was...incapacitated in the previous volume, Belinda is free in this one to go crazy. Anyway, so now you know the backstory. This collection starts off with the two-parter, The Little Mermaid, and since the original fairy tale itself didn't have a happy ending, I wasn't optimistic about a positive outcome. The story itself is alright, the mermaid and her "real-world" counterpart are both sympathetic characters, but the art, pencilled by Claudio Sepulveda, is awful ninety percent of the time. It looks like he took basic sketches and went no further. You'd think the fairy tale that put Disney back on the map would warrant a better artist. Three Blind Mice was much better artwise, especially on the mice themselves, and while both the fairy and real-world stories are interesting, you don't feel pity for anybody. Everybody's just psycho. Then there was the Ugly Duckling...this is the one that will haunt me, as it gets VERY dark VERY fast. The art is good, by Jeff Zornow, and the writers do a good job leading us away from who the real Ugly Duckling is, but there is no actual fairy tale story shown here, just a sad, dark, little tale that will continue in Volume Six, and no doubt get even darker. King Midas? Take my Ugly Duckling bit and replace the titles and you'll get the idea. But at least this one had a fairy tale with it. And we end with Rip Van Winkle, a very odd one that, again, doesn't have a fairy tale with it (not really, even though they say it does), and is basically just a tool to explain how Sela is going to get back on her feet to stop Belinda. Now when I started this series with Volume One, I loved it. The fairy tales themselves were dark and the real world stories mature, but it went rather smoothly. People would have problems, Sela would show up with a story and those people would make the right choice and go on with their lives aiming in a slightly (or sometimes drastically) different direction. In fact, in VOne, all six ended rather well for their protagonists. Volume Two, though, ended with only two out of six stories concluding with their characters the better, and Volumes Three and Four? One story, and they were more moral victories than stong, long-term ones. Needless to say, they kinda jumped the shark here. So my advice, if you're interested, check out the first volume and stop there. It'll save you time, money and possibly therapy.