Annuals and Specials
2007 Annual
This consists of short fairy tales that have very, very dark forms. There's Jack and Jill (with murder involved), The Old Women in the Shoe (with child slavery involved), Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater (madness), Little Boy Blue (abandonment), and what is basically a prequel to Pinocchio.
These are all surrounded by another event, with this time Belinda telling kids about fairy tales, her giving her own take on them. Belinda's approach to dealing with evil is sort of like the Shadows. The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.
2010 Holiday
There's a brat of a kid who gets warned about his behavior in the first story. The other stories follow what happens to him as he gets older. Later he turns down a burglary job when the other guy hurts the guard.
Then there's a story about a couple receiving a 'present' from an evil being. The next story is about a woman who goes crazy trying to find out what a certain present is (that was given to someone else), and a story about a kid at a turning point in his life. It turns out it's all sort of a confrontation between Santa Claus, representing the good, and an evil being.
April Fool's #1
What they have done for this is really cool. They take a story they already ran, use the same panels (and add a few at the end), then change the wording in the word balloons. Some of this ends up really funny.
The first story is Red Riding Ho, where Red Riding Hood is a true slut. She goes to bed with any guy she can then is shocked when she catches her grandmother in bed with a guy and a werewolf.
Hansel and Gretel: Hansel just wants to dance so he wants employment that way and Gretel gets employment in her way.
Reefer Stiltskin is the next story and you can just guess what this one is about.
Jack and the Bromance. I give Zenescope a lot of credit for being willing to run a homosexual-based story, especially in these days and times.
The last story is Schizerella, their take on Cinderella. Cinderella is straight-out crazy, a true psycho. She gets even for the way she has been treated.
April Fool's #2
There are four stories in this issue that use material from the original stories. One is based on the Pied Piper, one on Sleeping Beauty, one on The Beauty and the beast, and the list one on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The first story is so-so. Drinking Beauty, the second story, is also so-so. The variation on Beauty and the Beast is also kind of so-so. The last story is also so-so. This issue is no where near the quality of the first April Fools' Edition.
Beauty and the Beast
The term 'beast' usually is used to refer to one's physical appearance, but in this story it first of all refers to two people. One is a nobleman who plays with the affections of women. The other (the present-day framing story) is a piece of garbage that beats up his girlfriend, apologizes and then later beats her up again.
In the case of the nobleman, he is given a chance to change his ways of behavior. His internal beast is so powerful, though, that his chances of success are low. The human present-day beast is not the one Sela talks to. She talks to the woman he has been beating up. The way he solves the problem upsets Sela.
An interesting story, especially on the philosophical/psychological level.
Bloodbath
This is another of the Zenescope publications that takes stories previously done and re-issues them in a separate book format. The two stories used are one from the sixth issue, Robber Bridegroom, and one from the 11th issue, Bluebeard.
The first story involves a fight between two sisters over a guy. Sela has them read a fairy tale about two similar sisters that had a fight over a guy with one of the sisters killing the other, only to end up being killed herself.
Bluebird is about a woman that marries a guy, only to become concerned because he has a room he does not want her to go into. She does and thinks she sees something that is not really the way it is, and things get bloody. The present-day story is also about trust and also ends up bloody.
Grimm Fairy Tales Giant-size
This issue is about Belinda. It doesn't tell everything about her life, but it gives a great deal of information, especially how she came to be without fear and how she wasn't evil all the time. Eventually, though, too many bad things happened to her and she was given a chance for revenge. She didn't question who was giving her that chance, she just accepted it.
Los Angeles Annual Grimm Fairy Tales
This is more on Belinda trying to convert Sela to the evil side. There's a story about a nasty woman that takes over a strip club type of place. Then there's a story about a couple in love, but the woman is already married to a creep. The guy has to run for his life back to her and succeeds, but she's already done something that will cause trouble in the future.
Then there's a story which shows what happens when a guy stops getting souls for the dark side.
Grimm Fairy Tales Short Stories
This reprints short stories from the first six bound volumes of the Grimm Fairy Tales series. The first story in this one is Legacy, revealing how Sela first came across the magic book and lost decades of time somewhere.
The second story is Timepiece. This is the first appearance of Belinda who is already up to no good, trying to lead Sela off the path of good onto the path of evil.
Wicked Ways is the third story. The story is about Belinda and how wicked she is and how she delights in humanity's wicked ways. She goes for a walk and passes by a robber with a gun, men screaming at each other in road rage, a racist speaker with his attendants and a crowd and various other examples of how people mistreat each other.
The Lamp is the next story. A prince goes on a sea voyage and gets thrown overboard in bad weather. A lamp washes up on a shore and is found by a young boy to takes it to his father. It's Aladdin's lamp, of course, but this is where the story ends.
The last story is Pawns. Two very creepy guys talk. One has a sort of chessboard and a chess piece of Sela is on the board.
Grimm Fairy Tales Swimsuit Editionf
This goes along with the Grimm Fairy Tales series of books from Zenescope. The first part of the work has artwork of beautiful women from the series, all of them scantily clad and with very large breasts. It is interesting to see how different artists draw the same person.
After the artwork there's a short story about basically a philosophical discussion between Belinda, who hates human beings and thinks they should pretty much be exterminated, and Sela, who is willing to give a person a second chance. They discuss some of the very bad behaviors of human beings, but then there's an accident in demolishing a building and both see how humans can also have moments of unselfish desire to come to the aid of others.
Fairly good work.
Halloween Special #1
This uses the story The Monkey's Paw as its basis, with people getting hold of the object and making their wishes. The story opens with some children out trick-or-treating and Belinda invites them into her house. Baba Yaga is also there. She then tells them stories based on the theme.
In one a woman wants her son back, but he's dead. Then a guy in the morgue gets hold of it and uses it to get a girl. The results in both cases are, of course, absolutely horrible. What's worse, the paw ends up in the hands of one of the kids.
An interesting version of the original story.
Halloween Special #2
There is one story in this issue and it concerns vampire wanna-be's holding a major party. They are all dressed to kill (pardon the pun) but are acting a part. A few of them end up with a few others who seem to be real vampires but, as to be expected, there is a vampire in their midst.
The vampire looks sort of like the alien from Alien, more extraterrestrial in appearance than 'normal' vampiric in appearance. The story is interesting but, of course, will not be concluded until the next yearly issue of the Halloween special, which is sort of annoying, really.
The Little Mermaid
A wooden ship crashes and a mermaid saves one particular sailor. The mermaid wants him and goes to the undersea witch which takes away her voice in exchange for becoming human. The prince seems to be in love with her but the mermaid finds out that he will bed any woman he can. The others at the castle make fun of her because she is not royalty.
So she seeks revenge and finds herself with an unexpected job promotion. | |
