Reviews: Grimm Fairy Tales, Holmes & Houdini and Van Helsing: Vampire Hunter
Reviews: Grimm Fairy Tales, Holmes & Houdini and Van Helsing: Vampire Hunter
New from Zenescope
New this week from Zenescope Entertainment, we get the end of an arc in Grimm Fairy Tales, and the ending to the Holmes & Houdini and Van Helsing: Vampire Hunter mini-series.
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Grimm Fairy Tales #82
Between Life and Death
The Congregation of the Dead holds their grip on the souls of Mary Medina and Skye Mathers. The choices our heroes will have to make could end everything they have fought their lives to protect. Death isn’t always the end, but in this case, it may be the only answer!
Story: Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini & David Wohl, Writer: Dave Franchini, Artwork: Babisu Kourtis, Colors: Jorge Cortes, Letters: Taylor Esposito (Of Ghost Glyph Studios), Editor: Dave Franchini, and Production & Design: Christopher Cote
Finishing off the arc, this adventure features a good team-up between Skye and Mary. There were some excellent moments, and it does feel like their personalities and powers complement each other very well.
There is an excellent (yet small) link to what has come before in the larger story, but not enough to drag us back to all that again! Even so, the villains of the piece have some good moments, and an exciting coup changes the group’s direction and leaves them hanging for later escapades in Grimm Fairy Tales.
I enjoyed the art here; we got some good colouring and styles with the spirit realm, and some bold decisions came off really well.
Mary has her route, but what next for Skye?
Holmes & Houdini #3 (of 3)
As Nolen Savoy’s apocalyptic plot nears fruition, Spencer Holmes and Erica Houdini must join forces, much like their famous ancestors did once before to save the world. But is it already too late?
Story: Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini, David Wohl & Honor Vincent, Writer: Honor Vincent, Pencils: Oliver Borges & Alessandro Uezu, Inks: Oliver Borges, Alessandro Uezu & Jagdish Kumar, Colors: Fran Gamboa W/ J.C. Ruiz, Letters Taylor Esposito (Of Ghost Glyph Studios), Editor: David Wohl, and Production & Design: Christopher Cote
Finishing the story here is only the beginning. I like how this played out, keeping the ending open for the future whilst also giving us a lot of information from the past.
The trio make a good team, and the training Holmes is getting and reading that Houdini is doing can only improve their skills and make things more interesting in the future.
The nature of the threat in this story leads me to belive that there are others of a similar power and threat level, which will keep the trio of this order pretty busy. Excellent!
I enjoyed this issue, with some good storytelling, some mysteries to learn and a decent amount of action.
Van Helsing: Vampire Hunter #3 (of 3)
When members of her own team get turned by Dracula’s most infamous lieutenant, Liesel Van Helsing must embrace the darkness to free her former allies from the curse of the undead, all while preventing a much larger vampiric horde from claiming any more victims.
Story: Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini, David Wohl & Pat Shand, Writer: Pat Shand, Artwork: Giulia Pellegrini, Colors: Robby Bevard, Letters: Taylor Esposito (Of Ghost Glyph Studios), Editor: David Wohl, and Production & Design: Christopher Cote
Finishing off this flashback mini-series, we get an ending. We knew that Van Helsing was going to survive - her kicking vampiric ass in the now is proof of that - but how do we get there?
This was an entertaining story, with some interesting gut punches and perhaps something that will become relevant in future issues1.
I enjoyed the action, and this issue had a lot of it, with stakes, explosions, and more hand-to-hand combat. The art had some excellent special effects, which is always a good thing in these types of battles.
A good story for newer readers.
It already has!