Grimm Fairy Tales

Grimm Fairy Tales Volumes 1-5 and Grimm Fairy Tales Omnibus Volumes 1 and 2, 158, 166, 174, 168, 168, 593, and 1085 pages (2512 total)

A quick note on the page counts. For the first omnibus I only read the latter 593 pages as indicated. This is because volumes 1-5 were the first part of it. So basically I started off reading the single issues, then changed over to the omnibi (I have been assured that omnibi is the proper plural of omnibus).

That being said I cannot remember how I came across this series but I am glad I did. In simplistic terms this is a simple, darker retelling of the classic Grimm Fairy Tales made by Zenescope. That in its self would be enough for me as each of the tales is fully illustrated and normally comes with a moral or a warning. But there is also an underlying theme about stopping the world from being destroyed by darkness.

The stories for the most part take place on Earth, or the Nexus as it is called, but some and most of the storyline happens in the other realms. The majority of the stories follow a woman named Sela who turns up when someone is headed down a dark path. Through the telling of a fable she tries to convince them to see reason and save themselves. This is counter balanced by Belinda, who does the same thing but tries to convince them to become eviler.

The story line is a lot more complex than the stories. It winds through various issues and builds off the entire universe that Zenescope has created. It is not uncommon to be reading a lesser characters role and have it end with “to see what happens pick up such and such issue of a different series. This makes it somewhat confusing if you want to know all of the details but also helps streamline the story itself. In essence the story is quite simple, the forces of good try to stop the forces of evil from destroying the world, but there is a lot happening and a couple interesting twists that make it entertaining.

I would recommend this series to everyone who reads a lot of comics and graphic novel, and to everyone that read and enjoyed the Fables series. While this is in the adult part of the library, I think teenagers and up would be the appropriate age range.