“Robyn Hood” #1-5 (Zenescope)

Writer: Pat Shand | Story: Joe Brusha, Raven Gregory, Ralph Tedesco & Pat Shand | Artist: Dan Glasl (#1), Larry Watts (#2, 4, 5), Rob Dumo (#3) | Colors: Tom Mullin & Jason Embury (#1), Andrew Elder (#2), Nick Filardi, Adam Metcalfe (#3-5), Slamet Mujiono (#5), Omi Remalante Jr. (#5), Wesley Wong (#5)

In the lands of Myst a tryant rules the city of Bree with an iron fist leaving its citizens living in fear and terror. But all hope is not lost when one man takes the first steps to finding the one person who might save them all.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Robyn has had a troubled life for many years since her mother’s death. In and out of foster homes Robyn now finds herself transferred to a special high school filled with the rich and over-privileged. But when Robyn crosses one of the popular kids she will learn first-hand the extent of torture they are willing to go to against those who transgressed against them…

In Zenescope’s Robyn Hood, the creative team has reinvented the classic fairy tale of the robbing-the-rich-to-feed-the-poor vagabond. It’s been receiving a lot of buzz of late, and with the first mini-series complete, now seemed like the perfect time to review it. I’m going to review these issues as if they were a collected edition, so be warned that there will be spoilers for early issues. Overall, I thought it was a pretty interesting series, one that offers all the Zenescope tropes (good and bad). Most importantly, though, is that they have used the classic premise to create something fresh and interesting. [The review has ended up a lot more in-depth than I anticipated…]

“Inferno” (Zenescope)

Undeveloped & Sadly Cliché

Writer: Ralph Tedesco | Artist: Gabriel Rearte | Colours: Jason Embury, Milen Parvanov

Grace is lost and restless in a big city where her nightmares seem all too real. Suffering from a form of amnesia, she only feels empty and confused.

Her therapist overmedicates, her boss sexually harasses her and her boyfriend beats her. The world is quickly closing in around Grace but when she learns the truth of her past she might just find the power within to redeem her life and battle her demons, no matter how real they might be.

I’ve been meaning to read this for a little while, now, and I finally decided to give it a go. I’m of two minds about what I thought – it has an interesting premise, one that is by-now typical of Zenescope’s output, but it suffers from weak characters and very weak dialogue and writing, not to mention ticking off almost every cliché of single-white-female-lost-in-the-big-city stories in the first chapter (thankfully they go away, and the story starts ticking off all the sarcastic-ass-kickin’-heroine clichés). To keep things interesting, Tedesco has thrown in some pretty weird stuff, and I did think the portrayal of Hell was rather well done.

Comics Catch-Up: Zenescope

Another post in which I catch up with a selection of releases from a specific publisher. Zenescope produce some of the more interesting comic adaptations and twists on fairy tales and folklore. They don’t always work perfectly, but some of these series have really grown into their own, offering up some intriguing interpretations. I’m also particularly intrigued by the start of the “new” Grimm Universe, as laid out in the Annual and Angel #1. Things look like they are about to get really interesting for Zenescope’s titles…

Reviewed: Call of Wonderland #2, Grimm Fairy Tales #74, GFT: Angel, GFT: Annual 2012, GFT: Myths & Legends #17, Jungle Books #3, Waking Dead: Dream’s End #2