Review – Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Robyn Hood 1

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents: Robyn Hood 1 Story By Joe Brusha, Raven Gregory, Ralph Tedesco, Pat Shand Written by Pat Shand Art by Dan Glasl, Tom Mullin, Jason Embury & Jim Campbell Covers by Eric Basaldua, Nei Ruffino, Greg Horn, & Stjepan Sejic Released: October 3, 2012

There are a handful of comics I’ve been waiting for, most of them I’ve known about for months, eagerly anticipating their releases. This is a good week for that, as they’re finally starting to get released. And as luck would have it, the one I was looking forward to the most is the first one to release, Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Robyn Hood. I’ve been a fan of the Robin Hood stories since I was a kid. I grew up watching the Disney movie, and as I got a little older saw other takes like Mel Brooks Robin Hood Men In Tights. So when I originally saw Zenescope was planning on doing their take on Robyn Hood I knew it was going to be a book I’d be reading.

The story falls into the same universe as the rest of the Grimm Fairy Tale books, switching from our world to one of the parallel universes that’s full of magic and monsters, and things like that called Myst. If you’re unfamiliar with the Grimm Fairy Tale universe fear not, the first page is a nice little introduction into the world so you get an idea of what’s going on. Being the opening chapter to this story we’re only just learning how the characters are. We watch as Robyn goes from a baby with a very interesting origin, to an angry teen that doesn’t like to deal with anyone’s crap.

A nice touch was the whole thief thing, we see Robyn stealing to help her family throughout most of the book, and if you pay attention you’ll notice at one point she steals from the rotten and helps out the poor. I thought that was great, and really helped connect it to what we all know about Robin Hood. We don’t get to see her as any kind of sharpshooter yet, but I’m sure that’ll come up soon. At one point she is carrying a lacrosse stick which I’m assuming means she has good aim.

The artwork carried the story niclessly, with Robyn having a pretty irritated look through most of it. And I found myself cringing near the end. The book never got overly graphic which is good, but it showed just enough to make you feel bad for the characters. It’s a sign of a great story and artist that with just the art you can get such deep emotions. The final page with Robyn standing defiantly against her would be attackers was a fantastic closing to the first issue.

As an opening chapter this issue does a great job, if the rest of the book stays on this course we’re set up for a solid 5 issues. I didn’t really like how quickly it glanced over Robyns actual life. I know her real story is only beginning, but I would have liked to see a little more of what made her the way she is. Also maybe a little more of the classic ‘Robin Hood’ attributes. We don’t have a grading system here at One-Quest, but I even without one I have to say this is looking to be a great series, and you’d be missing out if you didn’t jump on now.

Chris talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time. You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook

Comments are closed.