By Ashley Gibbs

Fairy tales are something I personally grew up with, be it in book form or told through visual media. I do admit I’m new to this particular comic series but I have seen it before in stores and wondered what it was all about, Grimm Fairy Tales #5 gave me that chance. Despite it being the fifth issue, I jumped in completely blind. Good news is that I didn’t feel too lost, sure I could tell there was a history with the characters and story being told but I was given enough basic information to follow along and enjoy the story. Evil pixies from Neverland have invaded the human world and it’s up to barely-dressed wonder women to save the day, so this issue is filled with plenty of action and adventure.

The main character is a young girl named Skye Mathers, who is the daughter of a fallen hero and now has her mother’s sword and role as Guardian of the Nexus. This ties into previous stories which I am not familiar with, however the writing did try to give some basic information so new readers could keep up with the story. Skye is training with her powers, namely the mythical sword she has inherited. However, an evil force is seeping into the realm and she is called to battle it with the help of a woman named Belle, who seems to have known Skye’s mother. The issue is pretty fast-paced, not much time is spent in one place, doing one thing and there isn’t a ton of exposition. The issue with the villain in the story was also resolved rather quickly and ended up being uneventful. The underlying plot point is Skye figuring out what her new powers can do, but despite this she seemed to overcome the villain with a fair amount of ease. Also, not much effort is put into fleshing out the story or any of the characters leaving the whole ordeal feeling shallow, I feel like as a new reader coming into this world I’m leaving with not knowing much of anything.

Before discussing the artwork let’s address the elephant in the room, all of the female characters are hypersexualized and underdressed. It’s apparently a thing this series is known for so don’t expect to see any woman who looks realistic, they’re all insanely beautiful with large busts and round bottoms. I didn’t have much of an issue with this, I enjoy a sexy superhero just as much as the next person but it’s a bit overdone. I, personally, expect pixies and fairies to not care too much about clothing but even Skye’s outfit was not very practical. That aside, the artwork is very nice, in particular I liked Belle’s design. Her wings had a lovely glow to them and her red hair goes well with her green outfit. Leading into the colors in this book, all well done. Bright and eye catching with a great usage of shadows and and plenty of detailed scenery.

I feel that Grimm Fairy Tales #5 is for a niche audience -most certainly with male readers in mind. That doesn’t make it bad, however. I enjoyed the read but I wish there was more to it. It’s not always easy to fit a well rounded story in a limited amount of pages and while there was a start, middle and end to this I was left with a feeling of “Why did I read this?”. It did make me more curious about the series in general, which is a good thing. I would not be against reading more about Skye and seeing how her training goes and hopefully can also learn more about her past. This is a good issue for new and older readers a like, the writing isn’t that strong and I wished the characters from Neverland spoke a bit more formally to add to their fairy tale feel but overall it was a fun read with pretty nice artwork.

Score: 3/5

Grimm Fairy Tales #5
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artist: Ario Murti
Colorist: Ivan Nunes
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Publisher: Zenoscope Entertainment