In the last issue of Grimm Fairy Tales, a lot of crazy stuff went down. To make a long story short, The Dark Queen returned as Lucinda, since Malec hanged enough people. It was my first introduction to the series and my first read through a Zenescope book. I have to say, I was proven extremely wrong as far as the content goes; I quite enjoyed the story despite the seemingly endless criticism the company gets for their covers. I have to say, I was definitely intrigued with what was to come next. However, this issue was definitely a let-down for me. Issue #89 is “Rapunzel: Part 1.” We’re back to Sela’s “normal” life as a college professor, but she’s facing a problem: one of her new students, Rachel, seems to have it out for Sela. For example, she claims Sela drops a book that she really didn’t. When Rachel hands it to her, it has a picture of Sela being hanged that says “You may have forgotten about me, but I haven’t forgotten about you. See you soon.” It’s pretty obvious to the reader that it’s from Rapunzel, since it’s in the title of this issue.

Sela starts to think that Rachel is being controlled by one of the evil forces she’s trying to stop on Earth like the Dark One or Belinda. This whole time, Rachel has kept saying she knows Sela. Sela tries to keep Rachel after class, but she’s a no-show. They come to a confrontation in the courtyard, and Sela realizes Rachel is just a typical college student that’s spoiled rotten. Basically, Rachel doesn’t know Sela. She just says all her teachers are the same; they’re all crazy like Sela. Her dad paid her way to transfer in the middle of the semester even though Rachel was kicked out of school, and she even says she’ll have her dad sue Sela when Sela grabs her arm. I won’t give away anything past the fact that Rapunzel shows up at the end.

I was hoping that some of the intensity of last issue continued through this one, but it didn’t. I understand that we need to see Sela’s normal life, but I felt this issue was pretty anticlimactic and not very engaging. The only part that was intriguing was the last page, where everything came to a head and left on a cliffhanger. Maybe part two will be more what I’m looking for, but this isn’t it.

Score: 2/5

Writer: Troy Brownfield Artist: Salvador Velaquez Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment Price: $2.99 Release Date: 9/11/13