Horror comic review: Grimm Tales of Terror #3: Knife wielding nut-job on campus

Writer: Meredith Finch
Artist: Milton Estevam
Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment
Released: 17th September 2014


I enjoyed this book, but it would be amiss of me not to mention that it had serious structural flaws, with an ending that happened before it should have done, and some characters that weren’t properly developed or given satisfying story-line payoffs.

There was the added problem that all of the pretty girl protagonists looked very similar, apart from hair colour, and as the story was relatively short it was difficult to get a handle on who they all were as individuals. One girl was a daddy’s girl, and some of the others were worried about their grades, but that’s all there was to differentiate them. The problem was that the book was too short, and there were too many people in it. In horror one shots there isn’t enough room to properly develop numerous characters. Writer Meredith Finch tried to put a horror movie script into twenty-two pages of a comic book, and there wasn’t enough room to properly accomplish that.

One of the undeveloped characters in this book was a perverted lecturer who gave pretty college girls good grades for sexual ‘favours.’ That’s quite standard fare in stories about pretty college girls, but the book wasn’t long enough to fully develop his character and story-arc, so when he met his inevitable demise it fell flat because he wasn’t a convincing flesh and blood person. You see him briefly at the beginning, and briefly at the end. He is a teacher, and a pervert. That is all. That is not a human being. That is two-dimensional cardboard cutout.

The big moment in horror stories such as this one is the scene where the identity of the murderer is finally revealed. You expect a twist, but if it's done well it’s still a dramatic moment. You get that scene in this book, but it happens too early, leaving three unnecessary pages that were only included so that the Horror host could be fitted into the story at the end. It didn’t work.

The host should have been involved in the reveal, and she wasn’t. Her signature moment of whistling whilst the bad guys get their just deserts didn’t work out this time as she didn’t appear to care about a psychopathic knife murdering maniac at all. Instead she was more concerned with a lecherous teacher and making sure that he got what he deserved. That was a bit jarring to me. On a rising scale of moral wrongs surely hacking young girls to death with a knife ranks a few notches above being a perverted teacher? Yes, I know that being a dirty old git who exploits his pupils is pretty bloody disgusting and morally vacuous, but stabbing college girls to death with a big knife and leaving silly horror movie messages on the wall in their own blood must be a more serious crime, right?

I also had a problem with the character of the janitor in this book. Again, as you might expect, he was portrayed as a big old weird pervert, because obviously every single man that comes into contact with young females must be some perverted lech, right? Actually, come to think of it, the younger men in this book were portrayed as perverts as well, so it’s not exactly a man friendly book come to think of it. Anyway, the janitor character kept popping up, looking and acting like a big fat sweaty pervert (how was he not sacked on the first day of his job?), but we didn’t get any payoff to his story. Any half clued in reader would never take him seriously as being a real candidate for the murderer because he was too obvious, and as the book ended he was still mopping up, still looking like a pervert, and that was it. He was just there as a very obvious and very unsatisfying red herring. That’s frustrating to the reader, and I got the impression that the original script for this story had been massively edited, and because it was a one-shot story there wasn’t enough time and space in a comic book form to make it properly work.

This book was a three or four-issue script that had been crammed into a one shot comic. The panels were very large, featuring double-paged spreads of gruesome murder scenes etc, and it left them with nowhere near enough room to tell the story, as it should have been told.

The book was working against itself, but that didn’t stop it from being fun. The curvy girls were drawn very voluptuously, the pervert men were drawn very seedily and the reveal of the murderer, although a bit obvious to horror comic buffs, was a good moment anyway. It was a small surprise to me, and when it came I did smile. It came too early on in the script, but it was good.

I really appreciate Zenescope putting out these old style horror books. These are the kind of books that I grew up with, so they give me a strong sense of nostalgia that I really enjoy. It’s not just nostalgia though. I miss the old horror books. Why not bring them back? They used to be really good, and they can still be good today. Human nature does not change, and the thrill of reading a well-structured creepy, weird story with a delicious twist at the end will always be an enjoyable experience.

Plus, superheroes can get very lame, very quickly, especially when Marvel and DC are so bloody statist and corporate that all of the heroes are either government agents, stuck in dimension X or battling Nazi’s and cold war era Russians. Contemporary superhero comic books STILL cannot get to grips with a post 9/11 world and all of the NSA Police state bullshit that is turning western countries into bloody banker ran autocracies these days. Just imagine all of the great stories that a switched on horror writer could be telling today with all that has happened in the past decade. The world has become a horror story, so why not reflect that fact in the comics?

Grimm Tales of Terror #3 had structural problems, but I enjoyed it. It felt rushed and incomplete, and I would love it if they updated the genre somewhat. The events that unfold in this book have no relation to this day and age. They could have happened in 1960, 1984, 1994 or 2014. Things need to get updated. Things need to change, and that’s why I’m doing my very small bit by writing this blog. I want Zenescope to keep on putting out these horror books. I want them to get better. I want them to update the stories for a post 9/11 generation, and I want them to start connecting with the awakened, post mainstream media generation of these times. I know it’s asking a lot, too much perhaps, but it’s not going to stop me from asking. I love old style horror comics. Get the structure sorted out. Let the stories run for a few issues if you cannot tell them in one-shots, and throw in the odd reference to the surveillance state, poisons in our foods, illegal wars and corporate bankster owned political elite’s. Oh, and if you can cut out the anti man stuff, that would be nice as well, thanks.

Rating: 5.5/10

Comic book review: Grimm Tales of Terror #2- The greed of man meets eight legged judgement

Writers: Shane McKenzie
Artist: Przemyslaw Klosin
Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment Inc
Released: 3rd September 2014

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Crypt_(TV_series)


If you enjoy reading old horror comics then this is a book that you’ll want to pick up. It’s very old fashioned, with the script reading like an old episode of ‘Tales from the Crypt’ with the bookend technique of a ghoulish narrator laughing at us stupid, vain and greedy human beings. Only this time we don’t get the Crypt Keeper telling the tale, in his place we get a busty postwoman who delivers death with a whistle.

I found this technique to be a little confusing in comic book form, as she didn’t have anything to do with the main story apart from igniting it. Plus the end panels of her watching over the death of a cruel rich guy had absolutely nothing to do with the main tale. It was a little bit confusing and not as satisfying as it could have been.

The main tale involves greedy treasure hunters and a giant spider. It’s not original, and it’s been done a lot better many times before. There were some problems with the three main personalities involved in the tale as well. They were more complicated than they needed to be, and because of the short nature of this tale there wasn’t enough time to fully develop the characters. There were hints that went nowhere, and when the characters met their inevitable demise the impact was somewhat lessened because I couldn’t get a secure grasp on who they actually were.

These tales should be simple. You need good guys, bad guys and a twist. This book had bad guys, more bad guys and no twist. I shouldn’t have enjoyed this book, because it had huge flaws, but there was something about it that I really did enjoy.

I liked the tone of the writing, the humour in the dialogue, the silliness, the fast paced nature of it, the excitement of following the protagonists into a creepy cave and the old fashioned sense of adventure and horror that it was all wrapped up in.

The art did not detract from the tale and some large panels of arachnid based horror certainly had an impact. It’s not going to win any awards, but some of the dark shading and torch lit panels of the explorers looked suitably atmospheric, daunting and creepy, and the postwoman character looked very alluring in her slightly too tight uniform. In my far from unbiased and slightly seedy opinion, if an artist can draw a ridiculously bosomed female in very tight clothes then he must be doing something right.

Grimm Tales of Terror #2 has its flaws, but it’s a very enjoyable book. It has the feel of an old-fashioned horror comic with a strong moral message at its centre, and with a conclusion where greedy and unpleasant characters get exactly what they deserve. It’s a nice way to spend ten minutes of your time, and if you enjoy your old style horror comics then I’m sure you’ll get a lot of enjoyment out of the book.

Rating: 7/10 (simply, because it was fun)