Grimm Fairy Tales: Different Seasons Vol. 3

 Merriment and mischief continue in this third volume of holiday one-shots from Zenescope Entertainment.  Here you’ll find tales of danger, deceit and the uncouth effects of greed, as well as an epic volleyball game.  Written by the likes of Ralph Tedesco, Joe Brusha and Raven Gregory, this is certainly not one to be missing from your collection.  With that said, there are quite a few issues to cover this time around, so let’s get this review going.

This volume collects the 2010 Halloween and Holiday Specials, as well as the 2013 Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s one-shots and the 2012 Swimsuit Special.  Now, not entirely certainly sure how all these fit together story-wise, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of putting together what was available and not overloading this volume with a ton of Halloween and Holiday Specials.  With that said, there’s a whole plethora of demonic goodness throughout these stories.  You’ve got vampires, Krampus, leprechauns and dark spawn, so a little something for everyone.  What’s cool about these one-shots are that they kind of give the reader a closer look at the true meaning of a Holiday, or of the choices a person can make.  Brings it back to how the Grimm Fairy Tales series started, giving the reader a lesson and providing some introspection.  However, they’re not without their fair share of violence and T & A, so you won’t feel so bad about yourself when reading these.  Not that you should, but I think you know what I mean. 

Focusing first on the writing, all around stellar job.  I mean, how can you go wrong with Ralph Tedesco, Joe Brusha, Raven Gregory and Pat Shand all lending their pens to these issues?  These guys know their stuff and that’s part of the reason Zenescope is still in business (I think you know what the other part is).  Raven gave us a great Halloween Special, takes a crack at all of the vampire stereotypes and gives use something a little unexpected.  If you hate Twilight, you’ll love this issue.  For the 2010 Holiday Special, Ralph, Joe and Raven really get into the true meaning of Christmas and try to make the world a better place, in their own special way.  I really liked how they were able to interconnect all of the little sub-stories within this book.  Nice way of getting a different perspective to the overall plot.  

The Valentine’s one-shot provided a great back-up story to the Grimm Universe and answered a question or two for the long-time reader.  This issue fleshes out one of the main characters more and provides her with a bit more depth.  Pat really pulled through with both the 2013 St. Patrick’s Day and 2012 Swimsuit specials.  The St. Patrick’s Day one-shot was another issue of interconnecting stories and brought to light one of man’s greatest failings, while the Swimsuit Special was a change of pace, compared to Pat’s usual fair.  I mean Robyn is so bad-ass that she wouldn’t even come play volleyball in a story written by her series’ author.  So, much talent in one book, it’s hard to believe it doesn’t explode on contact.

Which leads us to the art aspect of this collection, a wide variety of styles and looks that it’s hard sometimes to read the print without staring at the pages for hours.  Artists like Marcio Abreu and Alfred Trujillo really give the pages the flare that pulls you into a story and just locks you in.  The ones that really got me were the pages from the 2010 Halloween Special and the 2013 Valentine’s one-shot.  A story which involves pages of sexy, female vampires is always a plus for me and the Valentine’s one-shot really delivered with its 90’s style superhero look.  A look that’s always been a favorite of mine. 

A few things struck me as a little off in this volume, the main thing being the short story in the 2012 Swimsuit Special.  Like I said, this is definitely a break from the norm for Pat, and to me it showed.  Although a nice light-hearted story for a change, it felt a little too cheesy.  Some of the dialogue just felt forced in areas and too many attempts by the villains to be funny.  It was a little rough getting through, but great to see Pat expanding his genres.  Other things that caught my attention was the artwork for some of the stories, especially in the Holiday Special.  I wouldn’t say it was all around bad, but it wasn't really my cup of tea either.  Perhaps there’s a certain charm that I’m not seeing, but to re-iterate, it’s just not for me.

The Different Seasons series of trade paper-backs is a great collection of all of the extra-long stories that they couldn’t quite fit into the trades of the main series.  Volume three delivers the chills and thrills while keeping with the holiday spirit.  Despite a few hiccups, I would recommend this for anyone wanting to expand their Zenescope collection, or for some good ‘ol fashioned holiday cheer.  So, pick up the third collection of Different Seasons, otherwise you may find the Krampus at your door.  For more info about this trade paper-back, visit the Zenescope website, or the Zenescope Facebook page.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. Krampus is not responsible for any thoughts, comments or opinions. Only our individual reviewer is.