Grimm Tales of Terror 3

When a college undergrad decides to stay in and study, she finds that a seemingly inconsequential decision leaves a lasting effect on her.  From writer Meredith Finch comes a story from the urban legends of the college dorm rooms.  The third installment in what looks to be a new age of horror, Grimm Tales of Terror brings you the thrills and chills you've been waiting for.

Life can be fleeting, so sometimes you just have to live for the moment instead of the bigger picture.  Unfortunately, a lot of people learn that notion too late.  In this issue, we’re taken to an unknown college where Darlene Levy has a suggestive encounter with her teacher, Prof. Reynolds after she starts to fall behind on her studies.  She then, literally runs into the woman from the previous issues, who then suggests a better path to take than the one she’s currently on.  Now, I’m learning more and more from the issues that the main stories aren't so much cautionary tales as they are a look into an occurrence elsewhere in the same setting as the opening sequence, whose themes parallel said sequence.  Anyways, the story then jumps over to two of Darlene’s classmates, Ann and Maris.  Ann attempts to get Maris to go out to a party, but she refuses due to the work she has to do for Prof. Reynolds’ class.  “If only there was another way”, she thinks to herself.  The next day, after a long night of partying, Ann wakes to find her roommate slaughtered in her bed.  Ann’s world is shattered from then on.  What may seem so inconsequential can turn out to have the most dire of consequences.  Perhaps if Maris had accompanied Ann to the party, then maybe her life would have been spared.  It’s a gamble everyone takes in life, Maris just happened to lose this wager.

This issue has a fine example of some great looking artwork by the talented Milton Estevam (and yes it’s the same artist throughout, so bonus points there).  The character designs are smooth and nicely detailed, and it doesn't hurt that his ladies are easy on the eyes.  You can pretty much turn to any page and see a well done panel.  The splash pages are especially nice because Milton gets all the little nuances, like Jim Lee, or Marcio Abreu.

Given the quality of the artwork, which lent itself well to the story, the story itself felt a little rushed.  I mean I don’t want to give too much away, but for a murder mystery-type story, I felt that there weren't enough red herrings thrown in to lead the reader astray before the big reveal.  Granted that the writer possibly had a limited number of pages, but they had only shown the first suspect and suddenly the story was over.  For me, I would have liked to have one or two more possibilities put in, but if you’re under a page constraint, I guess there’s no getting around that.

So, although the story may feel a bit rushed, the great art style will make you slow down to take in some of the fine images that accompany it.  I would kind of consider this to be horror-lite, but it’s still a great addition to your Grimm Tales of Terror collection.  If these are anything like the original Grimm Fairy Tales, I’m sure this storyline will come into play down the line.  For more info on where to find this issue, visit the Zenescope website, or the Zenescope Facebook page.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.