Realm War 4

Confident in her victory, the Dark Queen sends her army of Blood Knights to attack New York City. Unbeknownst to her, Venus and Pan continue plotting with Hercules, who is under Venus’s spell. And the remainder of the Horde deals a lethal blow to Sela’s plan when Robyn fatally wounds Vaughan. What hope of recovery does Sela have?

I’m guessing the Robyn Hood series is in its own separate realm at the moment because she certainly isn’t shooting up all of the good guys in it.  Robyn has definitely gone to the dark side in this one and she’s not afraid to thin the crowd in the name of the Dark Queen.  Meanwhile, the Dark One has taken a backseat to the Queen’s plans and he’s none too happy about it.  Having been one of the most feared villains in the Grimm Universe, now reduced down to nothing more than an afterthought, the Dark One finds himself regretting resurrecting the Queen from the dead.  Things have gotten out of hand now, what with Robyn’s turn, New York under attack and the Queen holed up in Las Vegas, Sela is at a loss, unless she can unlock the secrets that Vaughan had passed down to her.

So, for being a “Realm War”, I don’t really see this series having any real repercussions in any of the other series in the Grimm Universe.  Like with the big two companies, when you have a big cross-over event like this, there’s always tie-in issues from other series that feed into the main event story as well as show how the event is effecting the characters in their own books.  I still have yet to find evidence of that with this series (unless I’ve just been ignorant of the other Zenescope books).  I collect both the Robyn Hood and Wonderland series and it’s as if this Realm War doesn’t even exist.  How is Robyn doing her own thing fighting demons with Marian, while offing the Realm Knights in the Realm War?  And also, why aren’t seeing stragglers from Neverland, or Wonderland taking sides in this war, what’s Calie and Wendy doing?  I guess I don’t really have a problem with the issue itself (the artwork by Sami Kivela is quite nice by the way), but the way the series is being handled overall.  When you setup a big event like this, it helps to have all of your other series on the same page to help the story flourish.

Issue 4 of Realm War brings us the darker side of Robyn Hood, how she would have ended up if she had accepted her fate during her final strike against Cal King. A much more cold and uncaring person indeed with no real way of turning Robyn back to her former self. The issue is a must-have for anyone collecting the series as we gain more insight as to what’s going on behind the scenes. Hopefully future installments will tie in better with the rest of the Grimm Universe, but at this point, that may not be happening anytime soon. Still a good read for fans of Grimm Fairy Tales. 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.

Realm War 3

Sela recovers some of her remaining allies. Though it seems Robyn Locksley’s loyalty shifted to the Dark Horde.  Meanwhile, Venus deviates from the Dark Queen’s plans in favor of her own personal gain. And what of the Dark One, who nears a breaking point with his queen’s abuse?  With so few friends left and these shifting alliances, Sela’s fate lies on uncertain ground.

Amidst the Age of Darkness, Sela, Red and what remains of the Realm Knights, as well as a collection of beings from the other three realms, travel along the open road on their way to New York City.  It’s there that the majority of the destruction is occurring as it seems to be the Dark Queen’s focal point.  Betrayed, broken and with no other real plan in mind, Sela trudges forward until they are ambushed by a band of the Dark Horde.  Sela and crew manage to hold their own, but soon discover that things are about to get a lot worse.  Joe Brusha did a great job providing this segway into the next issue.  However, aside from that, not much else went on except a bit of re-capping and exposition.  Although I didn't read the first two issues, this one felt a bit like filler, given that this is a twelve part series.

On a more positive note, this feels like a DC, or Marvel cross-over event (which I’m pretty sure it essentially is).  I always do enjoy seeing heroes from their own stories join up in order to take on some new and rather powerful opponent.  Which is probably why I enjoyed this one.  New team-ups and a big shake-up to the status quo are on the horizon and this issue is only the tip of the machinations underway.  We seem the remnants of the council discussing the events that are unfolding and spectres of the past returning to the fight.  Also, the artwork by Sami Kivela compliments the series rather well.  He brings a nice style and finesse to the characters that captures their essence and the colors by Maxflan Araujo really makes the artwork pop.  Real nice shot of Sela and Red just laying into a couple of the Dark Horde on page 5, you get that blood spray right in your face.

Issue three of Realm War gives readers the chance to see Sela and her group hacking their way towards NYC, where I sense a much larger showdown is about to happen come the next issue.  Although some may consider this nothing more than a segway, it definitely helps drive the story towards the larger, game-changing events coming up.  So, if you've already started in on this series, pick this one up, otherwise you’ll be left in the dark a bit, like I was, when the story continues on next month.  In any case, this is a great addition to your Zenescope collection, so grab your copy today.  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.