Should you believe everyone … or should that trust be earned?
Creative Staff:
Writer: Anne Toole
Artwork: Enn
Inks: Emanuel Braga
Colors: Hedwin Zaldivar & Ceci de la Cruz
Letters: Kurt Hathaway
What They Say:
Trapped in the Shadowlands, Mystere and Jasmine must rely on each other to survive while searching for a way to escape back to Earth. But the evil wizard Gruel has other plans for them and that includes suffering at the hands of his newest ally.
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
It is through conflict do the two former students of Arcane Acre meet here in the Shadowlands, but can Jasmine and Mary trust each other under these circumstances? After all, when the genie encountered the one who now calls herself Mystere, she immediately went after the one the djinn saved. And now both find themselves surrounded by the living dead of the village, ready to converge. Under command of no one, these feral ghouls slowly advance, and while Medina supposedly can control them, they will not listen. With claws, rotting teeth and weapons drawn, she has little choice than to knock herself out to break their hold. As she loses consciousness, the zombies draw back into the ground, with Jasmine still at a loss as to what just happened.
Stunned and unable to explain what occurred, Mystere rouses from her forced nap, confused as to why her powers do not function in this strange realm. It is unsure as to which girl is more perplexed, but as Mary collects her bearings, the rescued woman leaps forward, fangs bared and wanting to slake her thirst. With a quick swipe of her blade, Jasmine quickly dispatches the sanguine foe, immediately expressing the trust each lack in the other. It is only after a brief conversation do the two finally learn they have more in common than they believed, though neither cannot understand the malfunction in their abilities – no control over fire or the formerly living. While they attempt to gather their thoughts and figure a way out of the Shadowlands, a panicked resident of the realm runs screaming into their camp, a new foe close on his heels. After a swift strike and another lifeless body, the duo begin interrogating the intruder for information, with the genie’s scimitar close on his throat, not wanting to betrayed again. It is only the promise of showing them a way out of this foreboding land does she spares his life, but is the risk worth the danger … or is this all a fruitless chase?
In Summary:
At first I thought Grimm Fairy Tales: Dance of the Dead was slow in starting and hoped the premiere was only a foundation for a broader narrative, but now with the second issue concluded, that may not be the case. When Zenescope promoted this story, it was intended to be a launching point for Mystere’s adventure from the previous title, Grimm Fairy Tales: Day of the Dead, but any connection to that book seems to have been lost. Writer Anne Toole has geared the story more towards Jasmine, a recent addition via events from the foundation series, and as such, the flashbacks within are rooted to her history. While I can understand a need to flesh out her character, the half of this issue concerns recollections from her former master Gruel and do not furnish anything rudimentary for the djinn, aside from the hint that her lamp is taken from the wizard; of the two issues, essentially half of each book is consumed by this mage’s tale and as such, it is confusing to wonder how all of this information works into the main tale. If this tangent is leading somewhere by which Mystere will become the focus of the series, that basis is quickly becoming lost and even the hope of learning more about Jasmine is also devolving into a bewildering labyrinth of history. With all of the memories of how Gruel gained his rise to power dominating the smooth progression of the main story, it is rapidly becoming muddled by drama for someone supposedly outside the duo’s purview and supposedly of no influence to their escape. One then has to wonder, why bring it up unless there is something else brewing in the background?
Even within all of this confusion, the mesmerizing artwork of Enn with inks by Emanuel Braga grabs your attention from the first page, and the colors of Hedwin Zaldivar and Ceci de la Cruz enlightening us within the oppressive darkness of the Shadowlands, making this combination of talents worth the read. Even amid the suffocating somberness of this land, the vivid digital palette still manages to shine forth via amazing mystical effects which illuminate the domineering characters. It is amazing how this artistic team manages to show how heroic strength and physical beauty can intermingle within this horrifying atmosphere and yet still stand out on their own; from the intense array of emotions Mary shows from beneath her calavera mask to the purity Jasmine evokes from her determination to go home, all project the honesty they hold to their hearts. And yet if I did have a negative criticism for the issue, it would be an inconsistency of flashback coloring: instead of using generic sepia to denote a past age, for some reason the colorists used regular muted tones for the first memories, which made them seem like part of the normal story instead of a recollection. While it does work to communicate stronger memories, the strength of the colors make them compete against the normal tale instead of blending in. It would have been better to make Gruel’s sections one palette and the rest another instead of having the two fight to have recognition of the reader’s attention.
With a third of the series now over, it seems we will need an endless ball of thread to find our way out of this maze of self imposed confusion. Although in the overall premise of the story there seems to be an objective, for now with the numerous flashbacks breaking up the consistency these seems to be contradictions to the entirety of the narrative. Hopefully in the next issue we will find the path back to the heroines and not be lost in more history of a former master, then finally find out how the title fits in with the struggles Jasmine and Mary which have yet to come.
Grade: B+
Rating: T (Teen)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: November 15, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
