For years I had assumed that the Grimm Fairy Tales series was an anthology horror series that offered up scantily clad victims who suffered horrible deaths based on old childhood folklore. Honestly though, the part of me that grew up with Friday the 13 movie marathons and Texas Chainsaw Massacre shop class jokes wanted to check the book out, but many comic shops didn’t support the series and I allowed myself to move on without paying it much attention. A few years later, I finally managed to grab a few issues at a convention and discovered that GFT features a rich and complex mythology of its own, and characters often face long term consequences of their actions.

And yes, to be fair, it also features scantily clad women (and often their significant others) facing brutal and horrible deaths that hearken back to the great slasher movies of the 70s and 80s.

One main problem a new reader faces is that since local shops don’t always support the series, it’s tough to catch up on the past without paying massive postage to comic shops far away. Luckily though, Zenescope is now starting their Myths and Legends series, which aims to explain and expand the GFT universe. Long time readers with lingering questions and new readers looking to play catch-up can both find something to like in this series.

Since this is the first issue, writer Raven Gregory spends a fair amount of time introducing the characters and giving us a glimpse into who they are. Nestled in an adolescent treatment center, a group of young adults are facing their problems in a setting that instantly invokes A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3. Unlike that film however, it’s not a common problem that brings them together. These kids are in serious need of some real psychiatric help and find themselves in the midst of something much more terrifying than the lives they left behind. Since this is a book with “fairy tales,” “myths” and “legends” in the title, it’s probably not much of a spoiler to let it be known that a giant wolf creature from the Little Red Riding Hood story appears and begins to hunt down someone in the hospital. Long time readers will instantly make the connection back to the first issue of Grimm Fairy Tales from 2005, while new readers will find themselves guessing at whom it might be and why they are being targeted. Either way, horror fans are no doubt going to enjoy the story as it unfolds before them.

David Miller’s artwork seems a little stiff at times, but he does a fine job rendering each character differently so that you are never confused as to who each person is as the story progresses. This is a key factor in an ensemble book, and helps to keep the story moving at a brisk pace when the action starts to heat up. His style is clean and crisp, and can easily shift from the rotting carcass of a mauled bear to attractive teens and beautiful doctors.

While it may be easy to dismiss the Grimm Fairy Tales comics because of the high T&A factor (especially on the covers) it should be noted that anyone with an affinity for the aforementioned horror franchises will find themselves instantly at home here. Saying that this books feels like a slasher film is a sincere form of flattery meant as a complementary comparison. And while those connections can be made, there are still influences from the comic book world peppered throughout so as to not completely abandon the medium it is presented in.

The first issue is shipping with the 3 different covers showcased below from  J. Scott Campbell ,  Eric “Ebas” Basaldua, and Mike DeBalfo, and carries a cover price of $2.99.  Grimm Fairy Tales: Myths & Legends #1 can also be ordered from the Pop Culture Network Store.