GRIMM TALES OF TERROR QUARTERLY: SEA OF SOULS, from Zenescope Entertainment on April 20th, 2022, tells four tales of nautical terror. A plastic surgeon gets a special makeover, a cheating spouse gets a (un)happy ending, a golddigger gets more gold than she can handle, and a pair of thieves pick their last pocket.
The Details
- Written By: Jenn Lyn Wright
- Art By: Alvaro Feliu, Juan Francisco Mota, Ricardo Osnaya, Erik Lopera Tamayo
- Colors By: Jorge Cortes, Robby Bevard, Maxflan Araujo, Walter Pereyra
- Letters By: Taylor Esposito
- Cover Art By: Sean Chen
- Cover Price: $8.99
- Release Date: April 20, 2022
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Was It Good?
Anthologies, especially oversized, quarterly anthologies, can be a tricky business. There are a lot of pages to fill and the quality tends to vary from one story to the next when multiple creators are involved.
This issue doesn’t suffer from any of those problems. On the contrary, this is one of the better horror quarterlies Zenescope has put out in some time.
Wright expertly manages to weave three stories together about unscrupulous cruise passengers meeting an ironic fate, using a pair of thieves as the connective tissue. Each story has a supernatural element to keep the karmic twist interesting, and Wright does exactly what’s needed for an anthology of this sort – make you hate the criminal so you’re satisfied by the punishment.
This quarterly works. It works because each story sets up the protagonist as a nasty person, you see what they’ve done to earn the readers’ hate, and then the tables turn for a justifiable conclusion. It sounds too simple, but simple works and Wright executes each story beautifully.
The art by a small team of artists is generally good. The big splash pages where you see a monster or the horrific fate for one of the unsavory characters is where the issue signs. in between the big splashes, the art ranges from good to average to slightly blotchy. As long as the big moments shine (and they do), you’ll be happy with the visuals.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
As with all anthology reviews, we’ll cover each story briefly and hit on what worked or didn’t. in this issue, the stories are interconnected and don’t have separate titles so bear with us.
Two Thieves And A Boat
Lara and Greg take jobs as employees aboard a cruise ship for the express purpose of robbing the passengers blind. As multiple passengers meet horrific fates, our observant thieves eventually find a trip to the storage compartment was a bad idea.
this is the connective tissue story where Lara and Greg pop in and out of the other stories to either make comments or observe the oddities of this ship. As connective tissue stories go, this fits the context and their fates tie to the conclusion of the stories in an organic way.
She’s Beautiful On The Outside
A beautiful plastic surgeon with a track record of malpractice and mistakes gets away from it all with a luxurious cruise vacation. When an attractive man, who happens to be a former patient, coincidentally bumps into the surgeon on board the cruise, her past comes back to haunt her.
Nobody likes doctors who treat their patients like cattle, so this one hits a sore spot everyone can relate to. The setup is flawless, and the ending is monstrous. however, how the doctor meets her fate is a little too nebulous to make total sense.
Cheaters Never Prosper
A husband and father finds himself the target of attention from a sexy vixen. When the restful vacation is anything but, he finds a little personal time with a lovely lady exposing a dark secret drawn up from the depths.
This was a solid story that takes a turn. It’s not a full 90-degree left turn, but a slight turn. You can easily relate to the husband and father giving in to temptation during a trying family trip, but it gets worse when you learn he’s not as innocent as he’s originally portrayed. Wright does an excellent job of presenting a character wearing a believable public face that slips in private.
She’s Nothing But A Golddigger
A beautiful, young woman begins a tawdry affair with the ships’ bartender behind her elderly husband’s back. The lovers hatch a plan to be together after the husband’s untimely death, and they almost get away with it… until the double-crosses start flying.
This is one of the better double-cross stories. It all makes perfect sense until the supernatural ending, which seems like it doesn’t make sense. However, Wright (sorta) makes it work by tying the final fate of the lovers into the final fate of the thieves.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
GRIMM TALES OF TERROR QUARTERLY: SEA OF SOULS is one of the better quarterlies (and anthologies) from Zenescope’s horror line. The protagonists give you strong reasons to hate them, so when their fates are revealed, the satisfaction levels go through the roof. Excellent writing paired with generally decent art makes for a recommended pick.
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