GRIMM UNIVERSE PRESENTS QUARTERLY: 2022 HALLOWEEN SPECIAL, from Zenescope Entertainment on October 26th, 2022, follows an eclectic group of contestants participating in a Fear Factor-style show for a cash prize.
The Details
- Written by: Kevin Townsley
- Art by: Eduardo Garcia, Alvaro Feliu, Massimiliano La Manno, Dario Tallarico
- Colors by: Maxflan Araujo
- Letters by: Saida Temofonte
- Cover art by: Richard Ortiz (cover A)
- Cover price: $8.99
- Release date: October 26, 2022
Is It Good?
Oof! Comics are a visual medium. If you hang around comic pros and readers long enough, you’ll hear that phrase repeated too many times to count. That said, a good story can cover bad art, but when the story is just average, and the art actively sabotages the story, there’s not much to be done.
Let’s start with the positives. Kevin Townsley’s script has the seed of a fun idea about a reality game show that fronts for real horrors on a deserted island with a checkered past. The setup is strong, the introductions do a good job of establishing the characters as distinct from each other and annoying enough that you don’t mind if they die, and the collection of challenges is original.
Where the quarterly stumbles are in the details of the story and the art.
During the challenges, the action is too frantic and chaotic to track what’s happening until the group of contestants is whittled down to the last three or so. Contestants are running in all directions, and the separation between fake scares and real scares isn’t always clear. On top of the confusion, some scares are clearly real and very lethal, yet the contestants continue to play along as though they don’t believe their lying eyes. The suspension of disbelief is too high to maintain.
You can forgive clarity issues in the writing to a point, but the big failing of this issue is in the art.
There are multiple scenes where the same character changes hair, clothes, and physical stature from one panel to the next. Halfway through the issue, the show’s host turns into a completely different person, and it took several pages to figure out theidentity of the new guy. This isn’t a case of multiple artists not adapting to each other’s style during the fill-in pages (there’s some of that, too). This is a case of artists not paying attention to what’s happening from one panel to the next. Artistically, this book is a mess.
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]
We begin with Bronson Smith arriving on an abandoned island to fulfill his duties as host of the reality gameshow, Scare Factor. Bro, as he likes to be called, has had trouble sticking to the scripts in the past, but he promises to be on his best behavior.
The contestants are introduced as they receive instructions to survive each challenge. Soon, the challengers form alliances and make backhanded plans to help each other until the group is reduced to the last few contestants. Their challenges include digging graves, eating gross meals, races to find artifacts, and a trip to an active volcano.
We conclude the issue with backstabbing deals, gruesome deaths, and a final choice.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
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GRIMM UNIVERSE PRESENTS QUARTERLY: 2022 HALLOWEEN SPECIAL has the seed of a good idea about a reality gameshow with an evil agenda behind the scenes. The contestants are eclectic, and the challenges are original. However, the execution of the challenges is chaotic, contestants don’t accept the danger right in front of their lying eyes, and the art in this issue is a disaster due to inconsistencies on every level.
Related Information
Why is October 31st Halloween?
According to History.com, “The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween.”
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