Grimm Fairy Tales – Myths & Legends Quarterly: Prophecy – Review

Grimm Fairy Tales – Myths & Legends Quarterly: Prophecy, available from Zenescope Entertainment on December 8th, 2021, unravels the mystery behind Mystere’s birth before the forces of darkness corrupt her completely.

The Details

• Written By: Joe Brusha
• Art By: Julius Abrera
• Colors By: Grostieta, Vinicius Andrade
• Letters By: Taylor Esposito
• Cover Art By: Al Barrionuevo (cover A)
• Cover Price: $8.99
• Release Date: December 8, 2021

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Was It Good?

Grimm Fairy Tales – Myths & Legends Quarterly: Prophecy is a mixed bag for a quarterly issue.

On the one hand, it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. There’s a substantial amount of character development for Mystere by way of uncovering everything surrounding the mystery of her birth, her parents, and her powers. No stone is left unturned, so if you’ve been hankering to know all about Mystere, this is the quintessential Mystere origin story.

Also, Mystere’s origins are fully fleshed out in a story that builds on events in other issues with plenty of Editor’s Notes calling back to issues throughout this year and further back. Brusha went to great lengths to connect the dots from early cameos and crossovers, particularly with Robyn Hood, to show how those seeds have started to bloom into something big for a future conflict. The callbacks are a nice reward for faithful readers.

That said, the dialog and pacing made this quarterly a struggle to get through at times. Mystere is chronically angry with everyone in this comic and constantly telling people to leave her alone. There are, of course, valid reasons to be upset, but nearly every scene is some variation of Mystere telling people to leave her alone, and it starts to get repetitive.

More repetitive than Mystere’s scenes are the obsessive use of the word “darkness” in this quarterly. If you played a drinking game where the rules state you had to take a shot every time someone said “I feel the darkness” or “there’s darkness in me” or “embrace the darkness”, you’d be stone drunk by page 14. And this is a 72-page quarterly. Yes, those phrases are there to make a point, but it gets too repetitive for comfort.

The writing has some good and some bad, but there’s no downside to Abrera’s gorgeous visuals. The big draw is the character designs, and Abrera knocks it out of the park with cool looks for zombies, orcs/ogres, and ghosts. Special praise goes to the colorists for creating eye catching highlights when Mystere lets her powers loose in full.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with a pair of hooded figures discussing a prophecy involving a group of individuals who bring about an Age of Darkness once they join forces. One of those individuals is Mary Medina aka Mystere. The figures cast a spell to bring back Makana to aid them in corrupting Mystere.

Back in NOLA, Mystere has recently returned from her trip to NYC when she is contacted by the spirits for a meeting. She’s surprised to be met by the ghosts of her parents who explain their origins as refugees from Myst. They were killed trying to protect Mystere from dark forces because she was born with great power. Mystere was since raised in secret and not told about her past to protect her.

Nearby, Talisman has been working a blue collar life to make amends for his past misdeeds and to eventually find a way to reconcile with Mystere. He’s been afraid to make contact after what he’s done to her in the past, but the spirits pull him to get to her because she’s in great danger.

Later, Talisman contacts Mystere but is met with a lot of resistance. The spirits explain they don’t have time for personal quarrels as the dark forces are arriving to corrupt Mystere and force her into their cabal. We conclude with a battle in the streets of NOLA, the arrival of a new enemy with the literal power of darkness, and Robyn making an appearance… but not really.

Final Thoughts

Grimm Fairy Tales – Myths & Legends Quarterly: Prophecy is an interesting story with monsters, magic, and all the revelations you could ask for about the mystery surrounding Mystere’s origins. The art is fantastic, and the story is complete while planting seeds for a much bigger conflict. That said, the reading experience suffers from dialog and pacing problems.

Score: 7/10

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