Hunters - The Shadowlands #1 Review

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents

Hunters - The Shadowlands #1

Writer:

Raven Gregory

Cover Art:

Anthony Spay and Ivan Nunes (Cover A)

Paulo Siqueira and Sean Ellery (Cover B)

Interior Art:

Tazio Bettin, David Cutler, Renato Mapa Jnr and Oscar Celestini

So what's it all about?

This issue has a bit of a Grimm Fairy Tales all-star cast with Roman Asher (Werewolf Hunter), Sela Mathers (whom I have adored ever since the creation of Grimm Fairy Tales in 2005), Liesel Van Helsing (Vampire Hunter), Elijah Jones (Zombie Hunter), Masumi Yamamoto (Demon Hunter).

They have all been banished to The Shadowlands where a dark and sinister force is going to rise and unleash terror on The Shadowlands and Earth. The Hunters have arrived in time to see if all the evil nastiness can be stopped (or at least try and escape if the Being proves too powerful for them to defeat). This 1st issue is really about the Hunters finding their bearings and working to understand the predicament they are in now that they are all reunited.

Roman arrives at The Shadowlands on his own and is a bit peeved about the length of time he is stuck there without his Hunter colleagues. It works okay, because it allows Gregory to introduce us to the environment that is The Shadowlands.

Two additional characters have also arrived to help bring forth the evil Being. The first is Samira who I have to say is my favourite character so far (see Unleashed #0 and #1). Samira is Queen of the Vampires. Ravenous is with her and he is the First of the Werewolves.

Sounds all a bit much for one issue I hear you say....we'll get to that!

The stage appears set for a bit of scrap in The Shadowlands between this significant cast of characters.

So what's good (or bad) about this issue?

I enjoy comic books with a strong and purposeful cast of characters. This story so far certainly has that. This issue spends a lot of time showing the reader the weirdness of The Shadowlands and its inhabitants and does it through Roman Asher, the werewolf hunter. 

The writing by Gregory is easy to follow and the story flows nicely in spite of the number of characters this issue is trying to manage. It wouldn't be Grimm Fairy Tales if there weren't some whimsical one-liners, but on the whole, the writing gives you a good understanding of the characters and the types of Hunters they are. The writing makes clear that the Hunters must come together to defeat what it is they are going up against.

The cover art by Siqueira and Ellery is stunning (Cover B). It really gives you an accurate sense of what this issue is about. The characters have cautious expressions and this is true to the story inside the comic. I've not seen Siqueira and Ellery's work before on covers and I was really impressed when I picked it up off the shelf.

The interior art flows well between the panels. The facial expressions between the characters compliment Gregory's writing.

If I had to be critical I would say that too much time was spent on Roman as a character in this issue. When I consider all that is happening in the Grimm Universe, I think I would have steered character development more toward Liesel Van Helsing given her release as a Grimm character over the last couple of months (see illustration below).

Don't get me started on how awesome Jamie Tyndall's art is. Ula Mos on colours is just spectacular (but we are not reviewing cover art for other titles in this post).

As a stand-alone series it should work well, there is enough there for Gregory to develop a good story around. That said, one of the things I loved about Grimm Fairy Tales when I started reading comic books again was that they were simple stand-alone issues. The Grimm Universe has become complex and this issue of Hunters - The Shadowlands certainly adds to that complexity by being part of a broader connected mini-series. To get the most out of this larger story you will need to read all the connecting titles and issues...I don't like that so much.

So what do I give it?

I give it 7 out of 10. Only because I dislike connecting mini-series.

So what have others said about this issue?

Well, not much. There is only one review worth reading:

Comic Bastards Review

Comic Bastards don't hold back on reviewing comic books and often tell it how it is. I really enjoyed reading this review.

C.