Grimm Fairy Tales 2012 Annual, which I wrote, comes out today. I drove to the comic shop, bought some copies, grabbed the rest of my pulls, and headed home. I just finished reading the book through and, even though I've obviously seen the completed comic before, it still felt a bit
magical (cheesy as that is) having it in front of me like this. It's my fifth comic in total and my third time playing in Zenescope's Grimm universe, but I just can't get past the sense of excitement. I've got comics coming out nearly every month from here on out, and I hope to never lose this sense of joy of getting to participate in the grand, epic, longform story that is Grimm Fairy Tales.
Writing comics really is the best job in the world.
From now on, I think it'll be cool to write something here every time I put out a comic. Whether it be commentary, a reflection, a story about the comic, or something else entirely, it'll be a fun way to celebrate.
I actually knew about the GFT annual before I knew I was going to write it. I'd seen Sean Chen's cover to the issue and Mike Debalfo's cover to GFT: Angel one-shot (which continues some story threads from my annual) around the time I was finishing up co-writing this year's GFT: April Fools with Ralph Tedesco. My thought upon seeing those covers and hearing what those books were about was, "Man... it would be awesome if I got to write one of those." Very shortly after, Ralph reached out to me about scripting the Annual, and I enthusiastically agreed.
For those familiar with the Grimm universe, this issue finally puts the spotlight on Venus (who will go on to co-star with the other devious GFT villains in the BAD GIRLS miniseries, coming next month). Zenescope has been building to a big Greek/Roman god arc for a long time now, since introducing Venus in the back of the ninth Grimm Fairy Tales trade. Raven Gregory built on the mythology of the gods in his recent arc on GFT, and it was an honor to spend this Annual with the diabolical Venus as she puts the final pieces of her plan together.
For newcomers, and I hope there are a few of you, I tried to write the Annual as if it's the epic first act of badass fantasy movie. At it's core, it's a story about rebuilding and feeling out of place - the time of gods is over, so what does that mean for the gods? What is their place? Where do these epic Greek/Roman mythological figures fit in? Do they assimilate or do they destroy?
I was an English major in college, and spent a lot of time studying, reading, and writing about these myths. It's a dream come true to get to write comics in general, but a special privilege to write a comic with Venus, Zeus, Hades, and more. You really can't get more iconic than these characters, and I hope I've done them (and Joe Brusha's epic plot) justice. If anyone has as much fun reading it as I had writing it, I'll be pleased.
