Dynamite Entertainment 2016
Written by Caitlin Kittredge
Illustrated by Maria Sanapo & German Erramouspe
Coloured by Chris O’Halloran
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
Up against the Weird Sisters and a Wesen crime boss, Juliette can’t turn to her friends for help. The only person on her side is Adalind, and she is pretty sure that is only lasting as long as it takes to get stabbed in the back. With the final showdown looming ahead, things are not looking good for Juliette.
What Caitlin is doing with Juliette’s characterisation here is pretty darn fantastic. I mean we’re seeing her go from that oh woe is me i’m a hexenbiest into oh no you don’t wanna mess with me i’m a hexenbiest. After having been the girlfriend of first a cop and then a Grimm she’s no pushover and while this is the first time we’re really getting to see her stretch her wings and fly solo she’s really a pretty badass character.
The women of the Grimm universe have kind of been relegated to supporting roles over the years so it’s really nice to see them taking center stage and proving that while they allow the men to do the lion’s share of the work they are equally as capable of getting things done themselves. Also the parallel to the men, a Grimm, two Wesen and a human (who used to be wesen) means they all have their own unique viewpoints to bring to the story.
I like the interiors here and while they are more classic comic style and less the detailed work that would make the wesen truly monstrous that’s okay we still get enough emotion and feeling out them. The use of page layouts through angles and perspective are handled very well. I’m a big proponent of using backgrounds to help flesh out any given moment in the story and we see some of that done nicely. The action sequences are used rather well too so it’s very much a great action adventure book.
Caitlin does a marvelous job in placing this within the television universe and the timeline when it belongs. While this is a marvelous stand alone story that can be read and enjoyed without having watched the show it also is a perfect companion piece to the series. If this is how she’s going to craft, structure and execute Grimm stories then I for one wholeheartedly hope she’s got more ideas in store for this franchise. I’d love to see her tackles some groupings that we may not normally see in the show.
Creative, fun and full excellent characterisation this is a great example of why a franchise can seamlessly translate from the small screen to a comic book series!