Dynamite Entertainment 2016
Written by Caitlin Kittredge
Illustrated by Maria Sanapo & German Erramouspe
Coloured by Chris O’Halloran
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
For three-plus years, Portland policeman Nick Burkhardt has fought crime both traditional and monstrous in his role of a Grimm, hunter of hidden fantastical beasts among us known as wesen. Unknown by Nick or anyone else, his longstanding love, Juliette Silverton has recently been transformed into a wesen as well. . .specifically a hexenbiest, possessor of great powers that come with the potential corruption of her soul. How long can she keep her secret,
especially when she finds herself in more than a little danger? “By the pricking of my thumbs,
something wicked this way comes.”
I’m totally into the fact that this is a tale that stars not only just the women but it takes place before everyone found out Juliette was a Hexenbiest. So there’s still some great opportunities to flesh out the characterisation and see how she kind of got to that point where the Biest took over her personality more and more. Granted we know how things turn out in the long run but what Caitlin is doing is great stuff nonetheless because she’s exploring new avenues for characters that we haven’t seen before while keeping them true to who they are.
For instance take the meeting between Juliette and Adalind. It’s rather deliciously written and it really suits both characters to a T at this point in time in their history. I really am impressed with the characterisation throughout the story so far. Adding to the mix a gang of female hexenbiests who the girls have to take down well that’s just icing on the cake here. Of course that the gang is working to pay off a man well that’s another story altogether. Still it’s nice to see this kind of girl power coming into play as in the show they don’t get to really shine like they are doing here.
The interiors here are pretty strong. Even though they don’t really look like the characters from the show they have all that fun, sassy and flirty quality that embodies them. The use of page layouts through angles, perspective and the use of backgrounds help completely tell the story visually and add some great characterisation of it’s own. I will say though that when the wesen vogue it’d be nicer to see something more horrific or menacing.
The pacing of this story from Caitlin is extremely well done. There are equal measures of action and characterisation that keep things moving forward nicely. The constant ebb and flow of what’s happening keep things interesting and our attention rapt. That they are having a harder time in getting to the root of it all and how the cast has been assembled, yes including Adalind, has been one of the strengths here.
This is a great compliment to the television series while still being a standalone story. Dynamites ability to take a franchise and keep it coming to a new audience while remaining true to the source material while making fresh and new is a reason I keep coming back to their books.