Grimm Fairy Tales Universe

[armlessphelan]

I'm not reading Realm War, but damn Robyn Hood was brilliant this week. I also grabbed and quite enjoyed Dark Shaman last week. I don't know what happened, but Zenescope really kicked things into high gear creatively this last year. I've read some earlier stuff (like the bland Realm Knights), and this stuff blows it out of the water.

[Jon Rock]

I don't know about the condition of the omnis, but I recommend starting with the initial Wonderland trilogy: Return to Wonderland, Beyond Wonderland, and Escape from Wonderland. The Wonderland omni contains those three plus all three volumes of the Tales from Wonderland collected one shots. It's some of the early Zenescope stuff so it's pretty self contained and not involved with the greater Grimm Universe. Great story.

The Robyn Hood trilogy: Robyn Hood, RH: Wanted, and RH: Legend is a close second. Plus, Robyn Hood is a member is the Realm Knights so she meets with other characters of the Grimm Universe more often.

There are other titles, but those are the books I'd recommend to anyone looking to get their feet wet with Zenescope.

So I got the Free Halloween Comic(I think at the start it said it was a reprint of the first Halloween Special) and read it, I enjoyed it, I think I'll get the first volume of Robyn Hood then as I shouldn't have to worry about Omni reliability with it.

[GMiller]

It's amazing how many people I have to defend my reading of the Grimm books to..They see the covers, and think it's nothing but softcore porn...The stories are so much more, and people really need to give these books a chance..Don't judge a book by it's cover..

[Tayne Japal]

Just a bit of news. Raven Gregory, who wrote most of the Wonderland books has resurfaced with a creator owned project that will also be a Kickstarter. Check it out: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/11/...raven-gregory/

[Gitdown]

will someone be a kind nerd and match up the gods in Goddess Inc. Who is Ivy? Who is Neptune's girl. Is this Hestia?

Is the party boy Dionysus?

[MikeMC005]

Just a bit of news. Raven Gregory, who wrote most of the Wonderland books has resurfaced with a creator owned project that will also be a Kickstarter. Check it out: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/11/...raven-gregory/

I thought Gregory was still writing stuff for Zenescope?

[Arvandor]

I thought Gregory was still writing stuff for Zenescope?

He stopped after suffering some personal tragedies. Good to see him back.

[PatrickShand]

A few updates!

This Wednesday, the first part of the RISE OF THE WATER NYMPHS storyline begins in Grimm Fairy Tales #104. Here's a peek: http://blog.zenescope.com/2014/11/ze...liday-edition/

Next Wednesday, ROBYN HOOD #4 is also a jumping on point, as the second arc begins. Here are some panels featuring guest artist Tony Brescini: http://patrickshand.tumblr.com/post/...3/robyn-hood-4

[MikeMC005]

They both look so good. That preview for Dark Shaman #2 looks pretty good too. Cant wait to get my comics for this month.

[armlessphelan]

They both look so good. That preview for Dark Shaman #2 looks pretty good too. Cant wait to get my comics for this month.

Dark Shaman was GREAT, though the art was all over the place: sometimes it was great, sometimes it was really wonky. I get that Zenescope doesn't have the budget of a Marvel or DC, but some of the artists they hire make me scratch my head.

[Tayne Japal]

Dark Shaman was GREAT, though the art was all over the place: sometimes it was great, sometimes it was really wonky. I get that Zenescope doesn't have the budget of a Marvel or DC, but some of the artists they hire make me scratch my head.

Oh, but they have the money for those big names to do cover work. I've seen some pretty good pencilers and colorists in Zenescope books. It truly is a mystery why these good freelancers aren't kept around long term and advertised.

[armlessphelan]

Oh, but they have the money for those big names to do cover work. I've seen some pretty good pencilers and colorists in Zenescope books. It truly is a mystery why these good freelancers aren't kept around long term and advertised.

I love that Wonderland and Robyn Hood have always had high quality artists, but some of these spinoffs and minis are weird. Goddess Inc is probably the best looking book Zenescope is putting put now, though.

[Arvandor]

Raven Gregory's Fly has been optioned by Fox for tv.

That's the good news. Fly was a great series..


The bad news, unfortunately, is that Raven is now exposing his own issues of non-payment from Zenescope. They not only haven't paid him for two years, but are falsely claiming credit for work they didn't do. Their behaviour is disgusting, and Raven deserves better. I'm seriously considering a boycott now.

[Dark-Flux]

Every now and then a story like this crops up about Zenescope. Not exactly encouraging.

[Tayne Japal]

First half of post by Raven Gregory:

Hey guys. I wanted to stop by and say thanks and that I appreciate the kind words that have been said. I'm glad people enjoyed my work when I was over at Zenescope and hopefully they'll enjoy my new work now that I am no longer there.

Beyond all the non-payment drama and the unanswered emails and phone calls, during my time there they treated me pretty well. They let me have my run of the Grimm and Wonderland universe for nearly seven years. I got to tell my creator owned stories as well as stories I was truly passionate about and it was a blast working on those tales. I got to travel the country to shows everywhere, my profile as a writer was raised considerably. I got to meet some incredible artists with whom I still work with today, as well as make some friends and meet some fans who have gone on to become some of my nearest and dearest and before my world started falling apart these last two years it really wasn't all that bad.

That said, I should have seen it coming. Not to say my departure was entirely their fault, but yeah, shit happens I guess. I just wanted to clear up a couple things really quick as there is something about mistakes in articles that really gnaws at me like a splinter in the mind.

The check Zenescope got, we split 50/50 minus lawyers fees so considering I haven't had a published comic come out since earlier this year this was in no way me bragging. Zenescope did pay me up throughout the year on my past due royalties on my creator owned series, The Theater, so at least there was that. Also, when I worked for the company, I was paid on salary and when things are going smoothly you tend to try and not rock the boat so considering I had a steady paycheck coming in it wasn't a big deal to let the past due royalties slide a bit.

It wasn't until going over my payments and breakdowns that I realized exactly how much time had passed since I had received anything from them from those collected editions. So not to sound like a battered wife trying to make excuses for her abusive husband, it's partly my fault as well. In this business and industry, it can be all too easy to make compromises and justify the ends as the means to find that excuse you can bare, if not live with.

So much, as with their past well-known company issues with late payments and non-payments, when we parted ways in late January of this year, since I was no longer producing work for the company, I was no longer a priority in their eyes.

And I understand that. I get it. It's business. It may not be good business but when you run your own company you're not always faced with the easy choices and sometimes, well, shit happens.

But with that said, as for the reason why this was all made known, it really came down to me not caring anymore. I mean I care, considering the amount owed, I obviously care, but as for caring what zenescope thinks or putting the perceived public perception of the company ahead of myself, I just don't have that in me anymore.


There were too many broken promises and personal slights for me to just keep letting things go without at least speaking on the matter.

The saids -
Was promised royalties across the board on the Wonderland series for merchandise, toys, t-shirts, IP, and trade sales. Never happened.

When the balance on Wonderland got too high and the series became a cash cow for the company, in exchange for my shared ownership of Wonderland, I was promised a partnership and shares of the company. Never happened.

For two years I was told I'd receive breakdowns on my royalties for my collected editions of creator owned books and get caught up on payments. Never happened.

After my creator owned series began making me more money than it was making them, they talked me into producing my creator owned books through Zenescope instead of on my own. So I created Irresistible and No Tomorrow and was told I'd be taken care of on both the series. Never happened.


But here's what did happen and like I said, I should have seen it coming.