GFT Retrospective #11: Symphony Of Destruction and Timeless Love

Welcome back, Ticketholders, to the Grimm Fairy Tales Retrospective! Today, we're wrapping up Volume Two, and if you know the lyrics to the Megadeth song, "Symphony of Destruction," you'll most likely understand why I chose to make the reference, given the first issue up for review.

GFT #12: The Pied Piper

Chad (could be an older version of Chad from Red Riding Hood, but there’s nothing to confirm that idea beyond their slightly similar appearances) and his brother Neal are arguing about the latter being investigated for embezzling money from his company. There is an informant (referred to as a "rat" because there has to be a Pied Piper connection), and Neal has hired a hitman to eliminate him, but also plans to cheat the hitman out of his payment as well.
When they are later discussing this at a bar, up walks Sela, who pisses off Neal by being psychic and dressing like a hooker. Perhaps a nod to the Chad connection, Sela refers to Neal as a “big, bad wolf.” It might be a coincidence, but given how Sela likes to be all mysterious and knowing with her more morally gray charges, I doubt it.
Sela leaves her book behind, opened to the Pied Piper tale, which Chad reads while Neal plays pool. In the story, Chad and Neal become Charles and Nathan, switching hair colors for some reason. It follows closely to both the common telling and the framework narrative, with the Piper being an analogue for Neal’s hitman. Chad/Charles attempts to be the voice of reason, but his brother’s stinginess comes at a high price.
This issue is the most connected thus far in Zenescope’s universe, beyond the probable link to Red Riding Hood. Early in the Piper fairy tale, Charles is reading Beauty and the Beast to his son George, which I will talk about at the beginning of the next volume. Before I get to that, though, the Pied Piper gets his own limited spin-off series. And before I get to that, here’s a look at the short story from Volume 2….

GFT Short Story #2: Timepiece

At some point in time, Sela fell in love with a man named Robert, who gifted her with a pocket watch at their first meeting.
Timepiece is the story of their romance, but there's more to it than a simple love story. It’s revealed that Sela is roughly three hundred years old, and that because she does not age--or at the very least, ages at a fractional rate to everyone else--there is a gender-swapped Superman/Lois Lane dynamic to their relationship. But instead of ignoring the mortal/immortal barrier like Superman did, Sela breaks it off with Robert, only to seek him out years later on his deathbed so she can see him one last time (and fulfill his dying wish to do the same).
Placing the pocket watch on his gravesite, Sela is approached by an as-yet-unnamed redhead who proceeds to give Sela the Sela treatment (as in, “you don’t know me, but I know all about you and I can help,” yada yada yada).
As it turns out, this mystery woman set up Sela’s relationship with Robert--even suggesting the timepiece gift, which was a subtle, salt-in-the-wound middle finger to Sela--to cause her as much emotional pain as possible and get Sela to turn evil (which now makes more sense out of the Cinderella issue).
I enjoyed Timepiece as an overall production, and as a well-crafted story specifically, but that redhead is copious shades of messed up.

If you enjoyed this look back, let me know in the comments, leave a like, and click me up some ad revenue. Tomorrow is Throwback Thursday, so stay tuned for another Ticketverse Throwback and more New Piece Offerings.