Zenescope - Omnibusted #63: Best Of Zenescope Special Edition

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. The Omnibuster.

I'm taking some liberties here by calling this an Omnibusted review because, while Best Of Zenescope: Special Edition is a Trade Paperback collection celebrating eight years of the company's existence, I'll only be talking at length about one of the stories in this seemingly completely random assortment of issues. The rest, you can follow the links I'll provide later to see my thoughts on them.

Best Of Zenescope

Special Edition

The cover (which I also used for my banner) is by Alfredo Reyes with colors by Ylenia DiNapoli. There's a rare exclusive cover by Anthony Spay and Ula Moś that you'll see when I get to talking about the Unleashed prelude later, but first, those other four issues bear some discussion. Some. Like I said, they have no connection to one another or Unleashed, so I'm not going to bother reprinting my reviews of them here.

• Grimm Fairy Tales #8: Jack and the Beanstalk - I kind of see why this was chosen because Sela's parting line about things you can't put a price on (or shouldn't, really), along with the Rumpelstiltskin issue, is an early hint at her characterization and more recently important motivations.
• Return To Wonderland and Neverland #0 - I likewise understand the inclusion of these two. Wonderland is a massive and massively popular ongoing franchise for Zenescope, and Neverland will continue to pop up in crossovers and get miniseries going forward, and both franchises have agency and history with the main series.
• Sinbad #0 - This is the one I'm most cynical about regarding its inclusion. Yes, it was once Zenescope's longest-running spinoff title. It's rooted in Belinda's mostly unexplored history. The art style is unique. It got a crossover trilogy and participated in Zenescope’s first real event series. But it is also the company's biggest source of failed ambition from its early days, and never appeared again after the Dream Eater Saga.

Unleashed:

A Shadow Falls

Insert Double Dragon Animated Series meme here.

But also, insert the new roll call format that I think we also saw in The Summoning when Sela showed up with Marcus, and at the end of Wonderland #10. It's basically the entirety of A Shadow Falls, showing Sela (looking at a picture of Venus playing with Ilys), Ilys herself (mourning Venus after the events of Godstorm), Shang (having just returned from the grave at the end of The Summoning), Belinda (whom we haven't seen since her brief reveal in Quest), Robyn and Britney (sparring), Zeus (having gathered Heather, Athena, Neptune, and Hades in response to Godstorm, suspecting—correctly—that Venus is partnered with a greater threat), and Cindy and the Dark One (who are preparing to summon minions from Myst because even though every failure is part of the plan, the plan itself has become a failure in the face of increasing complications and stronger emerging threats). Unfortunately, the Being and his exposed brain have been observing them all with godlike omnipotence, and faster than Cindy can say "klaatu barada necktie," he shows up to kill all of the summons and kidnap her in the name of education, spreading word of a new world order, and...Himself, really.

There's nothing truly eventful going on in these six pages beyond naming the major players in the coming Game that is to be Unleashed, and even less for me to say, except that it somewhat reminds me of the Pawns Short Story from way back.

Next week, said Game begins after I review more Dressrosa, and I follow it up by finishing up the Kiryu Saga that I'll review the first part of on Friday. Stay Tuned and please continue to support me and what I do by Becoming A Ticketholder (you haven't yet), leaving a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, helping out my ad revenue as you read because a shadow has already fallen, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.

22

Omnibuster,

Out.