Pulp [#587]

Alastair: So, despite missing out on the main event on Free Comic Book Day, I lucked out and was able to get my hands on two of the freebies on offer – the Sherwood Texas/Boondock Saints double feature and Grimm Fairy Tales: Age of Darkness issue #0. The verdict? Well, I’ve got mixed feelings.
American publishing house 12-Gauge Comics has used this year’s FCBD to give readers a preview of one of their titles – Sherwood Texas – that’s due to launch in July. Sherwood Texas is a modern reimagining of the classic tale of Robin Hood, with horses swapped out for souped-up Harleys and bows replaced by high-calibre handguns. Add in biker gangs and Texas and you’ve got yourself a modern, spaghetti-western take on Robin Hood and his gang. Shane Berryhill’s take on the famous outlaw sees Navy man Rob Hood returning to his hometown of Sherwood, Texas, to bury his father, Richard “The Lion” Hood. He reconnects with his half-brother, Will Scarlet, and his bikie gang, the Jesters, and has to deal with their antagonistic rivals, the Nobles.
Honestly, I didn’t really find Sherwood Texas appealing. Bikie gang warfare is all well and good, but combining it with the legendary Robin Hood mythology just doesn’t seem to work – the whole concept seems a little forced. Daniel Hillyard’s art does a great job of capturing the grit and brutality of biker life, but overall I wasn’t hugely impressed by this preview chapter. It’d be interesting to see how the series pans out as a whole, though; Sherwood Texas strikes me as a series with potential.
The back-up story to Sherwood Texas is The Lost Gig, a short story that acts as a deleted scene for the cult film The Boondock Saints. Written by the film’s writer/director/creator Troy Duffy and J.B. Love, The Lost Gig sees the MacManus brothers and their buddy Rocco take down some drug-dealing scumbags just prior to their hunt for Vincenzo Lapazzi, aka Ron Jeremy. It’s Rocco’s induction into the Saints, and his first taste of action as one of the religious vigilantes.
Chances are, if you liked Boondock Saints as a movie, you’ll appreciate the comic. As a stand-alone story, it’s fairly unremarkable, but like many other tie-in comics before it, it’s clearly designed for the fans – especially considering the murky status of the film series. The writing is solid, but the art lets it down in places; Toby Cypress starts out strong, but gets messy very quickly. Despite hit-and-miss artwork, I found it to be an entertaining, violent read.
I’m not gonna lie – despite being nine years old, this FCBD is the first time I’ve heard of Zenescope’s Grimm Fairy Tales. The Age of Darkness issue #0 is only a small glimpse of the series at large, but I like what I see. It’s a preview of a multi-title crossover epic, demonstrating the sheer power of the series’ new big bads – the Blood Knights, the most terrible servants of the evil Dark Queen. Thought extinct for thousands of years, the Blood Knights were the most powerful beings in the Grimm universe, whose sole purpose was to hunt down and brutally murder the good-aligned Highborns. Age of Darkness sees the Blood Knights resurrected, and they’re set on taking down series protagonist Sela Mathers.
This one-shot really shows off the potential of the story arc – the bad guys are scary, the stakes are high and the art is really high-quality. It’s enough to make me want to pick up a trade or two! Definitely worth a look – Grimm fans should be excited.
Written by Cameron Urqhuart and Alastair McGibbon