As a society, we are obsessed with serial killers and true crime. The first known serial killer in the United States was H.H. Holmes, who was known to have killed 27 people and was suspected to have killed a couple hundred more. The folks at Zenescope have taken this heinous character from history and retold his tale, mixed with a modern day story in Grimm Tales Of Terror Quarterly: HH Holmes.
Inspired by the classic supernatural and horror stories in the classic EC comics, Grimm Tales of Terror is Zenescope’s anthology series that tells stories that are often played off as morality tales or warnings by the series’ “ghost host” Keres to unsuspecting people she meets in the modern era. Keres only appears on the cover of this issue, giving no warnings or chances to the characters who are about to discover this modern horror show.
Grimm Tales Of Terror Quarterly: HH Holmes opens with a murder in a hotel room and inspectors looking into what happened to the woman, after the police were unable to prove foul play was involved. We meet our half dozen current inhabitants of the hotel as they discover that the hotel room the woman died in was more than it seemed, and it leads them further into the labyrinth of mystery enshrouded by the hotel. The story unfolds in parallel with the retelling of the history of H.H. Holmes, from his backstory to the heinous acts he committed – and someone trying to recreate them on our protagonists. As they attempt to survive, the inspectors and hotel owner and employees begin to wonder: is a copycat trying to kill them all or is has the ghost of H.H. Holmes come back to do it himself?
The story is deftly written by Jay Sandlin, evoking thoughts of mystery writers like Agatha Christie, with swerves and misdirects over the course of the prodigious ways that characters meet their final ends up until the final page. The art duties in Grimm Tales Of Terror Quarterly: HH Holmes are split between Rodrigo Xavier and Allan Otero, giving each era a different feel. By having Rodrigo Xavier do the art for the modern day exploration and Allan Otero crafting the historical tale, it allows for the reader to get a different feel for each time period and helping the reader acclimate to the shift in centuries.
Grimm Tales Of Terror Quarterly: HH Holmes is an exciting supernatural horror story that easily blends history and a modern fictional tale that is one not to be missed for fans of the genre.
