EXCLUSIVE! Pat Shand talks the future of GRIMM FAIRY TALES

While attending this year’s Comic-Con International I was able to sit down with the always awesome scribe, Pat Shand.

UTF: What do you think of the Grimm Fairy Tales Lines as is right now?

Pat Shand: I’ve known about the outcome of Grimm Fairy Tales #100 for a while, obviously Joe [Brusha] and Ralph [Tedesco] have been building toward the realms being merged for years and that’s all going to play out in our Realm War series. For those who like the Age of Darkness line, definitely follow it and that actually starts this Wednesday.For the next twelve months, there’ll be an issue of Realm War per month and one tie-in series. We’re going to be launching Inferno: Rings of Hell. It’s an Age of Darkness tie-in. Three issues and then after that we will be doing two more minis.

UTF: Another thing that’s going on is Wonderland hitting number 25. Do you have any comments on that?

Pat Shand: Yeah, I took over as the editor of Wonderland a while back and I was very pleased to get one of my favorite writers, Eric M. Esquivel, onto the main book. He took over with #22 and I think he’s done a great job. He’s ushering Wonderland toward its conclusion pretty much with #25 because everything that Raven [Gregory] and Ralph [Tedesco] and Joe [Brusha] and I built since Return to Wonderland is coming to ahead.

We’re starting anew with #26 when Erica J. Heflin. She’s a great writer, that I found through her creator owned series, Mother and Son at HeroesCon. I read that and loved it so I’ve been trying to get some work for her at Zenescope ever since and after #25 it just seemed like a natural point for her to jump on.

UTF: I have to say, as a fan and a reviewer, I’m very excited for where the Grimm Fairy Tales universe is right now. But beyond Realm War, is there anything that you want to hint at that might be coming around the bend?

Pat Shand: We’ve got two big releases coming up on August 20th. This week is the last week to pre-order them from your your local comic book stores. We have Robyn Hood ongoing #1 coming out along with Grimm Fairy Tales #101. I’m writing both and we’re taking each in a brand new direction.

Robyn‘s permanently out of Myst and she’s living in New York City with [Maid] Marian, so it’s these two women finding their place. The supernatural aspect is going to be sort of heightened. We’re going to finally be able to show the effects of Unleashed on the universe, as monsters live among humans. You might have a bar where you’ll see vampires and skin walkers and we’re going to be playing with that and sort of a conspiracy angle.

On CBR we debuted the new cast for Grimm Fairy Tales. We have some returning ones like Sela, Belinda and Shang but we’re introducing Violet from Wonderland as a main character in Grimm Fairy Tales. Sela’s daughter Skye who used to be named Ilys but is now named Skye for a mysterious reason. Ali, Wolf and Hailey from Neverland.

Besides those two titles in October we’re going to be launching Charmed: Season 10, which I’m also a lead writer on.

UTF: Well that all sounds great. I did want to ask something specifically about Robyn Hood. Considering how the last mini-series wrapped up and what happened to Will Scarlet how do you see her persona shaping up after that kind of deep personal loss that she had to relive again?

Pat Shand: That’s the thing. With Robyn it’s kind of a weird process for her because she believed Will died at the end of Robyn Hood: Wanted and she sort of mourned him. She grieved and was trying to move on only to discover that he was alive. So when he dies again, she’s going through it all, only he’s actually gone this time. She’s struggling with that and it will always be a part of her but when she left Myst, she sort of said goodbye to that aspect of her life.

The ongoing is largely her trying to be positive and carve her way as someone who isn’t emotionally sound. She’s able to realize that she might be better with dealing with personal issues through violence, which she has in the past, while trying to move past that. So the series we will see her attempting to deal with her issues in many different ways I’ll say.

UTF: I have one final question. As a writer that’s in the industry we have lots of fanboys and fangirls that come to the site. They read the reviews. They read the comics and they have a hunger to be in the industry. Do you have any advice for them regarding that career path?

Pat Shand: Yeah for sure. The best I can say is to keep doing it your way and every day. The way to be a great writer is to write and constantly reassess yourself. Practice, reassess and see what’s going on out there but mostly concentrate on what you’re doing and what you want to do.

I want to take the time to thank Mr. Pat Shand for chatting with me. It was a great pleasure and I’m absolutely looking forward to the future of Zenescope Entertainment and its Grimm Fairy Tales line.

So what did you think of the interview my fellow fanboys and fangirls?

Sound off with your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below!