"Fairy Quest: Outcasts" (1 of 2)

A simple comic with a twist on the original Little Red Riding Hood story!

Some comics deserve a chance. We like searching, as well as reading and reviewing, comics that almost never see the light of day. With this opportunity, we use this very platform to have them shine and see what they're all about. We did just that with this two-issue series of Fairy Quest: Outcasts without any expectation whatsoever. Only two issues have been released as we'll take a glance at this first one.

Talk about re-telling of the popular story of Little Red Riding Hood as it starts with Red and her companion Mister Woof wandering through Dark Forest as if they're getting away from someone or something. We then get a scene involving Mr. Grimm and company in the meantime, while our duo, Red and Mister Woof, continue on. We then get our first action where our duo approaches a castle only to get caught and held captive by Punzel wanting to be their "friend." Red says and asks something interesting during this ordeal:

"I'm just saying if you're going to go around accusing people of not being nice, then you at least have to be nice yourself—"

"Why would someone be cruel when they could just be nice?"

— Red

She sounds too nice about it but was realistic about the situation which was good. Only thing is in the case of both Red and Mister Woof, is there even time to reason and philosophize?

Things got interesting after learning that the Mister Grimm and one of his henchmen Mister Turque, plus some others grouped as the "Think Police," are after Red and Mister Woof. We then get a twist in the story seeing Mister Woof confront his brother. Wanting Red as a meal, Mister Woof protects her from his brother, then both continue toward the river after hearing the Think Police coming after them.

An interesting situation arises the moment our duo sees a Troll guarding a bridge denying anyone access unless they pay toll, where Red tries to find some sort of currency to get through. Instead of money, Red uses leftover food to pay to which the Troll accepts, saving the monstrous guard from eating Mister Woof as the duo successfully crosses the bridge to their adventure. The Think Police catches up only to run into the Troll themselves. The funny part here is the Troll refuses to allow any crossing due to orders he took from Mister Grimm, yet Mister Grimm is in front of his face demanding he crosses without paying a toll.

Finally, our duo makes into a cave wanting to find a map maker. The comic wraps up to be continued.

While there was certainly some action, it was okay at best. The dialogue was good though it could've been stronger. In other words, during scenes where things got intense, it would've been a great chance to have something a bit more dramatic. The drawings and illustrations are wonderful as they both matched the situations and scenes nicely. Although both Red and Mister Woof underwent some tense moments, we did not get enough information as to what their end goal was (this may be unveiled in the second issue, however, making it through the Dark Forest, crossing the river and the bridge, plus getting out of the cave were the only ones mentioned despite wanting to find the map maker). As for the antagonists, we also didn't get much as to why they wanted to hold Red captive (again, this may all be revealed in the second issue). All in all, the story on this first issue was okay.

We went into this mini-series with no expectation and no reading of reviews prior. This and the second issue were both sold at our local comic book store—we strongly recommend supporting your local comic book stores and buying physical copies—and were utterly curious. It was sold to us at clearance and decided to take a chance. Not a perfect issue, but we still enjoyed reading it. In fact, who would've thought that both Red and Mister Woof, derived from the original children's story where Little Red Riding Hood feared the Big Bad Wolf, were partners?

In conclusion, while the dialogue could've been better and potentially more intense, this wasn't a terrible issue as we ended up reading it more than once. Mister Woof was our favorite character, especially witnessing he was able to handle business against his brother who wanted to have Red for dinner. Regardless of the flaws, we'd still recommend this series if you want to read something simple, wanting to take a break from all the superhero themes.

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development) and video production, Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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