I Hate Fairyland 1 Review

I Hate Fairyland  1

Credits 

Writer\artist  Skottie Young

Colors : Jean Francois Beaulieu

Letterer : Nate Piekos

Synopsis:

There once was a  precocious 10 year old  girl, who wished she  could be taken away to a magical fairy land  where she could  be a princess and stay forever. 

Be carefull what you wish for, because some times wishes come true, even the bad ones and Gertrude finds her self  in Fairyland. And  finding her self there she would rather  go home,

which is  easy  (  so they say  )  All she had to do  was to  find a  key  to unlock the door back to her  own world. 

Easy  !

That was  27  years ago though and Gertrude has been  looking ever since  or so  the moon tells us, just before Gertrude  argues with him over narrating over her life and shoots him in the face. 

Thing's kinda go downhill  from there.  

Notes :

It's  like Alice In Wonderland on acid.  

There  is at least one variant cover version of I Hate Fairy Land,  entitled Fuck Fairy Land,

have a wild guess  which one I have.

Gertrude is approximately  37,  green hair and all. 

Apparently you can trip out on shrooms,  even if they are  living humanoid shrooms, in Fairy Land. 

Review 

Oh  fluff, what is this  ?

As if I haven't gotten enough to do  in between my schedule being tossed  and a hiatus   and wanting to review 3 ongoing series. Each with more then  200  issues, totalling  600 comics.  And i haven't even scratched the surface of any of them, I'm not tackling a  fourth series. 

What the fluff  is wrong with me  ?! 

Thankfully, I Hate Fairyland is a  5 issue mini series.  (  I should bloody well hope so, if it becomes an ongoing series I may have a problem.  ) So I can easily slot it in.  

I am sure that just  from the synopsis alone  and  the  notes, not too mention the cover and the  panels strewn around, you can figure out that this is a bit of an unusual comic.

Now, are  you familiar with Alice In Wonderland ?  Course  you are  !

Who isn't  ?

Now have you ever wondered what would happen if  Alice, never made her  way out of  wonderland,  became a violent sociopath  and never physically got a day older ?

No  ?

Well you should have, because that's  where I Hate Fairyland comes in, the Wonderland analogue  and Gertrude becomes our  Alice Liddel analogue. 

That is pretty much where  the  similarities end. 

Because Skottie ( Skott ?)  Young's antics  immediately  get to the point, that this is a riotous  rollicking  send up of  Alice In Wonderland and everything there in and a bit more too. 

Because every  fairy tale  stereotype and cliché will get a sound trashing. 

This includes  the  omniscient  narrator, to which Gertrude takes  exception on  him narrating her life  and  blows him away. 

Quite literally  and the stars too, as they are witnesses. 

Considering they are  living creatures in true Disney and Nintendo style, things  get a bit messy and they only proceed to get worse from  here.

Like an insane  cartoon from the 50's or  60's in overdrive or Ren and Stimpy  with  better  art, 

it straddles the line between  whimsy and jet black humor.   

Skottie young   has a  whimsical cartoony  art style that first perfectly  with  a whimsical  setting  like Fairyland  and then continues to  go huggin fluffin insane with all the  over the top cartoony violence. 

The issue it self is so riddled with in jokes,  cameo's  and  little references, that I am sure I missed  a  few while picking up on others. 

Gertrude may  look like a horrible sociopathtic  10  year old, but she is really a horrible sociopathtic  30 year old. 

Despite this, Young's art  gives her so much charm and character you cant help but  like the  puke green  haired brat.  

If only because Fairyland is so nauseatingly upbeat,  you want to  carpet bomb it in to  oblivion, before it gives  you  type 2  diabetes. 

Few unlikable protagonists are still so insanely likable. 

Her long suffering companion Larry, is the voice of acerbic reason. 

Skottie young's  art is vibrant and cartoony and the enthusiasm drips of the page.

In some cases  quite literally. 

And the Fairylanders or at least Gertrude have a peculiar, if amusing  way  of swearing. I'm sure  you can figure it out.    

The issue  ends on a  cliffhanger of sorts, but do we really believe that anything  will happen to Gertrude  ?

It's the first  issue for fluff's sake ...ahem, we still have  3 issues to go, I'm certain nothing will happen to Gertrude, before issue  4 at the very least.  

Well I assume anyway, assuming this is a  mini series  the  after word  of  issue 2  seems to indicate  Gertrude might be around for longer then 5  issues..... 

Anyway  !

I Hate Fairyland is a  ridiculous  ride  that  will tackle any  sort of  fantasy stereotype and  shoot it gleefully, with  living bullets until it explodes in to a  meat  geyser. 

It's bloody good ridiculous fun if you idea of fun is  dark  humour and mine is.    

Just don't expect anything deep. *

 

(*This is not entirely true, I Hate Fairyland can be seen  as  be wary of  having your wishes fullfilled, having to reconcile youthfull exuberance with adult  cynicism or  lashing out at a world  that forces Gertrude to be something she isn't and doesn't want to be. But if you  go down that road, Everything has some hidden meaning. 

I Hate Fairyland is just a  deranged piece of  high octane cartoony  fun.  Take away from that what you will and read the fluffing thing.  )