(Image 2016)
Story and Art by Skottie Young
Guest Artist - Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz
Colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letter by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Logo and Design by Rian Hughes
So if you’ve missed anything…Gertrude is a little girl who has been trapped in Fairyland for thirty years. She nearly made it home in the first story arc, only to kill the Queen and become Queen herself, which she made a complete mess of. She’s been fired and now roams the sugar-sweet countryside once again, with an ax in her hand and murder in her tiny heart.
With the help of a collector named Pervis, Gert has a line on something that may get her home, and with Duncan (a kid in a dragon costume) by her side, she ended the last issue in a fiery explosion. (Something that happens with strange frequency to Gert.)
Issue 8 came out last week, and we find Gertrude and Co. on the search for anything that might get her home. They go to a seer, who trades them a pair of eyes for the gold coin to the “Tower of Battle”, a giant arcade cabinet that the hapless trio pixelate into. The deal is made with Fat Cat lord of the Tower, that Gert can use “the Code” to get home if she beats all players in the game, for the mere price of Duncan. What follows is all of the arcade destruction you didn’t see in Wreck It Ralph, rather something you’re used to if you ever spent a day skipping class to play Street Fighter.
Skottie Young continues to hold my interest in his cartoonic grip, the slick colors by Jean-Francois Beaulieu wrap their glossy tendrils through my eyes, blinding me with sick-sweet color. and still I love it. The story is fun, light and easy to get in to and filled with more references to warped childhood sensibilities than you can shake a battle ax at. Young’s jokes, the curse word substitutions, everything, keep being funny for me, and that is a testament to his skill as a writer.
In this issue we got a heavy dose of art from Jeffery “Chamba” Cruz, who brings his considerable talent to bear and gives us some great fight scenes in the video game, as well yet another integration of Gert that I could see working in another medium. Each issue has a couple of pin-ups in the back, and with each artists’ rendering there is a little window to another universe opened. Not to worry for you hardcore Young fans, his art still makes an appearance.
I Hate Fairyland continues to tread the fine line between gore and cute…is it so fine a line?…I suppose not, but the balance in this book is perfect, and Skottie Young does a masterful job at keeping the tone light. We all need a little more light in our lives, even if it comes at the cost of severed dwarf heads or the occasional fairy slaughter.
Brad Gischia is a writer and artist living in the frozen Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He is married and has three kids and a dog, all who put up with his incessant prattling about comic books.
Twitter - @comicwasteland