"I Hate Fairyland: Volume One – Madly Ever After" Trade Paperback Review

Written by James Ferguson

Published by Image Comics

i hate fairyland volume 1 00

Originally published as I Hate Fairyland #1 - #5

Written and Illustrated by Skottie Young
Colored by Jean-Francois Beaulieu
2015, 138 Pages
Trade Paperback released on April 20th, 2016


Review:

Gertrude was a six-year-old girl who was whisked away to Fairyland, a magical place filled with talking mushrooms, ice cream mountains, and cloud castles.  This sounds like every kid’s dream.  All she has to do to get home is complete a quest to find a magical key.  That should be easy enough, right?  Well...fast forward twenty-seven years.  Gert still hasn't found the key and she's mother fluffin' pissed.  

I Hate Fairyland pulls no punches.  By the fourth page, you have an idea of the hyper violence that's in store for you when Gert literally crash lands in this shiny, happy place.  Her body is twisted from the harsh fall.  Teeth are knocked out.  Blood is everywhere.  A bone is sticking out of her arm.  A horde of cartoonish creatures stand around her with big smiles on their faces. It's the start of an adventure!

Click images to enlarge

When you jump forward almost three decades, Gert looks the same.  She's in her mid-thirties and trapped in a little kid's body.  Over the years she's amassed quite an arsenal, and she's definitely not afraid to use it.  The back cover of the trade paperback shows what happens to the moon in the first chapter when it gets a little too mouthy.  This is also the first of several narrator deaths and it's pure insanity.  Blood and gore fly out of the moon in an explosion that would have killed the dinosaurs.

Skottie Young's artwork is amazing, and that shot is just one of the fantastic scenes packed in this volume.  Along with Jean-Francois Beaulieu's colors, this is an unstoppable tirade of cartoon violence.  It's Looney Tunes for adults.  If you've ever wanted to see Bugs Bunny bite Elmer Fudd's eyes out, this is the book for you.  

It's incredibly difficult to pick out a favorite scene, as they're all top notch.  Is it Gert strangling the Slug Lord like Jabba the Hutt?  Or is it her literally eating her way through a horde of mushroom men?  What about the town filled with zombie goat men?  Every time you think you've seen it all, Young delivers another scene of dark-humored fun.  

Click images to enlarge

There is a ton of Easter eggs built into the book too.  The aforementioned moon gets his face blown off, but he sticks around as more of a crescent in the sky.  During the daytime, the sun hides just behind a mountain when Gert is nearby.  I cannot praise the artwork enough.

If you've ever had to sit through a cheesy kids TV show longing for an electromagnetic pulse to wipe out your television so you'll never have to hear that horrible theme song for the millionth time, I Hate Fairyland is for you.  It's tailor made for adults with a slightly twisted sense of humor that still have that inner child screaming inside for the fun cartoons of their youth.  It has quickly become one of my favorite comics on the stands, and for good reason.

Grades:

Story: fivestars Cover
Buy from Amazon US
Cover
Buy from Amazon UK
Cover
Art: fivestars
Overall: 5 Star Rating

 

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James Ferguson
Lord of the Funny Books
James has a 2nd grade reading level and, as a result, only reads books with pictures. Horror is his 5th favorite genre right after romantic comedy and just before silent films. No one knows why he's here, but he won't leave.
Other articles by this writer

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