Monday Review: I Hate Fairyland by Skottie Young

I Hate Fairyland property of Skottie Young and Image Comics

My primary exposure to Skottie Young has been via the art he’s done for kid- oriented comics (Little Avengers vs. Little X-Men, the Oz books).  I and Z love him, I love him, it’s a veritable love fest (said with absolutely no sarcasm whatsoever).

Those exposures, however, left me a little underprepared for most the most definitely adult-oriented I Hate Fairyland.  Which is awesome, because comics that surprise me to the tune of slaying my very-off, morbid sense of humor are one of the only types of surprises I actually like.

Lovely little Gertrude, an innocent and optimistic child, wishes the magic and wonder of her story books was real and that she could journey to a land where such things occupy her every waking hour.

Turns out, that world exists.  Through a sucking hole in her pink, pastel carpet that  eats her without any sort of warning or consent.  She plunges down a near-bottomless pit, landing face first on the hard, stone streets of Fairyland.

Okay, she’s missing some teeth and has a compound fracture of one arm, but there’s a beautiful queen and a quest.  Hooray!

Hooray?

Not so much.

I Hate Fairyland property of Skottie Young and Image Comics

Twenty-seven years later, Gertrude is still stuck in cotton-candy, moon-narrated, sanctimonious blue-bird advised Fairyland.  Though her body is still that of the same little girl, her mind has grown and matured and had a long, long time to get frustrated, discontented, and more than a little psychotic at the utter banality, horrific living clichés, and saccharine everything of her prison.

She wants out.

By.  Any.  Means.  Necessary.

I Hate Fairyland is pretty close to perfect and it is my favorite comic of the moment and, possibly, of ever.  This book holds up every modern fairy tale element that has ever stimulated my vomit center and then skewers, dissects, and eats them in far more gross, amusing, and on point manner than my poor command of the English language ever has or could.  And while I’m not sure the Brothers Grimm would approve of our dear Gertrude, her potty mouth, and her massacre of the stars with a shoulder mounted cannon (well, that last they’d probably get behind) Young has taken up their mantle in reminding us that it isn’t all puffy clouds and Turkish Delight.  The original versions of all those shiny, multi-colored, talking animal populated Disney flicks are dark and dangerous and are meant to teach kids lessons.  I Hate Fairyland is working with one of the most important of all (yes, I did that on purpose):

Be very, very, very careful what you wish for.

Because when you’re a kid, Munchkin land sounds like a perfect getaway, right?  Everyone is your size, you get to live under the auspices of a lovely witch who takes you for rides in bubbles and gives you fancy shoes.  You can eat candy for every meal and no one every tells you you when to go to bed or brush your teeth.  Your dog, who is adorable and loyal comes with but that annoying younger sibling remains banished to the land of “be quiet” and “not right now.”

Perfection.

But thirty years of high pitched giggles and nonsensical social mores?  Of cryptic chipmunks and the douchebag moon narrating every detail of your life in obvious and sanctimonious fashion?  An endless quest for a key that may or may not exist, no choice but to search and search and search?  I don’t care how much you like frilly dresses, tea parties, and ruby slippers, you’re going to go batshit.  You will start taking heads.  You will tear your childhood dreams apart bit by bit with your bare hands and stomp on the remains so long as it means escape.

Have I mentioned my sense of humor is “a little” skewed?

I Hate Fairyland property of Skottie Young and Image Comics

The dominant sensibility of I Hate Fairyland won’t appeal to everyone.  Neither will the gore, albeit in very comic-y form.  Despite its bright colors and the more “kid” type of art Young utilizes, I Hate Fairyland is a dark, dark book (and the contrast between the art and the tone makes it even more so); if that isn’t your jam, leave it on the physical or digital shelf.

If, like me, you’re a little bit skewed in the brain pan, if you revel in sarcasm and subversion, I Hate Fairyland is definitely for you.  If you do decide to acquire, I would recommend keeping issues out of sight of the kiddos; because there is no doubt in my mind many of them will find it troubling (mine would probably find it hilarious, but we’ll hold it in reserve for a bit here, just in case).

I’m a go head and give it five out of five fingers on the hand of glory, despite there being only one issue at the time of writing.

Long may she run…

I Hate Fairyland property of Skottie Young and Image Comics