Review: I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1-Madly Ever After

Quick Summary

Pros: The concept is unique and fun. The comedy is great, and the bizarre environment only adds to it. The artwork is excellent and amplifies the entire reading experience.

Cons: There isn’t much to the book outside of the comedy. If you aren’t a fan of violent and/or dark humor then this might not be for you.

Overall: This is a crazy and ridiculous, yet also hilarious, comic series that takes a beautiful fairytale world and introduces it to a plethora of violence and mayhem. However, outside of the comedy, the story and character development is rather thin. So readers who like creative takes on dark comedy should be able to love this book, while people who don’t like this type of humor will find the book difficult to enjoy.

Story

I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1: Madly Ever After is a hilariously ridiculous romp through an imaginative world where fairytales don’t all end happily ever after. The series stars a nearly forty year old woman, in the body of a child, who is stuck in “Fairyland,” never outwardly ageing, until she is able to find the key out. This results in her taking out her frustrations on the citizens of Fairyland in increasingly graphic and violent ways. The contrast between the peaceful and loving environment of Fairyland and the darkness and hate in Gertrude is hilarious and fuels the comedy throughout the series.

However, by basing the story so heavily in this unique form of comedy, this volume ends up feeling a bit like a one-trick pony. The story is very basic and there is little development in terms of characters or lore. This means that if you are not a fan of the comedy then there really isn’t much here for you.

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As briefly mentioned above, the main draw to this book is the juxtaposition between the beauty of Fairyland and the brutality of Gertrude’s actions. It flips the standard fairytale script in the most extreme way possible in a unique, but effective, form of black comedy. The book starts with this right away, as the first issue has Gertrude flip off the moon right before blowing it apart in a shower of blood and organs. Censorship and restraint are hard to find in this book, so readers who love this type of comedy are in for a delight.

However, looking past the comedy, there is not a lot of substance to the book in terms of actual story. Most of the book revolves around Gertrude encountering problems from the local populace or the Queen of Fairyland, who is trying to put a stop to Gertrude’s madness. Yet none of this proves to be anything more than a slight inconvenience to Gertrude, as she is able to kill everything sent against her with little to no problem. Outside of the book’s ending, there is never a moment where readers feel any real conflict.

This means that if readers are looking for a more story driven book or simply don’t enjoy this form of comedy, they will struggle to like this volume. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the comedy is great on its own, but it simply may not appeal to everyone.

The end of the book picks up a little bit in terms of story though. A new character, Happy, is introduced as a foil for Gertrude and actually presents the first real conflict in the book. She is genuinely delighted to be in Fairyland and is succeeding in nearly every place Gertrude has failed. Plus, if she finds the key out of Fairyland first, then Gertrude will be stuck there forever. Though she is seemingly killed at the book’s conclusion, it would be great to see her return at any point in the future.

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Art

This is a comic where the art and visual style are undoubtedly the most important piece of the book. Scottie Young wrote and masterminded this entire series, so drawing it further allows him to detail his vision exactly how he wants it to look. The end result looks great as Young is able to blend his unique form of art with the equally unique story he is telling.

The biggest example of how the artwork affects the overall appeal of this book is in the comedy. The comedy throughout this series is tremendously based in visuals, with the bizarre dichotomy of graphic, yet cartoonish, violence constantly being present. Gertrude appears to be little more than a young girl, so seeing her brutally murder a group of fairies or giants is a shock. Though there are also plenty of puns and wordplay throughout the story, the real gags are in the visuals.

Continuity

I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1: Madly Ever After is published by Image Comics, a creator owned publishing company who’s titles do not often crossover with each other. Thus this title, like many other Image Comics, maintains its own continuity. This means you will receive everything you need to understand the story in this book.

The story here continues in I Hate Fairyland Vol. 2: Fluff My Life (Review).

 

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