Book: Fractured Fables from Image Comics

 

I never wrote about this Fractured Fables (Hardcover), first because I came to it late, second because I am not at all well-versed in current comic books,* and lastly because I didn't look past the cover when I saw it, which to me, hate me if you want, looked very generic, like cheap fairy tale books at the dollar store. Nothing wrong with that, but not my usual interest or what I assume to be yours.

Then recently I stumbled across some sample pages from the book and I can fully admit I was wrong. I should know well enough by now to not judge a comic book by its cover, but at least I didn't suffer for my prejudgment forever. In other words, there is some great stuff within this innocuous looking cover. In fact, I learned that two of the pieces inside were nominated for Will Eisner Awards: Best Short Story Nominations--"Cinderella," by Nick Spencer and Rodin Esquejo & "Little Red Riding Hood," by Bryan Talbot and Camilla d'Errico.

So like a diligent SurLaLune keeper, I have ordered my own hardcover copy to investigate further. It hadn't arrived when I wrote this, but I am not worried. I know I will like it. It's has enough pretty and I respond well to pretty. A paperback edition is due out in late January, so you can wait for that if you are interested. I wanted a hardcover myself.

From the publisher:

Some of the comic book industries best and brightest use their talents to welcome the next generation of comic book readers with the kid-friendly anthology, Fractured Fables! Featuring an introduction by Bill Willingham (FABLES), this all-new, humorous take on our most beloved fairy tales boasts a cover by Madman Atomic Comics creators Mike & Laura Allred and all-new stories by award-winning creators including Jill Thompson, Bryan Talbot, Peter David, Ben Templesmith, Scott Morse, Doug TenNapel, Laini Taylor, Ted McKeever, Terry Moore, Bill Morrison, Larry Marder, Jim Valentino, Phil Hester, and New Yorker artist Shannon Wheeler, among others.

From an article, Comic book review: 'Fractured Fables' by Joseph Szadkowski:

Here are just a few of my favorites:

■ "Little Red Riding Hood" is updated by writer Bryan Talbot and finds the brightly dressed child on a direct path to the Big Bad Wolf's stomach until she displays some surprising skills. Painter Camilla d'Errico brings a bit of an anime influence to the action and makes me exclaim when viewing Red, "My, what gigantic blue eyes you have."

■ Doug TenNapel's "Rumpelstiltskin" turns the classic into a "Ren and Stimpy" episode. He dementedly uses a grotesque art style that chaotically blends with the sophomoric hijinks of a magic little man who can turn hay into gold, a grumpy king and a dumber-than-a-post future queen.

■ The adventure of "The Little Mermaid" turns much more ominous in the hands of comics scribe extraordinaire Peter David as her quest to live happily ever after with a human prince becomes a puzzling problem in podiatry. Artist Ron Ferrara offers ample arch support for the mermaid's issues.

■ Writer Nick Spencer's "Cinderella" satisfies through a fable more about the frustrations of an unhip fairy godmother than the abused princess while artist Rodin Esquejo's beautiful and Disneyesque art style puts the story near the top of my favorites.

■ "Rip Van Winkle" meets Len Strazewski's imagination and we enjoy a story about a conceited girl named Pipi Van Wrinkles who gets loaded on cherry cordials and learns her fate as an adult. The slapstick shenanigans throughout come to life thanks to the pop-art and retro-Archie-Comics-like stylings of Paul Fricke.

*Except for my few years of avid Superman collecting and reading in the mid 90s, so I am not completely ignorant of how the industry works. I had a large collection that was stolen when we moved to California although I had quit collecting at that point. But I gave up for good then. It was just too depressing. I was also raised around a brother who was a Marvel fan, so I've spent some time in comic book shops and it is my favorite set on Big Bang Theory.

Fremont Troll in Seattle and Patricia Briggs

   

Over the weekend, I reread the Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs which includes Alpha & Omega: A Companion Novella to Cry Wolf and Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega, Book 1) and Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2) and the upcoming Fair Game (Alpha and Omega). There is also a graphic novel, Patricia Briggs Alpha and Omega Cry Wolf #1.

And that is important because, well, I enjoyed the books again and while reading Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2) I was reminded of the Fremont Troll in Seattle. Living in almost the exact opposite corner of the US, I wasn't aware of the Fremont Troll until I read Hunting Ground the first time two years ago. Now I wanted to share him with you in case you've missed him, too.

Image from Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia:

The Fremont Troll (also known as The Troll, or the Troll Under the Bridge) is a piece of public art in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington in the United States.

The piece was the winner of a competition sponsored by the Fremont Arts Council in 1990, in part with the goal of rehabilitating the area under the bridge which was becoming a dumping ground and haven for drug dealers. It was built later that same year. The idea of a troll living under a bridge is derived from the Scandinavian folk tale "Three Billy Goats Gruff."

The Troll is a mixed media colossal statue, located on N. 36th Street at Troll Avenue N., under the north end of the Aurora Bridge. It is clutching an actual Volkswagen Beetle, as if it had just swiped it from the roadway above. The vehicle has a California license plate. The Troll was sculpted by four local artists: Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead. He is interactive—visitors are encouraged to clamber on him or try to poke out his one good eye (a hubcap). The Troll is 5.5 m (18 ft) high, weighs 6,000 kg (13,000 lb), and is made of steel rebar, wire, and concrete.

Aurora Avenue North was renamed "Troll Avenue" in its honor in 2005.

I remember when I first read Briggs' description I just knew the statue had to be a real thing. And it is! The description was too real and although she incorporates the statue quite well into her story, the full scene with the statue wasn't thoroughly necessary although it is quite enjoyable.

You can see more images as well as under construction photos and a more detailed history at the Troll page on the Fremont.com website.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff illustrated by Paul Galdone

 

The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Folk Tale Classics) illustrated by Paul Galdone is apparently one of several of Galdone's fairy tales slated for new hardcover editions this year. His paperbacks haven't been out of print recently, but the books are getting new packaging in hardcover. I own several of the paperbacks and I don't know how these new editions will be much different. The covers are beautiful. That's about all I can see so far.

For today's picture book I thought I would share my favorite Galdone fairy tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Folk Tale Classics). Galdone is apparently a favorite with many kids and their grown-ups, but I tend to be somewhat neutral on his body of work because I am torn at times both ways. One librarian I worked with many years ago rather detested his fairy tale illustrations and preferred that I pick other illustrated editions as I revamped the fairy tale collections. (That was a much harder job than one would imagine since I was always afraid of playing favorites or going overboard and thus probably was too conservative, believe it or not. It was like trying not to play favorite child with a limited budget.) There are some like Billy Goats for which I have great affection and others that I have too many other versions I prefer. Galdone is definitely intended for a certain taste.

Now for the pictures:

Three Billy Goats Pub

Now this is fun! Kudos to Ron Smits for using a fairy tale in a clever way.

Three Billy Goats Pub finds home below Mason Street bridge

Smits said he chose the name because the pub is under the bridge, referring to the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" fairy tale. It also fits nicely with one of the bar's main beer suppliers: Horny Goat Brewing Co. of Milwaukee.

Not the way I usually think of The Three Billy Goats Gruff but it really works well in this scenario. I wonder how many patrons will realize the name is based on a fairy tale?

Fairy Tales Retold from BBC on DVD

For the last few years, the BBC has been airing modernized movie-length retellings of classic literature. First was Canterbury Tales in 2003 which hasn't been released stateside. That was followed by Shakespeare ReTold (US link and UK link) which also aired on BBC America.

Most recently, the series offered Fairy Tales in 2008 which included movie treatments of Cinderella, Rapunzel, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and The Emperor's New Clothes. For some reason, the DVD set for Fairy Tales [2008] has never been released in the states, but it is available at over well over 50% (63% off at the time of this writing) from Amazon.co.uk right now. Actually, all three series are listed at deep discounts for a short time if any of the above interest you. Just follow the links provided.

I haven't seen these movies but have been eager to see them for well over a year since they were first announced. The DVDs from AmazonUK are Region 2 but if you have a region free player, they should play without a problem.

Here's a link to the original press releases about The Series, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Billy Goat.