Based on this issue, which covers the entirety of the reign of Queen Gertrude the First (and Only?), maybe Young shouldn’t do arcs with I Hate Fairyland. He’s so good at summary storytelling, which fairytales rely heavily upon, he doesn’t really need to drag things out. He does amazing things with repeated visuals, repeated jokes. This issue’s narrative mostly takes place off panel but it’s still about as perfect a comic about a homicidal woman-child turned ruler of a fairytale kingdom could be.
The other thing about doing a bunch of short scenes is how much mileage Young can get out of the gore. Gertrude’s not just an evil queen, she’s bad at the job. She’s bad at being an evil queen. So he builds up expectation and then is able to fulfill it quickly before moving on. This issue is like a bunch of little hills. The gory, hilarious payoff is at the peak, but the journey’s the thing. While each gag has its punctuation point, the transitions are awesome too. Young knows how to make funnies.
I Hate Fairyland is high concept, but the series’s excellence isn’t in that concept. It’s in Young’s ability, which is sort of higher concept than the McGuffin. It’s masterful stuff. It just happens to be exceedingly gory and crude.
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