Well, Young certainly doesn’t go any predictable route. He’s into new territory in Fairyland now, seventeen issues in, and–frankly–the book has lost its charm. There’s still charm to the art, but the writing has lost its charm. It’s lost Gert, for one thing. She’s MIA this issue (for the first time ever) and not even the bug gets a follow-up from last issue.
Instead, it’s Duncan the Dragon’s issue. I can’t remember what’s going on with that kid–he was another kid trapped in Fairyland who maybe fought with Gertie, maybe didn’t–but a refresher would’ve been nice.
Instead, Young just powers through. It certainly seems like he’s wrapping up Fairyland. I’m just not sure I care enough anymore to stick it out until the end. The book has no momentum outside the trouble Gert generates, here and there. Take that aspect away and… it’s just… nothing special.
Not even the art is fun (without Gert).
Well, Young certainly doesn’t go any predictable route. He’s into new territory in Fairyland now, seventeen issues in, and–frankly–the book has lost its charm. There’s still charm to the art, but the writing has lost its charm. It’s lost Gert, for one thing. She’s MIA this issue (for the first time ever) and not even the bug gets a follow-up from last issue.
Uh. So Young opens the issue with Gert talking about how the previous issue’s cliffhanger for Fairyland was manipulative and cheap.
Even though Young doesn’t do arcs in Fairyland anymore, he sort of does. And this issue is the end of the arc–i.e. trade–with setup for the next one.
I Hate Fairyland just did something rather unexpected. And it’s hard for Young to do anything rather unexpected because, while everything is somewhat unexpected, that chaos is part of the comic. Gert is reliably chaotic. So for Young to pull off a surprise regarding Gert… it’s a neat move. He also has a phenomenal series of Labyrinth references; including, you know, that Labyrinth David Bowie reference. It’s a great issue.
Larry gets his own issue. I mean, there’s brackets, but Larry gets a flashback. An origin story of sorts. Dean Rankine does the art on the flashback, which takes Larry from his inglorious start as a larvae to his greatest achievements. The writing is fantastic, though it’s sort of unclear what Young wants to do with the issue, if anything. Even for a filler issue, Fairyland is kind of heavy on the cotton candy. The issue does set up another big plot moment possibility for the book, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens next.