Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists by Chris Duffy

I had problems seeing the text in this graphic novel. I bought it on the Kindle and the format would not let me enlarge the font and it only had the landscape option for a two-page spread. I need one of those ornate magnifying glasses they sell in Taiwan for older people who can't read the tiny Chinese characters on labels. Never had a book make me feel old before. Nose pressed to the glass, I will remember my eye strain more than the stories. While there were some funny fairytale twists, I thought the illustrations were more memorable than the stories. Hmmm... guess that makes sense considering I couldn't read some speech bubbles.

The writing twists are subtle in some tales such as "Little Red Riding Hood," that follows the classic but the lumberjack is a woman. Snow White follows the same too but begins with a cross-eyed queen pricking her finger and wishing for a child as white as snow with blood-red lips and hair as black as her embroidery frame. Snow white as a baby looks like the female version of Casper The Friendly ghost. Her eyes cross too. When the bell-hop prince with buck teeth comes to kiss her I was wondering what hilarious setup was coming. I was not disappointed. It's pretty funny.

"The Boy Who Drew Cats" was my favorite. Creepy, humorous, with a good message it reminded me of the character from "Harold and the Purple Crayon" with a bit of Tintin mixed in. The misunderstood child just wants to draw cats while the adults around him try to force difference occupations on him. When his cat drawings turn into vampires, he is forced to be a warrior. The trickster tale of the rabbit has strange illustrations with a clear moral. Rapunzel is a lassoing strong women that rescues the prince and "Baba Yaga" has illustrations that are gorgeous. I would recommend getting the book and passing on the electronic version.

3 Smileys