Hardcover, 88 pages
Published Aug. 20, 2019 by Headline.
A chilling fantasy retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by bestselling creators Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran.
A not-so-evil queen is terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter and determined to repel this creature and save her kingdom from a world where happy endings aren't so happily ever after.
From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula Award-winning and Sunday Times-bestselling writer Neil Gaiman (American Gods) comes this graphic novel adaptation by Colleen Doran (Troll Bridge).
'Like Ray Bradbury before him, [Neil Gaiman] writes lovely little horror stories, fairy tales and fantasies which are as familiar as they are fabulous, stories that are never quite what the reader expects...' A.V. Club
The art is so beautiful and the story is a very nice twist on Snow White. I highly recommend reading it.
A good retelling of the classic Snow White tale (No, not the Disney one, the old grimm version).
Colleen Doran had too much freedom with the art though, as she mentioned in the end of the book. The art is great when it needs to be, but the nudity is excessive and unnecessary. It's one thing for it to be written, but the art turns this from being disturbing to me constantly thinking "did they really have to draw this part?"
The art is incredibly beautiful, and the basic idea of Snow White as a vampire is interesting.
However, the art and the narrative don't feel particularly well integrated as a comic. At the end of the day, this feels more like an illustrated story with comic style art. Literally 100% of the story is told thru narration bubbles. Looking at the art work is basically optional, and nothing is ever conveyed exclusively thru facial expression, body language, or dialog.
Also, while the premise is interesting, it doesn't quite seem to meet it's potential. It feels like there's just a bunch of short cuts in place which we aren't supposed to think about--like that the entire economy of this country apparently relies on the spring fair, or that men are apparently just willing to let Snow White kill them (her father, apparently the seven dwarfs, perhaps Prince Charming going forward).
There's …
The art is incredibly beautiful, and the basic idea of Snow White as a vampire is interesting.
However, the art and the narrative don't feel particularly well integrated as a comic. At the end of the day, this feels more like an illustrated story with comic style art. Literally 100% of the story is told thru narration bubbles. Looking at the art work is basically optional, and nothing is ever conveyed exclusively thru facial expression, body language, or dialog.
Also, while the premise is interesting, it doesn't quite seem to meet it's potential. It feels like there's just a bunch of short cuts in place which we aren't supposed to think about--like that the entire economy of this country apparently relies on the spring fair, or that men are apparently just willing to let Snow White kill them (her father, apparently the seven dwarfs, perhaps Prince Charming going forward).
There's a lot of sex and ableism in the comic which for the most part just feels gratuitous. The sex feels neither shocking nor titillating, so I could have done without it. Some scenes, meant to shock, caused me to laugh or cringe instead (Snow White vampire biting her dad's cock lol). I guess the ableism can be waved away that this is a medieval fantasy setting, but it comes from the mouth of the queen and thus works against the book's project of rehabilitating her.
I wouldn't say that I dislike the book despite this, but, the more I think about it the more flaws that I see.
