"Muppet Snow White" Comic Coming in April

There's a new set of comics coming our way in the form of Muppet Fairy Tales (so far released in the series are Peter Pan, Robin Hood and, this month, King Arthur). The series is by Boom! Studios and sounds like a lot of fun. The idea is that classic tales are given a "Muppefication", complete with classic Muppet characters playing the roles.

You'll be pleased to know the next one is an 'actual' fairy tale: "Snow White". It's scheduled to debut in April as a four-issue mini-series. This particular four part version of "Snow White" is being written by "Toy Story" writer Jesse Blaze Snider.

From an interview with Mr. Snider at Comic Book Resources:

Snider explained that, in his story, "'The Seven Dwarfs are a rock band, who work in the mines by day to finance a career in rock 'n' roll by night. The original seven dwarfs leader was 'Doc,' ours is Dr. Teeth. You don't get more 'Happy' than Janice. Zoot's long nights of playing gigs has made him quite 'Sleepy.' Floyd Pepper has always been sarcastic and maybe a little 'Grumpy.' Lips has never really gotten the chance to develop a personality as a Muppet, so he is pretty 'Bashful.'

...Rounding out the cast are Miss Piggy as the evil queen, Fozzie as the magic mirror, Kermit as the prince, and Spamela Hamderson as Snow White. "A lot of people don't know Spamela, but she is from the short-lived 'Muppets Tonight,' which I am a big fan of, especially the second half. Anyway, she was a perfect foil for Piggy, she is really a sexy looking Muppet and when you see her you'll agree and the story is all about jealousy," Snider said. "If this was a movie, they would cast a live actor to play Snow White and be Piggy's foil, so I cast the ditzy but gorgeous Spamela. I really had a good time using her, but the best part was, I modernized her by giving her something most Disney Princesses have, but she didn't…her very own 'talking animal companion'…Pepe the King Prawn!

...Playing the Brothers Grimm are Gonzo and Rizzo! That's actually my favorite part of the book, having Gonzo narrate and Rizzo correct him constantly. It's a lot of fun."

There's a lot more information in the article and it sounds like a lot of fun for all involved. Interestingly the writer wasn't thrilled about tackling a fairy tale first thing but ended up having a lot of fun. You can read the whole article HERE.

The Muppets have a long history with fairy tales and we owe them a debt of gratitude for helping keep fairy tales in the popular consciousness right from the early days of Sesame Street with their Muppet Newsflash stories. As fractured and funny as they were, The Muppets (under Jim Henson of course) managed to keep the essentials of the tales intact, unlike many fractured versions today - something easier said than done. The company kept their link with fairy tales through the years since, in various ways, and it's wonderful to see a reportedly good quality rendition of Muppet versions of fairy tales being released currently.

I just wish they'd release all the Muppet's Sesame Street News Flash stories (with intrepid roving reporter Kermit the Frog, who barely survives many of the fairy tale interviews) in a single DVD... (hint, hint Henson Company!)

Below you'll see a couple of the Peter Pan comic issue covers released in the latter part of last year (there are quite a few issues for this story!) and you can read more about the Muppefication of J.M. Barrie's beloved story HERE. The blog linked to has other information on the comics too. Just check the 'comics' tag.

Grimmer Tales: A Wicked Collection of Happily Never After Stories

There's a new book out (released December 9, 2009) of fairy tale retellings in which the stories are told in comics with a rather grim version of a funny bone.

The author/illustrator is Erik Bergstrom and the reviews are using phrases like "homicidal whimsy" and "joyfully morbid masterpiece" so this won't be everyone's cup of tea.
From Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing:

The book consists of a series of extremely nasty comic-strips telling the aftermath of the classic folkloric fairy tales. For example, one running gag has Pinnocchio telling polite social lies in panel 1, while panel 2 depicts his sprouted nose gouging out the eye of some innocent (i.e., "Cute baby! -- stab").

These running gags are pretty funny, but the really standout moments are the longer strips, especially the "What a Witch" strip, in which two witches standing over a cauldron extol the virtues of Kiddee Flakes, which are much more convenient for kidnapped-child-fattening than candy-houses. This is good, wicked humor at its finest -- if you loved Fractured Fairy Tales...

The link for more information is HERE.

Creator Nick Percival Talks About His Dark Steampunk Comic "Legends: The Enchanted"

I posted on this coming-in-2010 comic HERE last week and, seeing as there was quite a bit of interest between comments and Twitter, I thought I'd point you to an excellent interview with the creator Nick Percival.

In the interview with Comic Book Resources, he reveals more about the fairy tale characters he's using and how they've been given a new twist. Here's an excerpt from the long, informative and interesting article:

"The Enchanted are looked upon with fear and distrust by normal everyday folk and despised by their dark counterparts, known as The Wicked," says Percival. "Most of the Enchanted operate as vigilantes, outlaws, bounty hunters and so on - trying to find their place and purpose in a land that is growing increasingly hostile towards them. Armed with a hard attitude, unique abilities and customized weaponry, the Enchanted's world is shattered when they discover that some unknown enemy has found a way to break through their mystic immortality and begins slaughtering them one by one beginning with the killing of the half bionic/half wooden warrior, Pinocchio."

Nick Percival: We've got Red Hood, who lives with her daughter in a very dangerous place known as the Bionic Woodlands - this area is overgrown with spiked bio-mechanical trees and living, organic plant life, populated by mutated wolf creatures. Basically, she just wants to be left alone and raise her child, but the murder of Pinocchio and the kidnapping of her daughter force her to reluctantly seek out help from other Enchanted.

Jack the Giantkiller pretty much just looks out for himself. He's sly, likes to drink and burns around on a beast of motorcycle that uses Giant's blood as fuel. Jack acts as a kind of "creature killer for hire." For the right price, he'll sort out any towns terrorized by Ogre problems, which he usually solves by popping one of his "magic beans" that grant him cool powers for a limited amount of time as he starts cracking heads together.

Filling out the rest of the cast are psychic siblings, Hansel and Gretel (Paranormal Exterminators), Goldilox and Bear, her nine-foot half man/half bear boyfriend. They have a "rob the rich to give to the poor" type quest, which involves them coming up against the crime boss, Humpty Dumpty and the Billy Goats Gruff Biker Gang - it doesn't end quietly.

Amongst these, we've got cameos from Rapunzel, a soldier with unbreakable hair that she uses to attack her enemies, Miss Muffet, Rumpelstiltskin, Pied Piper, Jack Nimble and many others all depicted in the same gritty style with attitudes to match in a world filled with goth-type giants, vampire fairies, pissed off trolls, demon street gangs, and all manner of unsavory folk.


Do you have a favorite fairy tale or fable?

I have a lot of versions of the classic tales that the Brothers Grimm collected together, some great old German editions as well. I've also been heavily into Hans Christian Andersen's work, so there are way too many to choose from. But a lot of the ancient Russian folklore is fascinating, and there are some themes in that material that I'm thinking about including in later stories for "Legends: The Enchanted."

You can read the entire article HERE and see LOTS of (very gory) images throughout (which can be viewed larger by clicking).

All the details of the website, when it's available and the preview are in my previous post HERE. A warning again: please keep this away from children. This is dark stuff and definitely in the horror genre. All these new images severely cropped for posting purposes on this blog. If you can deal with the images though (the illustrations are amazing in addition to being ultra-gory), this comic and the developing story sounds like it's worth checking out.

"Legends: The Enchanted" - Dark Steampunk Fairy Tale Comic Coming in 2010

The girl above is Redhood (a.k.a. Red Riding Hood) and she's not the only familiar character getting a dark fantasy/post-apocalyptic/steampunk/horror makeover. Coming in April 2010 is "Issue #0" (yes, that's a zero) of a new comic series titled "Legends: The Enchanted".

Please be warned: despite the title, this comic crosses the line into horror, which is one of the reasons I'm posting on it - so you'll know what you're in for should you ever pick it up. While the feel is dark fantasy, the images are very graphic in both the gallery and on every page in the preview. I'm not even comfortable posting the cover (which has Redhood in a different pose with some scary-looking supernatural creatures flanking her) or the other character images beyond those included in this entry for my blog readers. Please do NOT have children around when viewing the comic website. The official blurb:

From award-winning illustrator and acclaimed comic book artist Nick Percival comes a dark, original fairy tale.

You think you know them. Think again.

Violently ripped from the pages of folklore come the Enchanted. Supernatural immortals living in a dark, steampunk, creature-infested world where nature, technology and foul magic are in constant conflict. When the twisted, burnt remains of the half-wooden, half-mechanical warrior, Pinocchio, are discovered, wolf hunter Red Hood and giant killer Jack realize the fragile rules of their existence have been shattered. With the help of other powerful Enchanted (the mercenary, Goldilocks [edit FTNH: the character illustration in the gallery is tagged Bear/Goldilox, Bear being her hairy, ogre-like companion] and psychic exterminators, Hansel and Gretel), Jack and Red team up on an adventure to stop whatever, or whoever is destroying their powers and murdering their kind.

Poor Red has had so many makeovers, this version isn't surprising enough on it's own, but teaming her up with the other characters in their various bounty-hunter/killer-for-hire personas there might be something interesting there. Steampunk Pinocchio sounds like he never made it past the introduction but Hansel & Gretel as psychic exterminators? Should be enough like "Fables" to draw some fans in for a 'looksee', yet different enough (very, very dark!) to form a new set too. From the preview (available at the website) this is just so violent and gory, as much as I'm curious to see the steampunk variation, I'll likely be giving this one a miss.

If you're still interested you can find out more about the comic HERE and see more pictures in the gallery tab HERE (including possibly the scariest Pinocchio I've ever seen - yikes!).

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love

You may be aware that Fables comic creator Bill Willingham has a novel (the prose kind - which is new for him) on the way titled "Peter and Max" (the story of the villainous Peter the Pied Piper and his twisted brother Max) but did you know there's also a min-series of Cinderella in the works due for release after the novel?

The six-issue spin-off series will be called "Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love" and is due for release in Fall 2010 (I'm guessing the title is an homage to the old James Bond film "From Russia With Love".)

If you don't know about the Cinderella character a la Bill Willingham style here's a description from Newsarama.com:

While the Fables version of Cinderella seems innocent enough, running her tiny shoe store on the streets of Fabletown in New York, she has a secret that doesn't seem to jibe with her immaculate wardrobe and perfectly applied lipstick. Despite her "day job" as a divorced princess who sells shoes, she is secretly a super spy whose well-honed sleuthing skills make James Bond look like a pansy.

(You can read about the Cinderella character from the Fables world HERE in Wikipedia.)

While the "Peter & Max" novel details more of the Fabelstown universe and expands on it in a way Bill says he's been unable to do in the graphic novels, the Cinderella series is more of a stand-alone set of stories. Here's a quote from an interview with IGN Comics to help explain in Bill's words:

IGN Comics: I also wanted to get into the Cinderella mini-series that starts in November. Cinderella has always been the secret assassin of Fabletown. How is she going to function now that Fabletown doesn't even exist? Is there a significant change to her mission now?

Willingham: Well, you're right. Cinderella is an assassin. I suppose that's fair. I sort of think of her as the James Bond of Fabletown. If you have a dirty little thing that needs doing and you need it kept off the books and off the record, she's the one you send out to do it. Her story starts when the Fables are still in Fabletown. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but what we've done is sort of written her out of the Fables storyline for the time that this special mission takes place. She's pretty much on her own. She gets involved with Fables outside of Fabletown and starts uncovering all sorts of dastardly things that may be important to Fabletown, but not necessarily tying into current storyline.

...The one thing about Cinderella stories that seems to have shaped up here is that she's okay on her own. You don't just make her one amongst a large cast of Fables. The stories we tell about her are basically that she's this resourceful weapon you can fire at a problem and know that she'll take care of it.

And here's a quote from the Newsrama interview with Chris Roberson who is the main writer Bill Willingham chose to work on the mini-series:

CR: I probably can’t say too much, but what I can say is that Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love is about spies, sex, and shoes; that we find out what happened to Cindy’s Fairy Godmother, and that Happiness isn’t always forever after; and we once-and-for-all learn the burning question of who runs Cindy’s shoe store when she’s away gallivanting.

You can find the whole interview with IGN which talks about "Peter & Max", the Cinderella mini-series and more HERE, and the interview with Newsrama HERE.

Disney's Rapunzel Cast & Story News + "Rapunzel's Revenge"

The big news the past few days has been the confirmation of the cast for Disney's Rapunzel. While I'm sad to hear Kristin Chenoweth will not be the heroine as was previously rumored, the new leading lady, Mandy Moore, has grown some decent acting chops in the past few years and her singing voice will sound more along the lines of the classic Disney heroine (get ready for lots of "Mandy Moore lets her hair down" headlines). Her leading man, who's name has now been revealed as "Flynn Ryer", will be played by Zachary Levi (best known for his appealingly nerdy-heroics in ABCs "Chuck").

Here's a quote from empireonline.com, which also reveals a little more of the plot:

Rapunzel. It's Disney's first computer-animated fairytale, and stars Mandy Moore as Rapunzel herself and Chuck's Zachary Levi as Flynn Ryer, a roguish bandit. Alan Menken's writing the music for another musical tale, and Moore will of course be doing her own singing. We were also assured that this particular damsel will not be sitting around waiting for her prince to rescue her, but instead uses her 70ft of hair as a tool, a means of escape and occasionally an Indiana Jones-style whip.

Note in the concept art above how her hair trails along the path. I'm wondering if they ever address the cleaning and tangling issue...

And from The Hollywood Reporter:

"Disney's new Rapunzel picks up with the princess, famous for her 70 feet of golden hair, after she's been stolen from her parents' castle as an infant and imprisoned. Now a teenager, Rapunzel escapes and goes on the run with a bandit, as her captor pursues them."

Anything sound familiar? Specifically the lasso skills of our long-locked heroine? (Please note: I'm not accusing Disney of plagiarism - if you spend some time musing over what to do with really long hair and "make a lasso" is bound to come up at some point!)
If you haven't heard of "Rapunzel's Revenge" by Shannon Hale (yes, the same Shannon who wrote a retelling of "The Goose Girl"), then you're about to. Her red-headed version (Disney is using the traditional 'golden', though it is a little on the strawberry side if development art is any indication) uses her tresses to both escape her situation and save a whole lot of people from a bad situation, Old West style!

Oh yes - and it's a graphic novel. Now, I must admit, this is the very thing that turned me off. I love graphic novels but I'm super-picky about what I read and the art in this GN just isn't in a style that appeals to me (please note: the artist, Nathan Hale - no relation to Shannon, did an amazing job but, personally, I would have liked to have seen the pencil renderings for the panels.) Here's a preview:Regarding the story, here's one of the Editorial reviews/summaries from Amazon.com:

This is the tale as you've never seen it before. After using her hair to free herself from her prison tower, this Rapunzel ignores the pompous prince and teams up with Jack (of Beanstalk fame) in an attempt to free her birth mother and an entire kingdom from the evil witch who once moonlighted as her mother. Dogged by both the witch's henchman and Jack's outlaw past, the heroes travel across the map as they right wrongs, help the oppressed, and generally try to stay alive. Rapunzel is no damsel in distress–she wields her long braids as both rope and weapon–but she happily accepts Jack's teamwork and friendship. While the witch's castle is straight out of a fairy tale, the nearby mining camps and rugged surrounding countryside are a throwback to the Wild West and make sense in the world that the authors and illustrator have crafted. The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive. –Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, New York Public Library

I took my time purchasing the book and then took even longer to read it, even though I love Shannon Hale's storytelling. I wish I hadn't waited so long. I really enjoyed it and even though I'm more of a 'woods and rivers' girl than a 'sand dunes and desert' gal I thought the Wild West context worked really well. In fact, I would have happily read more (there is a sequel coming by the way). You can find a lot more information about the graphic novel HERE and by clicking on the comic images in this post (the cover will take you to where you can purchase it).Here's an interview with Shannon in which she discusses her love of fairy tales and writing books based on them. "Rapunzel's Revenge" is discussed too and there's a brief preview of some of the artwork from the graphic novel.


After two popular renditions of Rapunzel cracking her braids into action, you DO have to wonder what the Rapunzel Princess costumes are going to be like when the movie comes out in December next year though...

"Covered in Cinders" by Kotogawa Aya

Covered in Cinders

( Hai Kaburi )
by Kotogawa Aya
A beautifully drawn, but chilling account of the the classic story of Cinderella. (Shoujo Magic)

This comic has been out for a few years (since 2002) but, in case it hasn't crossed your radar I thought I'd add a post so you can check it out if you're interested.

Hailed as a 'dark version of Cinderella' this is really just the Grimm version, but it's interesting to see people's reactions on various forums and reviews from "way cool and gory" to "gross and unnecessary!"

And yes, the Grimm's version does have gore -as in, 'if the shoe doesn't fit, cut off a toe!'- so it's not surprising this comic is also getting tagged with 'horror'.Here's the synopsis from anime-planet:

A young girl's mother dies, leaving her with a kind sentiment: if she plants a hazel tree where her grave is, the girl can shake it when deeply worried and her mother will help her. Afterwards, a new woman arrives as her mother, along with two new daughters who will serve as sisters. However, the only one ‘serving' is the young girl, as her new family forces her to perform slave labor while covered in cinders. Soon her luck will change, for a grand ball is approaching, and the prince is rumored to be looking for a wife...

You can read the whole story online HERE for free (click the NEXT button underneath the image to go to the next page).

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer

This is awesome! (Joins the "Why didn't I think of that idea?" club)

Coming in September is a new comic book written by Van Jensen in collaboration with artist and creator Dustin Higgins, titled "Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer".

It's the story of what happens after vampires kill Gepetto and the little wooden boy swears revenge. Armed with a pack of lies and his ever-growing nose, he ends up being humanity’s last hope against enslavement by the monsters.

In a very interesting interview with Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources Van discusses how Carlo Collodi's original story provided a lot of the fodder for the characters and situations.

From the interview:

Van: There’s very little [about the original Collodi story] that isn’t compelling. It starts out, “There was once upon a time a piece of wood…” It’s just such a strange, funny story. Like most fairy tales of that era, it was later stripped down and recast as a simple moral lesson, and it lost all of its weirdness and texture. And Collodi’s Pinocchio is kind of a rotten kid, which also is a lot of fun.

Van answering "Will we see other characters from Collodi in the book?": The fairy is a major character in the story, as magic plays a big role. No Monstro. I think he’s just a giant nameless fish in the original. And the cricket also plays a big role, though he also doesn’t have a name. His character is a great example of Disney’s changes. Collodi actually has Pinocchio smash the cricket and kill him, and then the cricket’s ghost later returns as a friend. And our version continues that, so we have a ghost cricket floating around and offering Pinocchio advice. To me, that’s way more interesting.

You can find the rest of the interview, which discusses Collodi's story, Van's research and process and how he found his way to SLG Publishing, HERE. And yes, if it sells well there are already plans for books two and three.

Below is a trailer to give you a taste, though the full page preview at the bottom of the page HERE gives you a better sense of how the story develops. I recommend you check it out.