How To Train Your Gert…Or Not: Reviewing ‘I Hate Fairyland’ #9

Beware dear reader, because between these pages, there be dragons. What’s worse than a normal dragon? A Gertrude dragon.

I Hate Fairyland #2 throws a whole new wrinkle into the quest as a new foe rises and an old one awaits. If there is one thing that can be said for sure, it’s that Skottie Young, Brett Bean, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos are having a fun time on this series.

Contrary to appearances, it turns out that our series protagonist is not in fact a pile of bones and ash as we saw in the previous issue cliffhanger. To be fair, it’s not that far out of the realm since there have already been, like, six dead Gerts in this volume already.

Essentially Duncan dreamed he killed Gert, they team up and take down Terribella, she retaliates, Gert gets turned into a dragon, things go sideways, and Larry drops a bombshell. All pretty typical stuff really, guess we’re done here.

Oh, probably should talk more about all that then huh? Okay then, let’s go.

Everything about this series is just a fun, albeit often morally terrible, romp. One of the chief elements behind that is the art side of things. Bean and Beaulieu make sure that there is always a very whimsical fantasy storybook edge to things. Colors are vibrant and pop and make sure it feels like a fun space that might also shank you when you’re not looking.

At the same time, damn, does it look pretty darn epic. There is a line of thought that things that look animated or cartoon-like can’t also be epic, despite all the things that exist that disprove that notion. Duncan looks so big and dangerous, yet still silly and simple at the same time. Gert as a dragon is ridiculous, but the battle in the skies with the witches/wizards is presented in truly amazing fashion.

Darkness is the ally here as the characters move through the world, as Beaulieu presents a night that feels accurately like night. It’s heavy but not too heavy, with enough light to see but enough pulled back that we never forget what time of day it happens to be. Using the gutter space, alternating between keeping it white or filling it with black, helps make things flow even better. It frames each of the panels and creates a neat dynamic which is one of my favorite things that artists do at times.

Especially when the edges of the panels are ragged like pages, as they are doing here.

Even the letters are always in on the fun, as Piekos injects them with all the same energy. Big bold loud words, italics thrown in at times, and all the censored curse words coming with a pop of color. It all stands out and makes sure we hear and feel all the dialogue and more as we’re meant to. All while having fun, which really is the name of the game. Tone and volume are inherently clear, turning the already all-caps dialogue into bigger all-caps bold as characters unleash their anger (it happens a lot).

Oh, and all the glorious bloody loud colorful grotesque SFX, I could just stare at those all day. What can I say, I love comic book SFX and everything they bring. Do all the images work without those SFX to showcase the sound, of course they do. It’s not a necessity, but it sure is a welcome addition. It’s that element that takes something already awesome and gives it a bit more awesome spice.

Young made such a swerve with this series upon its return. Placing us alongside a very dysfunctional lost Gertrude who grew up and couldn’t hack it back in the real world. That Gert was of course recently killed by her ‘younger’ self, putting us back in the status quo of Gert in a child-like body trapped in Fairyland. Here though we get a bit of that first arc stuff back through Duncan.

Unlike Gert, he didn’t get stuck as a child in this world. Instead, he had to live through things and is a hardened adult. A still very out-of-place adult, because growing up in such a land would surely do a number on anyone. It creates an interesting dynamic between the two old ‘friends’ as well as a new path for the series to follow. Bringing Cloudia back into things will assuredly not go well for these characters or Fairyland, but it sure will be a fun ride getting there.

Issues like these are so helpful because they allow us to pull back just a tiny bit from just how horrible Gert can be. It shows us a bit more of the world and gives us a bunch of delicious moments to savor. One of the selling points of the book is just how gruesome and grotesque it can be while wrapped up in storybook-style imagery. Pulling back a bit and allowing us to remember that this world is really messed up, somewhat giving a reason for Gert’s awfulness, is needed.

I Hate Fairyland #9 is now available from Image Comics.