Gertzilla — Queen Of The Monsters: Reviewing ‘I Hate Fairyland #15

Throughout human existence, when faced with an infestation of rodents, the solution many turned to has included cats. When faced with an infestation of Gertlins, the solution seems to include getting a really big mean destructive version of Gertrude.

That math probably checks out somewhere. For Fairyland’s sake, they better hope it does, as the current story arc comes to a thunderous close with I Hate Fairyland #15. Another feather in the cap for Skottie Young, Brett Bean, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos.

Sometimes in life, it’s the simple things that work.

It doesn’t get more simple, yet cool, than a story with Gert (sorry, “Gertzilla”) being set loose upon Fairyland to actually do the heroic thing of ending the infestation. Simple is not a negative or positive word at all times, it’s often just a factual descriptor. On paper this is a simple story, and it pretty much goes from A to B easily; blinking and it’s over. Yet, it’s pretty damn fun, gorgeous, grand, bloody, and fun.

Basically, as an issue, it is an epitome of what this series does so good month after month.

Allowing this arc to move in a freer way, with each issue semi-standing alone, was a neat choice. Things of course connect and character beats happen, but it’s a throwback to what more comics used to do regularly. Some big-time cape comics really need to bring the mindset back, because it can lead to issues like this. Not that I’m saying I need to see some big superheroes turn into giant dragons on a rampage … but I’m also not opposed to this.

At this point, Young is feeling this world and is really branching out to see what it can do. Which makes sense, since this is technically (if we want to do legacy numbering) the 35th issue of Gert’s adventures. Not seeing what the former Queen is up to in the real world (where she ended up like four issues ago) doesn’t matter, because the issues in-between have been compellingly fun. I can’t wait to see what the return of the book will bring later this year.

Bean’s made this series his own, visually, at this point. Picking up what Young was putting down for the first volume, running with it, and tweaking all the bells and whistles until it’s comfortable to his stylings. It’s not just hitting those whimsical-meets-horror beats. There is a keen eye not only for paneling, but beyond solid work to make even the simplest sight gag work. Like when Virgil head butts Gert (after she decides she wants none of the technobabble solution talk), and her face does that cartoonish thing of the skin actually flaring out so that we see skull and bone.

That’s the good stuff right there.

Oh, the good stuff is also the pages of Gertzilla rampaging through the lands, gobbling up Gertlins left and right. Does it count as self-cannibalism if the quickly multiplying creatures contain a bunch of your DNA? Eh, too big a question to really worry about. Gobble gobble, Gertzilla!

Take all the action, pacing, and visual spectacle of a summer blockbuster starring a giant lizard and bring it down to comic book page size. That’s what Bean does here, while keeping all the little intricacies that make this series what it is intact.

Fairyland is generally a massively vibrant place, with color coming out the wazoo. Currently, though, it’s in its zombie apocalypse or apocalyptic wasteland phase, following a year of Gertlins running rampant. Tapping into this, Beaulieu makes some sweet adjustments to the color palate without losing what makes up the color scheme of the series. Lots of the landscape colors are dialed back, taking on a very washed out, often yellow, appearance. Letting the space feel older and worn out, while letting pops of colors still have a prominent presence.

A bonk here, a speech bubble with colorful pop, and voices littered with emotional energy and tone. Count on Piekos to make it all work, both in style and visual logic. Giving everything that pop that it needs so that we the reader pick up all the vocal cues and can create them in our minds, or at least approximate them as we plow through the issue.

I Hate Fairyland #15 is now available from Image Comics.