Glorious Technicolor Warfare — Reviewing ‘I Hate Fairyland’ #19
by Scott Redmond
Overview
Forget portals, cause there are magic cyclones in play as the Endgame for Fairyland reaches the penultimate chapter with I Hate Fairyland #19. Everything has been leading to this point as all the pieces are on the board for a satisfying all-out battle and fictional character cameo extravaganza.
War, huh, yeah, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Unfortunately those in Fairyland are learning this lesson brutally firsthand.
Everything comes crashing down in bloody fashion, as Happy and Gert’s forces collide within I Hate Fairyland #19 from Skottie Young, Brett Bean, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos.
What we got here is a two-fold sort of issue.
A big chunk is that aforementioned war where Happy and Gert’s sides just brutalize each other, with Fairyland denizens from both sides ripped into and apart. No punches are pulled as the graphic fairy tale series lays it all out on the page.
Bean brings every character loss and fight moment to vivid whimsical life. Blood, limbs, innards, and more are strewn everywhere. Characters looks of horror, glee, and more are really given prominent life and placement. I love the layout choices, as it feels like a really well done montage situation, just bouncing from moment to moment, letting each panel really live and breathe.
The colors are vibrant as always, as Beaulieu plays with a lot of whites but also darker color palettes too. This is a war taking place at a duskier time of day, the weight of it all being felt through the overall color palette. So juicy and fitting for this series and its focus, as always.
The buildup to this moment has been pretty well handled by Young through the last few issues. Just really letting the danger of Happy grow, as Gert’s new placement in Fairyland feels more than earned. As she states, she is still not a fan of Fairyland but she hates Happy far more. Like she told Dorothy in the previous issue, this is now her home and it needs to be defended.
Speaking of Dorothy … well that’s the other part of this issue.
We get a whole half with Dorothy coming to the realization she can’t let Gert do this alone. Which means, that’s right, it’s time to do a roll call and assemble the troops! Well played here from Young. The brigade includes Dorothy, Alice from Wonderland, Goldilocks and the bears, Pinocchio, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Peter Pan, and even the now public domain Steamboat Willie version of Mickey.
Forget opening portals on the left, this Endgame moment has these characters arriving in style in a bad ass cyclone.
Just like the fight, there is a sort of montage moment that Bean and Beaulieu render so well, showing snippets of these characters, teasing who they are just enough to raise the eyebrows before the full reveal.
Through it all, Piekos works that visual lettering magic. Colorful, bold, dynamic, and smooth all the way through, really letting the words flow so smoothly. I love that Happy’s bubbles always have the dark hearts on them now, playing up how dark and against her name her personality has become. Opposed to the normal but still brash feeling visual aspect of Gert’s words.
If this is the penultimate issue of the series rather than just this arc, damn, what a way for things to go out.
I Hate Fairyland #19 is now available from Image Comics.
