Disney Villains Maleficent #1 // Review
It’s already over before the first panel. As the story opens, she has already won. The world spins for her and her alone. All of the surrounding kingdoms power at her whims. She can do whatever she wants. She has all of the power. So why isn't she happy? She still wants more. Satisfaction proves to be very difficult in Disney Villains Maleficent #1. Writer Paulina Ganuchaeu and artist Theo Stultz open a whole new storyline for the beloved villain of Sleeping Beauty who launched her own franchise. It’s a satisfying opening for a new adventure with the second fairest in the land.
Maleficent needs more. More magical power. Not for any specific reason or anything like that. She just feels the need to have it. And so she's going to work for it. As luck would have it, a servant has tracked down an ancient grimoire for her. It's not easy to open. However, the woman in question is very powerful and there aren't many locks that she couldn't open. When it opens, it reveals a pair of spectral guides. They tell her of a place she can go for more. It's the kingdom of the fairies: the Realm of the Fae.
Phillips establishes a pretty solid premise. With things being the way, they are in the world beyond fairytale, it's becoming increasingly more and more believable that there would be some people who just want more for no specific reason. With an increasing disparity between wealth and poverty of this sort of an exploration into naked gr, provides an interesting opportunity to explore the nature of the darkness. That's some people are willing to go to in order to get what they want when what they want is simply more of what they already have. Phillips it seems somehow aware of this in a way that doesn't seem to be meeting the page directly. However, there's no questioning that there's a deep and powerful allegory in what she's writing here.
Stultz frames the action quite well. Some of it is remarkably striking. However, there's a markings about it that doesn't quite match the power and intensity of the gleaming symmetry of the characters original origin in cell animation from another century. This is not to say that it's not visually appealing. It just doesn't live up to the clean lines and pure colors that were so much a part of that original animated film.
Maleficent torturing fairies. It sounds oddly appealing in its own way. Not that that's necessarily where Phillips is taking this particular story. But it certainly would be really interesting to see such a creature of darkness and beautiful darkness contrast it against such a playful sense of levity that has its own sinister edge. If Phillips chose to explore more traditional concepts of fairies, as being kind of a threat in of themselves, it could be really interesting to see the simplified Disney version of evil contrast it against that. However, it would just be fun, even if it was a whole bunch of Tinker Bell and her friends just playing tricks on. Maleficent. That could be fun too.
