I Hate Fairyland #48 // Review
Gert, Her fly sidekick Larry, her reanimated man Pizza and his BFF are all heading to the extreme north. Why? They need to finish a spoof of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and that’s really the only way to do so. The BFF of Pizza is particularly upset about everything that’s transpired and she look to get revenger in I Hate Fairyland #48. Writer Skottie Young wraps-up his spoof with artist Derek Laufman. Color comes toth e page courtesy of Jean-François Beaulieu. Though it’s a pretty silly spoof, the final installment of the story is not without its finer points.
The BFF of Pizza has decided that the only way to get back at Gert for having created and abandoned her is to fuse her with Larry. It’s kind of a dramatic move on her part, but this IS Fairyland...a place not necessarily known for even-tempered people. And Gert isn’t exactly an easy person to ge through to, so y’know...it’s not like a more rational approach to communication was necessarily going to work for her anyway. Things are going to get more than a bit complicated for everyone involved as characters are fused, confused and generally mixed-up in the process.
Young’s script for the issue in question actually feels remarkably reserved given his track record in I Hate Fairyland. The whimsically chaotic nature of his scripts for the series have created one of the most enduringly weird series in comic book history. It’s nice to see him pulling things out of their comfort zone for long enough to develop a longer-range story without quite so many sudden lurches in action and direction. There’s real emotional development over the course of the story that really seems to be developing things for Gert and company in a way that suggests a bigger plan for Gert’s character development may be on the horizon...maybe...
And, of course, given more of an opportunity to explore a slightly less unstable script. Laufman is given an opportunity to get into a bit more of a sophisticated emotional rendering of things. Of particular note is a particularly emotional moment for the BFF that really hits the page with profound impact. And it’s not like there isn’t room for some clever bits of comedy around the edges of the visuals as well. The device that the BFF is using is a particularly cleverly appropriate Cronenbergian visual reference.
Having wrapped-up another multi-part storyline, it’s going to be interesting to see where Youg and company take the story next. The overall momentum of the series doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all and Young really doesn’t seem tobe running out of ideas. There’s a great deal of potential in the travels of Gert and Larry that could go in a lot of different interesting directions...particularly if Young and company don’t mind developing Gert’s psycho-emotional life just a bit more. It would really be cool to see her persnoality develop through everything htat she’s experienced.
