No Rest for the Wicked
by Andrea L. Peterson
The Princess and the Pea, Puss in Boots, and little psycho Riding Hood team up to bring you this delightfully dark web of fairy tales. If you thought Grimm's were grim, you ain't seen nothin' yet...
The Story: The comic starts with Princess November, a young princess who's been struck with a strange ailment: she hasn't been able to get a wink of sleep since the Moon disappeared from the sky. Desperate to solve this mystery - and finally free herself from this exhausting curse - she runs away from home, enlisting the help of the cleverest "man" in the land, making friends with a local forest sociopath, and freeing towns of their own curses and witches along the way. The story seems to just be getting started, but is already deep, dark, and multilayered. A
The Characters: Our main cast so far seems to be made up of Princess November, Sir Perrault (the puss in boots), and Red (the axe-weilding psychopath that's all that's left of the sweet little girl after her encounter with the Wolf). I admit, I oftimes have trouble connecting with fantasy characters - they're just one stereotype after another. But there are little bits here and there that intrigued me as I read, that hinted at deeper, darker people beneath the surface role each is playing. One example I fell in love with on sight is Perrault showing that he really is more than just an overgrown kitty-cat. (Don't ask about the frog - you'll just have to read yourself.) A
The Art: Honestly, my first thought when I started reading NRftW was 'amateur anime kid' - but it has since developed into its own unique style. Not the most polished or fluid art by a long shot, but quite fitting for the story and characters it's protraying. Any sequences featuring Red in action are perfect examples of what I mean. B+
Warnings: Dark in places. Violence, though nothing terribly graphic or bloody. Some disturbing images - yes, I'm talking about the Hansel & Gretel arc, and pretty much anything involving Red.
Overall, one of my all-time favorites. I give it a solid A.
-Jez
Feb 09 |
