By: Ben Snyder
Writer Skottie Young delivers many laughs and some disturbing imagery in I Hate Fairyland #13, in what is other an otherwise unremarkable issue.
I Hate Fairyland continues to be one of the more frustrating books out there. What started out as clever spin on the typical tale of a young girl having to find her way out of a happy-go-lucky Candy land, has become drawn out and entirely inconsistent. Following last month’s twisted issue of mushroom samurai and irony is an issue, which focuses entirely on Larry, the fly guide of Gertrude.
The premise of this issue is basically Larry’s daydream of “What if he never met Gertrude.” While it does start off pretty entertaining, with Larry’s siblings continually dropping off like flies as they do dangerous and stupid things proves humorous, especially as the father is constantly saying they should be more like Larry, who readers know at this point as a pretty horrible person. Showing the rise and fall of Larrigon Wentsworth would have been a funny and clever smaller joke, but having it be drawn out an entire issue proved pointless. I think this joke would have been even more effective if it was more succinct.
The art of this issue is consistent with everything else we’ve seen in this series so far. Nothing particularly new or remarkable happened art wise, however I could not shake a very Simpson aesthetic when shown Larry’s family childhood. Two particularly gross and classic I Hate Fairyland images are the grotesqueness of the Larry’s infant grub siblings oozing in the living room and a washed up Larry holding a gun covered in needles regretting the mistakes he made in his life. These two images sum up the entirety of Skottie Young’s perspective on this twisted fairyland.
While offering a humorous diversion into the what if life of Larrington Wentsworth, nothing particular new or significant happened, making it feel like a wasted issue. However, due to Skottie Young’s unique imagery and style of humor, I Hate Fairyland #13, proves to be worth the ticket price regardless.
Score: 3/5
I Hate Fairyland #13
Image Comics