I Hate Fairyland Vol. 5: Gert’s Inferno
Created & Written by Skottie Young; Drawn by Brett Bean
Image Comics, 2023

The Second Series of I Hate Fairyland opens with Gert still back on Earth, where things are not going well for her. She is all grown up, has gotten over her obsession with spending years in Fairyland through therapy, and sucks at every job she tries. So, it is almost a relief when she is called back into service by the superrich William Wiggins. His son has disappeared into Fairyland. He wants him back, but he also wants to take over Fairyland and use it as a Theme Planet like the Theme Park his grandfather founded. Gert agrees to the job and heads off to Fairyland with her new rat partner. But it turns out they have to go through the Inferno to get to Fairyland. With Gert’s usual luck, a few days of travel turn into years. She finally does get to Fairyland in Chapter Five, which largely uses the song “This World” by Jack the Radio in place of dialog (QR code provided). It turns out that Wiggins’ son is already back, he has gone with a virtual theme world, and his lawyers have advised him not to bring her back through the portal. So, guess what: she’s stuck in Fairyland again! As usual the story is as much about the journey as the destination. New artist Brett Bean does a great job capturing the energy of Skottie Young’s storytelling in the original series.

Kroma
Lorenzo De Felici, creator, writer & artist
Image Comics, 2023

Lorenzo De Felici is best known as the artist (and co-creator) of Robert Kirkman’s series Oblivion Song. His story is especially well-suited to a writer/artist, as it revolves around a conflict between a monochrome world and a colored one. Kroma (not a monster at all, but a young woman with one green eye and one blue) lives her life in darkness as a prisoner in the Pale City, where she has been portrayed as the source of all evil. One member of the elite Makka begins to see her as a normal human, setting a series of events in motion. Her patron is killed, but she escapes into the forest outside the city. Pursued by a search party from the city, she is rescued by a man who was exiled years earlier. He is crazy and dangerous, but he teaches her about the power of color over the deadly giant lizards that rule the forest. She also learns that the fearsome King of Color is nothing but a mountain of shiny crystals: an awe-inspiring sight when struck by the sun, but not an archenemy. She leads a lizard army to attack the town and reveal the truth to its citizens. In the process she learns about her true origin and frees the people to live in the world instead of being ruled by lies. On the face of it the idea of color being branded as evil is a bit outlandish: how monochrome would it really be possible to make the Pale City? But the story proceeds surely from one adventure to another, and it is striking visually, especially the shifts from monochrome to color.

Blood Stained Teeth Vol. 2: Drip Feed
Christian Ward, story/creator; Patric Reynolds, art/creator; Mack Chater, guest art Ch.1; Heather Moore, colors; Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, letters
Image Comics, 2023

The main action in the present takes place at Dr. Beverly Phelps’ hospital (where she is using vampire blood to cure cancer). But much of the narrative is done as flashbacks. We learn why Phelps decided to get bitten and turned into a vampire: she did it to help her daughter who was sick with cancer, perhaps the only selfless act by one of Atticus Sloane’s clients in his Mr. Bite persona (at the end she asks him why he did not charge her at the time, but as usual he dodges sentimentality by claiming she must be misremembering). The Pensmiths have a much longer history as the First Born’s enforcers–even the current story’s heavy Mister Tooth hates them–and one of them manages to worm her way into Atticus’ circle. The climax involves a standoff that could only happen in a vampire story: the bad guys have to give up and head for cover before the sun comes up. Despite Atticus’ long-held dislike of humans, it turns out that he has a strong weakness for human music, which leads him to stick up for them. As series endings go, the story is a bit unresolved. It leaves the First Born and Dr. Phelps’ group locked in the same stalemate they started with. But our hero Phelps and anti-hero Sloane both survive. I can imagine a sequel, but I don’t think that one is planned. Like the first collection, the art here is really hallucinogenic, especially the wild coloring. The book concludes with an extensive Cover Gallery (it’s nice to see them all full-sized).