Mr. Vertigo

I Hate Fairyland Vol. 7: In the Mean Time
Skottie Young, creator & writer; Brett Bean, artist
Image Comics, 2024

This collection of five mostly stand-alone stories opens with Queen Cloudia in the real world (instead of Gert, whom she outwitted at the end of the previous collection). Within minutes, she is literally hit by a bus, but proves difficult (if not impossible) to kill. Not only that, but the entire issue is also one long fart joke. Two for the price of one! Next, Gert becomes an assassin for the Three Billy Goats Gruff to help them with their bridge troll problem. A biopic movie of her life made in Fairyland does not turn out as she hoped, but then again, nothing does. The final two issues find Gert dealing with an old problem: a mob of Gertlins (cute, but deadly little monster versions of her), which she thought she had killed already. With all the killing, it’s hard to keep track. She concludes the issue transformed into a giant pink dinosaur with no plan on how to turn her back into little girl Gert. Yet another bizarre cliffhanger!

Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 8
James Tynion IV, writer; Werther Dell’Edera, illustrator; Miquel Muerto, colorist
Boom! Studios, 2024

The previous collection ended with an epic battle and a new human enemy for Erica Slaughter. It will be interesting to see where that story leads, but instead this installment  journeys into her past during her formative years, a series of stand-alone tales set before the events of the foundational Archer’s Peak saga. The first chapter is set “Five Years Ago.” Erica must use a puppy as a decoy, but she kills the monster and keeps the puppy safe. The second takes place in a Wal-Mart (according to the architecture; I can’t make out the fake store logo). Erica calls headquarters and requests a blackout, then deals with the monster with a chain saw. She allows the adult witnesses to live: an early example of her independence from the rules. In another episode Erica visits a therapist. She has her doubts, but he leaves her with a useful lesson: “Sadness is a tool our brain uses to take all of our memories…and make sure they’re never forgotten…so we remember what hurt, so we don’t get hurt again…or hurt anybody else like we were hurt.” The collection concludes with a large, full-sized collection of alternate covers.