Fairy Tale Oscar Watch 2018

One thing you may have missed in the all the Oscars advertising hype:

Best Picture is (very likely) between two fairy tale related films:

"The Shape of Water" and "Get Out".

The 90th Academy Awards  have quite a large representation with regard to folklore and fairy tales this year. With the Beauty and the Beast-like The Shape of Water up for a slew of awards (13!), including Best Picture and Best Director, the 'flipped' Beauty and the Beast/Bluebeard thriller/horror Get Out also up for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay (4 in all), the not-at-all-revolting Revolting Rhymes putting fairy tales front and center in the short film category, Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast getting noms for costume and production design, and the highly folkloric Coco up for best animated feature, fairy tales are likely to be a strong theme at the awards show this year. 

There's a good possibility there will be lots of water and beast type imagery, musical numbers, spoofs and jokes...

Illustrator Yoshitaka Amano (famous for character design of Final Fantasy) created a collaborative art piece for The Shape of Water, directed by Guillermo del Tor. Amano commented "I imagined he wraps himself in his cloak of water".
(Click for full size)

Fairy tales and fantasy have been in high demand the past year, meaning that in a year of great social unrest and confusion in the US (and inevitably, due to being a major world power, the rest of the world), fairy tales (and fantasy) are being turned to for many and varied reasons. They're a source of distracting - and positive - entertainment, they're used as a method for processing confusion and challenges and as a medium for expression for hope, anger, despair, and a call to change. From newly-desperate wishes for a happily-ever-after in a time of extreme difficulty and stress for many, to reflecting on simple truths that can cut clearly through a swath of fake news, to a beacon of creative inspiration that connects to human truths, fairy tales are surfacing everywhere. Fairy tale themed ads on TV tend to be split between sorting truth from fiction and being an inspirational element of hope despite various circumstances. Fairy tale based books, while always prolific, this past year have been hitting the bestseller lists when exposing their teeth, their dark underbellies and their smart, wily and take-no-prisoners heroines. 

Fairy tale films, in particular those with a happy ending, have caught the imagination and attention of the general public. While a film like The Shape of Water would be considered excellent at any point in history, we believe it's appearance at this time, has helped boost its profile, as this is the type of triumphant story of love winning over all odds, and the little people beating 'the big machine' that has resonated so strongly. It's the inspiration - and reassurance - people are searching for. Once again, a film's popularity has risen to meet its excellence in filmmaking, and it's a joy to see that being recognized at the Academy Awards - doubly so because its not at all shy about its fairy tale roots.

Here's the rundown of fairy tale and folklore-related films that are in the running, and for which category:

Film: The Shape of Water

Fairy Tale/Folklore Tie-ins:

• Beauty and the Beast
• The River God of the Amazon (Brazilian folklore meets The Creature From the Black Lagoon/Gill-man pop culture/urban legend)
• The silent heroine/hero and those keeping secrets [ATUs: 451 (eg. Six Swans), 442 (eg. Old Woman in the Forest), 533 (eg. Goose Girl),  945 (eg. Princess Who Couldn't Laugh/Speak), 923 (eg. Love Like Salt), and The Little Mermaid/Undine/The Fisherman and His Soul]
• There are even parallels that can be made with Sleeping Beauty (ATU 410) 
• There's even a little of the Moses story - both fishman and found in a river, grows to become savior of enslaved people, *spoiler* (highlight to view) disappears behind a wall of water to destiny *spoiler over*

Nominated for:

• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Best Actress
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Original Music Score
• Best Original Screenplay
• Best Cinematography
• Best Costume Design
• Best Film Editing
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Production Design
• Best Sound Editing

Oscar Favorite? Yes - especially for Best Picture, Best Production Design and possibly Best Director

Film: Get Out

Fairy Tale/Folklore Tie-ins: Beauty and the Beast, Bluebeard

Nominated for:

• Best Picture
• Best Director
• Best Original Screenplay
• Best Actor

Oscar Favorite? Yes - contender for Best Picture, Favorite for Best Original Screenplay (Note: this film appears to have Maria Tatar's vote)

Film: Revolting Rhymes

Fairy Tale/Folklore Tie-ins: 

• A mix of classic fairy tales
• Red Riding Hood
• Snow White
• Three Little Pigs
• Cinderella
• Jack and the Beanstalk (etc)

Nominated for: Best Short Film (Animated)

Oscar Favorite? Yes

Film: Disney's Beauty and the Beast (live action)

Fairy Tale/Folklore Tie-ins: Beauty and the Beast (Villeneuve as well as Disney's animated classic)

Nominated for:

• Best Production Design
• Best Costume Design

Oscar Favorite? No

Film: The Breadwinner

Fairy Tale/Folklore Tie-ins: Afghan storytelling and fables

Nominated for: Best Animated Feature

Oscar Favorite? No

Film: Coco

Fairy Tale/Folklore Tie-ins: 

• Mexican Day of the Dead/Land of the Dead
• Mexican spirit animals
• Dante (dog's name)
• Aztec gods
• Alebrijes (Mexican folk art imaginary creatures - newish 'lore' dating back to 30's)

Nominated for:

• Best Animated Feature
• Best Music (Original Song)

Oscar Favorite? Yes - both for Best Animated Feature & for Best Song

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

Check out this wonderful essay by Dr. Jeana Jorgensen:

Strategic Silences: Voiceless Heroes in Fairy Tales

This essay (available to read online for free) explores the use of silence in fairy tales, for both female and male heroes, discussing the many aspects of silence/mutism (voluntary, non-voluntary, tasks, spell-breaking etc) and looks at the variations from different cultures and eras.

Highly recommended!

In that vein, we bring you a timely reinterpretation of Oscar statues for a group of people long silenced in Hollywood: women. These re-visioned statues were created this year by A-list artists, especially in the wake of the #MeToo era. (If only we could see more of these on the red carpet as opposed to the 'casting couch' statue, that appeared days before the Oscars*, making a similar, but very differently focused, statement.)

The Oscar Statues Reinterpreted by A-list Artists for the #MeToo Era

*Only to be removed two nights before due to inclement weather. Reports are that it's unlikely to be reinstalled in time for the Academy Awards for the same reasons.

"Rejected Princesses" Book Coming October 25th

Well-behaved women seldom make history.  

Rejected Princesses celebrates those who did.  

Part art project, part standup routine, part book report, this site imagines what if we made animated musicals about the women of history and myth who refused to behave. Rejected Princesses is not for kids. Unless your kid is awesome.

Jason Porath, a one-time special effects animator for Dreamworks Animation, has been working on this unique project for quite some time now. He's been assembling a collection of stories for strong women of history who, although deserving of recognition, will never (likely) receive the title of "princess". He also created illustrations for each character are created in a style reminiscent of popular animation, just to underline the fact that these are alternate role models (of sorts) that won't ever have a family animated movie made about them.

Asked in an interview how Porath got the idea for the project, this was his answer:

The origin of this came from a lunchtime conversation at my old workplace. There was an article going around about how the Frozen princesses weren’t good role models, and I asked, “well, we can SURELY do worse than them — who is the least likely candidate for an animated princess you can think of?” I asked it on my Facebook shortly thereafter, and got around 150 replies from my friends. I hastily sketched a couple as jokes — Elizabeth Bathory, an early version of Lolita, and weirdly enough, Charybdis — but kept in my head that I wanted to do more full-fledged pieces when I got the time. 

In quick order, as suggestions flooded in, it grew from being a list of hysterically poor fits (like Lolita and Beloved) to being fascinating women from history and mythology. I am a huge lover of the obscure, rare, and weird – I’m also a feminist, so the two interests collide with this series. Lastly, I’m a total information junkie, one of those people who gets lost in Wikipedia very easily. This is a rabbit hole I’ve tumbled down and have yet to see the bottom.

And now his wonderful collection of passed-over women of history will be in a book. You may wonder where the word "rejected" came in, though. Who's rejecting these women?!

From Porath's website:

Did they actually get rejected? Did you pitch these ideas? 

Nope, but I think we can assume that nobody’s going to want to do kids’ movies about a lot of these people. They’re either way too awesome, way too awful, or way too weird. For a much longer explanation of why “Rejected,” here is a more in-depth explanation.

We recommend reading the more in-depth explanation, linked above. It explains the context, how these princesses are different and the very difficult circumstances that make creating more diverse "princess" movies a huge challenge. Importantly, it also explains how Porath is not against animation studios or playing a blame game. Instead, he's taken the opportunity in being his own boss to spend time producing something both important to him, as well as something that would have very little chance of seeing a box office, due to the aforementioned studio realities.

You will find uncompromising language and less then family-friendly situations discussed among these stories but don't let that deter you. Porath has good reason and has even set up and area on his website to encourage lesson plans for children that take what he is presenting and make it more G-rated for education.

This project is entirely about not bowdlerizing powerful and difficult stories. I absolutely refuse to tone these stories down, or to write in a voice that is not my own.

But I could 

use your work for teaching, if you just didn’t cuss. 

I understand that, but I strongly feel the original, base version of these entries should remain uncensored. That said, in the future I would like to make a version that is more all-ages friendly for just such a purpose – however, I’m not able to give it much attention at present. If you have such an inclination, however, feel free to clean up any of my work, send it to me, and I’ll post it online for all to use.

You may have realized at this point that fairy tales aren't going to be the priority here, but that doesn't mean that they, and myths, legends and wonder tales, aren't related. In fact, every image shown in this post shows a  woman connected to a folktale, fairy tale, myth or legend of some kind - and this isn't the whole collection of women that are (we didn't have room!).

Beyond that, historically based magic and wonder tales make good fodder for new fairy tales. It's something to think about - and be empowered by.

To finish up, here is just one of the complete stories for the "rejected princess" shown below, giving you a fair idea of how the stories are written and presented, not to mention how fascinating they are, as well as portals to a very different - and educational - rabbit hole.

We applaud Jason Porath for encouraging us to fall down it.

Iara - Brazil's Lady of the Lake

Summary

• Morality: Mixed
• Personality: Martial
• Rating: PG
• Source: Myth
• Story: Up-and-Down

Maybe you’re familiar with mermaids as lovesick sea dwellers who just can’t get enough of hunky air-breathers. Maybe you have even read the unsanitized versions of said stories that, say, feature the besotted protagonist essentially stabbing herself repeatedly so the handsome prince will like her. (spoiler: does not work, do not emulate)

Well, the story of the Brazilian mermaid Iara is nothing like that.Iara was the pride of her Amazon-dwelling tribe. The daughter of the group’s spiritual leader, Iara grew to be the best warrior of them all — courageous, kind, strong, and (as I’m finding every single story ever written about women feels inclined to mention) beautiful. In short: she was hot shit, and everyone liked her.Everyone, that is, save her two brothers, whom she overshadowed by virtue of being far more awesome. Upset by this, they decided to solve their problem with mankind’s traditional go-to solution: murder. The only catch was, they knew they couldn’t take her, even two-on-one. So they waited until she was asleep, reasoning that two alert soldiers would be stronger than one unconscious one.They were incorrect. As soon as they got near her, she jolted awake and killed them both in self defense. Hell, she might have still been half-asleep.Afterwards, her father, unaware that his sons had tried to kill her first, and apparently deaf to her cries of “they started it,” led the rest of the tribe on a hunt for her. Although she eluded them for quite some time, eventually they caught up to her and tossed her into a nearby river, where she drowned. Bummer.But even underwater (and dead), she was still making friends! The fish there thought she was pretty cool, so they transformed her into a half-fish, half-human person — the first of an entire branch of river-dwelling mermaids called Iara. When men chanced upon Iara, usually in the afternoon, they would be so overcome by her beauty (or singing voice) that even if they somehow managed to escape, they would literally go insane. What happens if they didn’t escape changes from telling to telling. In some versions, the Iara would drown, and even eat them. In others, they would join her little aquatic harem, and she’d treat them pretty well! Life could suck more.The legends are unclear about what happens if a woman chances upon Iara. Presumably, a curt head nod.

'The Little Mexmaid' by Cristina de Middel

As Mexican girls celebrate their coming of age at 15, when the Little Mermaid reaches this milestone she is officially be considered an adult and will be able to access the outside world of grown-up humans (Picture: Cristina de Middel/Nikon) 

Since we're (still) on the subject of The Little Mermaid, and specifically updating the classic story with modern and relevant-to-girls today themes, I thought this would be a good time to share a photo series I recently saw and bookmarked to share.

Nikon challenged three award wining photographers from different countries to update a classic fairy tale. The catch was they could only use four photos to do this and to tell a new version of the story. The stories chosen were Red Riding Hood, Snow White and The Little Mermaid. While the Red Riding Hood results were fun and had an interesting statement, (which you can see HERE) my favorite series by far was The Little Mermaid.

The photographer who chose The Little Mermaid was from Spain and on a recent trip to Mexico felt the fairy tale related very well to the coming of age traditions she saw being celebrated there. Cristina de Middel said she was inspired by the fiesta de quinceañera, or the introduction of a 'debutante' to the adult world, which is traditionally celebrated on the 15th birthday for girls, in Mexico.

Of her theme she said: ‘I saw first-hand the fascinating rites of passage in Mexico, and it reminded me instantly of the classic coming-of-age love story in The Little Mermaid.’

Middel titled her series The Little Mexmaid (which, incidentally, feels really weird to write. I presume Nikon wouldn't have published this title if there was an issue...). The first photo is at the head of the post, the rest are below and the photographer's captions are below each one:

Upon arrival in the human world, the Mermaid trades her fishtail for legs so she can experience what it feels like to be an adult woman. She goes to the Salon Los Angeles, a famous venue in Mexico City for ‘Sweet 15′ celebrations (Picture: Cristina de Middel/Nikon) 

The mermaid meets a Prince, who is a traditional Mexican Mariachi. The couple dance and she falls deeply in love with him. (Picture: Cristina de Middel/Nikon) 

Eventually rejected by the Prince for a Princess of the human world, the Little Mermaid sacrifices herself for love by exploding into fireworks. (Cristina de Middel/Nikon)

Here's the series altogether. Pretty poignant stuff:  

Trailer: "The Book Of Life"

I mentioned this up and coming film, The Book of Life, based around the Mexican Day of the Dead yesterday, very briefly, but thought I'd include the trailer, as much of the plot is very reminiscent of fairy tale and myth (including Persephone, which can be linked to Snow White... [although this would then be considered gender-flipped] so you get the idea).

The official website is looking very colorful! And there's already lots of artwork to explore as well as the high def version of the trailer and a music preview (very reminiscent of The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, but for me that's a good thing).

Here's the first official trailer:

For those not yet caught up, here's the 411 - story, cast and main crew:

An animated comedy with a unique visual style, "The Book of Life" is the journey of Manolo, a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Rich with a fresh take on pop music favorites, "The Book of Life" encourages us to celebrate the past while looking forward to the future.

Release Date: October 17, 2014  

Studio: 20th Century Fox  

Director: Jorge R. Gutierrez  

Screenwriter: Jorge R. Gutierrez, Doug Langdale  

Starring: Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Diego Luna, Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Kate del Castillo, Ron Perlman, Cheech Marin, Hector Elizondo, Placido Domingo, Ana de la Reguera, Eugenio Derbez, Gabriel Iglesias, Ricardo ("El Mandril") Sanchez, Danny Trejo  

Genre: Animation  

MPAA Rating: Not Available 

For continuing updates in the coming months you can follow the movie on Twitter HERE, Facebook HERE and Instagram HERE.

Did I mention I already love the "Art Of" book? Because I do.

Interview With A Leg! I mean "The Leg". (Actually it's the creator of "The Leg", aka Van Jensen, which is still pretty awesome.)

By now you should have heard, from many places, all about this curious-and-awesome Mexican folklore based graphic novel of The Leg: The Remarkable Reappearance of Santa Anna’s Disembodied Limb. 

If you missed my post from a week ago (when a special Kickstarter was launched on Cinco de Mayo to get it printed), you can catch up HERE. If nothing else, be sure to check out the trailer. It is made of awesome! (Folkloric treasure trove!)

Creator and word wrangler, Van Jensen, whom you will know from his amazing three volumes of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer!, kindly found time to answer a bunch of questions on folktales and more (we even talked spaghetti) and allowed us a closer look into the story and the folklore that's woven through The Leg.

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Hi Van! Thank you so much for agreeing to let us behind the curtain a little and scratch your brain about your latest project. What with Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer! getting a new multi-volume release, a new graphic novel and a Kickstarter that's jumping along in leaps and bounds (huzzah!) among regular work and other projects you have brewing, we know you're a busy man! 

Van Jensen at work

So first of all, your hero is possibly the most unusual hero ever written. How on earth were you inspired to give life to an amputated limb?
This all goes back to a Mexican History class I took as an undergrad, and the professor randomly mentioned the anecdote of Santa Anna losing his leg in the Pastry War and then giving it a full military funeral. Later, the people exhumed the leg to protest Santa Anna. I have no idea why, but that story struck me as fascinating, and I kept thinking about it for years. At some point, it morphed into this question: What if the leg was still alive? What would it do? Where would it be? 

Santa Anna's wooden leg, Illinois

So, this is a true(ish?) legend that you've given additional (zombie-like) life to. I need to know: have you been to Springfield, Illinois to see the real Leg? (And how 'ish" is this LEG-end anyway?)
As far as I know, that fake leg is the real deal. There's been a lot of fascination over the years with Santa Anna's fake leg, especially in Texas given the Alamo connection, and then the King of the Hill episode. I haven't seen the leg in Springfield, but perhaps a road trip is in order! 

So this wasn't just the Van way to get on the zombie train?
It's funny, but I never thought of this as a zombie story. I don't know why, but it just didn't dawn on me. Maybe it was my subconscious! 

What is it about Mexican lore and folklore that fascinates you? 

Starting with that class I took, it was really the realization that, despite the nearness of Mexico, I knew very little of its history. And it has a fascinating, bizarre, violent history, complete with a wealth of folklore and fairy tales. Some of the folklore especially has a lot of European influence, but even then, these familiar stories have a new spin on them. And then there are crazy native legends, like the story of the Witch Wife.  

I worked a lot of that into this book, but there's so much more that I wanted to include but couldn't.  

Your hero has an unusual sidekick (ahem) for a spaghetti Western with a folkloric twist: a little girl named Ana. Can you tell us about her? How did she come to be, why is she so important and why does she get so attached to this leg?
Ana is a young girl who was separated from her parents and is stuck in an orphanage. She believes she's destined for greatness, because her lineage traces back to Santa Anna. But what she doesn't realize is that Santa Anna was famously promiscuous, and so her connection to him is a source of dishonor, if anything. Then she discovers the Leg, and they help each other as they strive to reach Mexico City and save the president from assassins. 

Ana is a voice of innocence, and it is through her that we see the Leg's personality emerge. She humanizes him, allowing him to connect with a literal part of his legacy. There's also a kind of Calvin and Hobbes aspect to their relationship, which was just a lot of fun to write. 

We're told the Leg has to save Mexico; a tall order for anyone, let alone a lone leg with nothing but a boot and a kid to help him! What is the Leg's greatest threat? (Other than centuries of toe cheese?)
Ha! Well, as the story begins, the Leg discovers that there is a plot to kill the president of Mexico, and he takes it upon himself to save the day. Along the way, there are some major threats he'll have to face. But at its core, this is a story of discovery, and the Leg learns that his greatest enemy is himself. Santa Anna was renowned for his ego, and the Leg must overcome that part of himself to win the day. 

The story is full of references to legends and tales and I was continually delighted to discover what you'd woven in, in each chapter. Without wanting to spoil any surprises, can you tell us what have been your favorite folkloric elements that you've woven into the narrative? 
The lost tribe of northwest Mexico were a lot of fun. There's this legend of shape shifters living atop a mountain, and I HAD to include them. There's also some witchcraft, and the details of the spell came from an actual Mexican healing spell I tracked down. 

Are there legends, superstitions, tales or creatures you still wish you'd been able to work into the story? (Do tell!)
Oh, yeah, tons! I actively avoided La Llorona, although it is a really cool story, it's just overly common. The first draft of the script included the Pedro Urdemales trickster character, but I had to cut that to save space. It's a really fun legend though. 

If you could have one aspect of 'Other' from The Leg be real for a whole day, what would it be?
The talking crow would be fun to have hanging around. I always imagined that crows had a lot to say, although maybe I'd regret it. 

Are there any things you included in the way of "folkloric Easter eggs" that readers who know their legends and tales should keep their eyes peeled for? (eg I'm thinking of a particular house-on-one-leg design myself and I noticed an eagle that keeps appearing. Is this a reference to the Mexican fairy tale The Greenish Bird?)
The house-on-a-leg for sure! The eagle is a reference to Santa Anna mostly--that was his nickname. There are some teases throughout as to the identity of the crow, which ultimately is revealed. There are a few other references, especially ones worked in by Jose into the art. One that's kept pretty subtle is the Judas statue, which references a pretty weird piece of Mexican tradition of detonating statues of Judas. 

How did you get yourself in "the Mexican mood" to write this (Art? Music? Tequila? Continuous re-runs of Once Upon A Time in Mexico?) and were their references or resources you kept close?
I'm such a boring writer. I don't listen to music or drink. Pretty much, I just lock myself in a room and get to work. But I did read a lot about Mexican history and folklore. There are a ton of great books, but I remember Judas at the Jockey Club as being one of the best. It's been eight years since I wrote this story, so my memory is a little foggy! 

Fast forward to finding the perfect artist for The Leg in Jose Pimienta: how did you find him and how did you pitch your story? (And how did you decide how far to take the design to make the boot emote without turning it into a version of the Hogwarts Sorting Hat?)
It was at Comic-Con in 2011. A friend introduced us, and Jose was looking for something to draw. I didn't have anything, but then I told him about The Leg on a whim. At that point, I'd given up on ever publishing it because it was so weird. But Jose really perked up, and he told me that he grew up in Mexico, and he wanted to read the script. So I sent it to him, and he responded right away asking to illustrate it. The whole thing seemed kismet, so I readily agreed. 

Jose did an amazing job with the book. It's so incredibly hard to get emotion out of a boot, but he nailed it. I can't say enough about him. He's been a dream to work with, and I'm thrilled to finally share his art with everyone. 

So, let's do a quick check on what people can expect from your graphic novel: 

- Sentient zombie leg?  Check. 

- Ghosts?  Check (we see one in the first chapter, which you can preview HERE) 

- Walking skeletons?  Check. 

- Magic?  Check. 

- WItches/bruja?  Check. 

- Frida references?  And Diego! 

- "Santas"? (Not the belly full of jelly guy, Saints)  Check. 

- Spaghetti?  Yep. 

- How about gunfights?  Lots! 

- Nuns?  Indeed. 

- Puns?  Of course! 

- Chupacabras?  Hmm. Sort of.  

Do you think we'll be seeing more of the world and characters from The Leg in future stories?
There's certainly room to do more with it. Part of that depends on how the Kickstarter campaign does. It's a project that I almost certainly will never make money on, but I do love the book and the characters. And I love working with Jose. If people want to see more, they can help by supporting the Kickstarter and helping spread the word! 

With the graphic novel complete but not yet published, you currently have a Kickstarter campaign to get it printed and into our grubby hands as you and Jose originally envisioned. With 21 days to go (as of May 13) and almost 75% (of $10 000 needed) funded to date, how has it been for you both to see the response?
It's been totally overwhelming. This is an overtly non-commercial book, but the response has been very strong. I think that says a lot about the quality of the art, and that there are readers out there who want intensely weird stuff. Which works for me, because that's what I like to write! 

I was thrilled to hear about the stretch-goal of creating a Spanish-language version of The Leg. Can you tell us more about that (or tease us with some other stretch goal ideas you have bubbling)?
If we hit $15,000, we'll give a free Spanish-language PDF to all backers who pledge at least at the $8 level. We really want to get to that point, so all support in getting the word out helps! Beyond that, we plan to do some upgrades at higher levels, potentially doing a hardcover instead of paperback. And there are some artists who would love to contribute pin-up pages, so that's something that we'll offer. 

Are you up for a rapid-fire word-showdown?Let's do it!

Would you rather: 

Talking animal or a talking object?Animal. 

Flying carpet or broom?Carpet. I'm scared of heights, and a broom doesn't seem very secure! 

Have a corpse bride or bruja wife?Bruja? Yikes. 

Giants or trolls?Giants. 

Face La Llorona or El CuCuy?CuCuy. At least it's pure evil. 

Bet on The Leg or Pinocchio VS in a showdown?Clearly, they would only team up against undead monsters. But if they had to fight, I bet the Leg would kick butt. 

And lastly, because we're dying to know:What are the most creative leg pun/s to date that have tickled your funny bone?
I love ALL leg puns. The more the merrier! Someone the other day asked me if I'd considered calling it "The Leg of Extraordinary Gentlemen." Just delightfully terrible.

Thanks so much Van! We wish you every success and not only hope you meet your initial goal but stretch it far enough to get the Spanish edition made as well!

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Here's the lowdown: You rarely see such a great combination of storytelling and images, let alone one that includes folklore, legend and history. It's also entertaining as heck, not to mention very juicy fodder for folklore and fairy tale people. There aren't many graphic novels that can keep my attention beginning to end in one sitting but I became completely absorbed in reading The Leg. The layout, art and excellent use of words flows very much like an oral storytelling and the story itself is everything it promises to be. Spring boarded from recorded history it has that unique Mexican mix of politics and art, gunslingers and family, religion and superstition all coexisting in a harsh landscape. At the same time, the fact that it's chock-full of Mexican folklore and legend references and tales, and all without seeming cramped, is a complete delight. An excellent introduction to Mexican folklore and more for ages 15(ish)+, via a fantastic (in both senses of the word) story. Apart from the fact that I can't yet put it on a bookshelf (c'mon Kickstarter funders!) I can't think of a reason I wouldn't recommend it.

         Here's who we can blame, er credit, for this strange-awesomeness.

Words: Van Jensen, co-creator of PINOCCHIO, VAMPIRE SLAYER  (Top Shelf Productions) and writer of GREEN LANTERN CORPS and THE FLASH (DC Comics). Van is also an award-winning journalist based in Atlanta. This is his first self-published work. Follow him on Twitter.

Art: Jose Pimienta, a native of Mexico and the co-creator of A FRIENDLY GAME and an artist on several successful Kickstarter-funded comics anthologies. Follow him on Twitter. 

Colors & Letters: Matthew Petz, artist of the webcomic WAR OF THE WOODS and colorist of several comics and graphic novels. Follow him on Twitter. 

Design: J. Chris Campbell, maestro of WIDE AWAKE PRESS.

Please do go check out Van & Jose's KICKSTARTER HERE and consider helping put some fantastic (& fun - and gorgeously illustrated) Mexican folklore into people's hands.