Cinderella Super Spy Heads Up the Next Fairest Series "Of Men and Mice" & She Gets a Hardcover Too

Shawn McManus for Fairest Issue #22

If you have been even half-following the Fables news you will be aware that Cinderella is both super spy and Fables super-star, getting her own stand-alone volumes of secret super spy adventures so, being one of Fabletown's most popular ladies, it's no surprise she's getting her own series of issues in the Fairest spin-off as well.

Unlike the Fables comics, the Fairest series is a little more "fantastic", with more magical elements, so I'm curious to see what they do with the Bond girl (who is just as much "Bond" as "girl") of the fairy tale world, especially considering they're revisiting Cindy's original ball. Check the comic panels below for views of the fairy godmother activating Cindy's ride. (I'm guessing this section in the story is pre-recruitment into the intelligence community so... interesting!)

Here's one of the coolest things about the news. The title of the series is: Of Men and Mice (if you don't understand my happy face at this, read on...)

Here's the scoop from NY ComicCon, along with excerpts from an interview from newsarama:

During the Vertigo panel at this past weekend’s New York Comic Con, DC shared new art from the storyline, which kicks off in December with an assassination attempt on Snow White that ties into Cind's origin story at the midnight ball. She investigates in a world-spanning story that takes her from the world of the mundane to the Homelands. 

Nrama: Why do you think Cinderella has become such a fan-favorite character?
Andreyko: She's James Bond as a woman! Her tough-as-nails attitude and ability to do anything that must be done to succeed in her mission is something we rarely see in female characters.
Nrama: It looks like Cindi is returning to the scene of the fairytale ball, where she first met Prince Charming. How did the idea to return to that part of the character's history come about?
Andreyko: Well, the storyline has ties to that fateful night, so a look back, especially at things we haven't seen, is required, and fun.
Nrama: How does the story kick off? This assassination attempt — is it chronicled inFairest? Or is it something that happens in Fables? Anything you can tease about the set-up for the story?
Andreyko: This storyline dovetails into the next big Fables arc and has ramifications for all of Fabletown… beginning with the assassination attempt on one Snow White.
Nrama: Can you reveal anything about the meaning behind the title of this Fairest storyline, "Of Men and Mice?"
Andreyko: Mice play an important role in Cind's past, but what happened after the clock struck midnight?

(You can read the rest of the interview HERE.)

Plus we're going to see a new Fable, from Asia and he/she is blue...

All I can think of are genies right this second but I know they've been covered quite a bit in the Fables series already... AND the first Fairest issues featured a blue imp-like genie too.. hmm. Must brush up on the Asian folklore!

This Issue #22 of Fairest hits stores early in December.

Also recently announced was this special stand alone graphic novel (presented like 1001 Nights of Snowfall) and it, too, stars Cinderella, and is due to be available in late November in hardcover (a limited release to be certain, just like 1001 Nights Of Snowfall was.)

Apparently Fairest Issue #21 is a prequel to the hardcover, Fairest In All The Land (and likely Of Men and Mice as well) and is a self contained story (meaning it can be read out of sequence/by itself) starring Goldilocks. Curiouser and curiouser.. or is that just right? ;)

FAIREST: IN ALL THE LAND is a murder mystery as told by the Magic Mirror—starring Cinderella and featuring many fan favorite characters such as Snow White, Rose Red, Bigby Wolf, Briar Rose, Frau Totenkinder, Goldilocks and many more.

Red Riding Hood Revived, Reinvented, Reconsidered & All the Rage (A Lecture by Maria Tatar TOMORROW/Wed night)

Just a quick re-blog of Ms. Tatar's poster for her upcoming lecture tomorrow evening. I wasn't aware that Red Riding Hood was our current "it" girl (again) but Ms. Tatar is a pro at identifying and predicting trends in fairy tales so I'm curious as to why Red is in the spotlight. Wish I could go!

On Wishing For Children When Magic Is Around (& the Consequences Thereof)

Snow White's mother at the window by Charles Santore

Following on from last night's post on magically assisted conceptions and births (in which we discussed Frozen and Tatterhood) I wanted to share a page (available for viewing in preview mode online) from one of the books I've been coveting wishing I could afford for quite a while now.

This brief section covers Natal Mothers in fairy tales but also discusses the bargains these want-to-be-mothers make with whomever (or whatever) magical personage is about to hear their wishing (and sighing and pleading). Obviously, these women (usually it's a woman in fairy tales who wishes a child but there have ben want-to-be-fathers as well) are just too good a target for mischief by the magically enabled beings and the deal is rarely the sort of bargain the parent expected they'd agreed to. Unfortunately, the burden of the agreement - usually in the form of a curse or weird and/or inconvenient trait (from fast-growing hair to narcolepsy to being half-animal or extremely ugly or extremely stupid) - falls on, not the parent, but the child who is born under the effects (side effects?) of the "gift".* Poor kiddos! Makes for good stories though.

While the section isn't completely relevant to my post yesterday there's still so much interesting information, I thought anyone who was intrigued might like to read it for themselves.

Hans (my) hedgehog & his mother by Jessica Boehman

The book this excerpt is from is The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales, edited by Donald Haase. There are currently three volumes, each of which sells for over $100. The e-book volume of 3 is around $300 (!!!! choke !!!!) and I'll be wanting the paperback/hardcover... O.o

                      

 

One of the days I'll win the lottery find a way to get myself a copy of the volumes and finally feel like I'm better on the way to having a decent tale type research library.... (Just as soon as I get my own Aarne-Thompson copy, complete with supplementals for the folkloric sections of the world that were kind of skipped over as well...  And NO! I did NOT say I would give up my first born for these! Just to be absolutely clear to any mischievously magical onlookers..!)

* I should note here, that sometimes that curse is the simplest but worst ever in that the mother doesn't get to be with her child at all, and, like Snow White, the offspring is left motherless which is a very hard curse to rise above indeed.

"Frozen"s 3rd Trailer Is Worth Seeing + A Brief Discussion of Sisters in Fairy Tales (But Especially Tatterhood...)

I know, I know - ANOTHER Frozen post! But when you see the trailer and what I'm commenting on, hopefully you'll see why. (And, if it were me, this is TOTALLY a marketing angle I would take to boast how Disney is creating a new fairy tale... even if it isn't exactly the case.)

First, take a look (source):

See what I mean?

No longer is it (just) a goofy, perhaps amusing, icy adventure film with a bit of fantasy that promises to be fairly forgettable. Now we get to the meat of the film - and a real reason for wanting to watch. While I'm still not convinced of a real fairy tale in the mix, there is an aspect this trailer made me think of that I wanted to raise: sisters in fairy tales.

Art by Brittney Lee

Yeah, yeah, I know they've been blaring a TWO FEMALE LEADS trumpet but the sisterhood bond aspect of the movie has been rather smothered to date. As I've been looking around through fan blogs and those excitedly anticipating Frozen and producing fan art, apart from the "what cool magic stuff could a snow queen do?" aspect, it's the sisterhood angle that's grabbing people: this is what Disney should have been pushing in the marketing all along! Why? Because there really aren't that many sister-LOVES-sister tales out there (lotsa hate, notsomuch love) and that's kind of special.

Did you even see this teeny little poster-thing on "sisters day"? >>>>>>
Me neither.

When it comes to sisters in fairy tales, if you're like me, you immediately think of Snow White and Rose Red, or of jealous sisters (or step sisters), or sisters who spend most of their time breaking curses on their enchanted brothers (Wild Swans, Brother & Sister etc). A sister breaking a curse for another SISTER though (or, in Frozen's case, helping a sister comes to terms with a gift/curse) - and one that she actually loves - is quite unusual.

Admittedly, I do not have good access to an ATU catalog and do not have a black belt (or a belt of any color really) in researching said tale-type systems as Heidi over at SurLaLune does *sensei-bows toward Heidi* (so go check her site and blog and send her your AT-tale type questions because she is the research queen for those) but on looking at types of sister tales I did go down an interesting path of magically assisted and/or cursed births, resulting in siblings that differed from each other.

TATTERHOOD by Victoria Maderna

Usually it's a Royal (and usually a Queen) who is having trouble (or impatience) conceiving and asks for help from a magical creature or fairy or makes some claim of wishing they would happily deal with "fill in some form of weirdness here" as long as they could have a child of their very own. In this case we end up with characters like pint-sized Thumbelina, magically-haired Rapunzel (maybe THAT was the reason for her long hair - although not an assisted conception it was essentially an assisted pregnancy) or one angelically beautiful child and one truly ugly/deformed child.

The one tale this does remind me of is Tatterhood, which is in the closest ATU type (711) I could find to describe this type of tale (essentially, "the beautiful and ugly twins").

I love this tale! Apart from being one of the tales collected by one of my favorite tale collection teams, Asbjørnsen and Moe, this tale is about a very strong girl and quite the feminist tale (which is especially interesting since Frozen is bringing up so many of those very issues). You can read the story HERE.

As usual in these curse/magical interventions where babies are concerned, the situation of ugliness/deformity/stupidity is "cured" and Tatterhood (once she's done with galloping to the rescue of her beheaded sister on a goat with a spoon for a weapon, vanquishes a bunch of trolls and gotten a promise of love from a prince despite her ugliness) is transformed into a princess even more beautiful than her (now restored) and much loved twin (although, really, by that point she was doing just fine in all respects and didn't need transforming... but that's just my little beef with the ending).

Tatterhood cosplay (!) by Tatter-Hood

Although in Frozen neither Anna or Elsa is ugly (wouldn't THAT be a different movie!!), Elsa is older than Anna (how much MORE difficult would animating actual twins be like?) and it would appear that Elsa doesn't lose her freezing abilities so much as learns to control them (or share them), there is that "cursed sister" aspect to the movie in which the love (and stubborn persistence) of a sibling makes all the difference.


It would seem there aren't a whole lot of these type of tales where one sister (in Tatterhood it's the cursed one) rescues the other but these are pretty striking tales when you do read them.

Having that bonded sisterhood aspect in Snow White and Rose Red is, I believe, one of the big reasons that tale (that is, SW & RR) is so popular in the first place. And the same could be said for Frozen if it follows that route (which the latest trailer definitely indicates).

These tales are fairly unique and stand out, not only among the fairy tale canon (at least in the European collections), but in popular tales in general and THAT would be something worth mentioning. (Are you listening Disney?)

The Green Book Of Oz (A Project We Want To See Completed!)

The Green Book of Oz by Alessandro Previti (An indiegogo Project)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends of Fairy Tales, I'd like you to meet the very talented Alessandro Previti!

Although you may feel as if there are Oz projects everywhere you look with the 75th celebrations looming (and there are), I promise you this one is worth your time and, hopefully, your support. It's also a very nice and different way to celebrate a milestone anniversary of America's most famous fairy tale.

From Previti Art Studio's Facebook page with many updates on the project

While many current projects seek to update The Wizard of Oz by "cutesifying" characters (eg for toys) or aiming for the dark side (like the video America McGee has been developing) - and while many of these are beautiful - Previti's approach is gallery-worthy fine art with a refreshingly different take.

Take a look at the video explaining the project:

Although we all think "Emerald City" when looking at green + Oz, Previti has taken an eco-friendly view to the idea and will be printing it on specially recycled paper in an eco-friendly manner, complete with the following certificates:

           

The art is also unique, taking the styles of Marc Chagall, Giacomo Balla* and a sort of modern-meets-impressionist-meets-stained-glass approach (among others), making the art (and different aspects of the story) accessible to children without "dumbing it down". The resulting pieces are gentle, pleasing to look at, layered in meaning and encourage further adventures in art and imagination. I'm so impressed by the effect that I'll be sharing some of these images with my son's first grade class in our future art lessons together**. As a bonus I get to share a fairy tale the school system won't have a problem with me referencing! :)

Previti is no stranger to fairy tales either. One look at the Previti Art Studio Facebook page will tell you he has a long time fascination with them and you'll see peeks of his Le Petit Chaperon Rouge project as well (HERE). There's a lovely video for that HERE too.

Pages from Previti's Green Book of Oz

Although I'm late to finding out about the Green Book of Oz indiegogo project (a crowd funded site very similar to Kickstarter) and the clock is a-ticking down to the final days of the deadline (8 DAYS TO GO!), if all the readers here just put in one dollar we could easily see this beautiful book become a reality. Note: Though the indiegogo page appears in Euros, if you click on contribute, after you enter the "Euro amount", you'll be taken to a PayPal button, which will convert and process any currency automatically for you (as a guide, currently, $10USD= ~ €14).

Here is an excerpt from Alessandro Previti's statement on the Indiegogo site. You can see how his personal sentiments are clearly reflected in his art:

My name is Alessandro Previti, I'm an illustrator and a dreamer. 

While illustrating the story of Oz I had in mind parents and children reading the book together, enjoying the vibrant, expressive pictures.  

The main inspiration to draw these illustrations were children and their artistic expression. I studied hundreds of children’s drawings and combined them with the style of italian futurism. 

The resulting pictures offer the joy of vivid colours and leave a wide space for deeper contemplation.  “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, one of the most charming and enchanting stories ever written is in the public domain. It is a great privilege for independent artists to self publish this masterpiece of fairy tales gifting it a personal touch.

Personally, I'd love to see this book on my own library shelf and share it with my son. The art style is so different to many children's illustrated books today and I love the idea of exposing him to children-friendly creativity and imagination outside the typical.

Thank you Mr. Previti! We wish you every success with your beautiful project and hope to see your book soon.

* The links take you to Pinterest pages full of examples of each artist's work so you can see some of Previti's style inspirations.
** Note: I'm not a regular school teacher. I volunteer and also teach art lessons through the school's Art Appreciation program. My aim is to help make sure the students (including my son) have exposure to - and opportunity to create - Art. :)

"Take Back Halloween" Baba Yaga (& A Request for Some Love for Baba's Oracle Please!)

This new-ish site, Take Back Halloween, was put together for all the girls and women who are tired of dressing up their daughters (and themselves) as sexy-somethings for Halloween and would like a range of non-traditional suggestions (along with tips on how to put together each look).

My favorite of the excellent lot, which includes a lot of historical women and mythic females (along with Persephone, Medusa and the Morrigan) is Baba Yaga (surprise, surprise). You can see the main idea in the image at the head of the post but there is an excellent list of suggestions on how to pull off a Baba Yaga witch-look as opposed to a traditional witch look on the website HERE. (This has me wishing I'd bought that skull necklace I saw in Michael's Craft Supplies a few weeks ago!)

Baba Yaga, Vasilisa & Chicken Legged Hut by Forest Rogers
(the hut features in top image as well)

You could also have a mortar & pestle bottom half, hold a glowing skull lamp... so many variations are possible here. And if you could make your hair (or a wig) like the sculpture's at right... wow!)

And speaking of Baba Yaga, more than a few of you have come to appreciate her even more since she's been generously bestowing advice here regularly (check the "Ask Baba Yaga" tag to see if you've missed any).

The Baba's oracle, Taisia Kitaiskaia, is currently on a well-deserved break so I wanted to ask a special favor of all of you who have appreciated/enjoyed/are-in-awe-of her posts:

With the Baba's reputation being what it is, I'm not surprised that the comments and questions have been on the fewer side (who wants to annoy Baba Yaga?!) but in order to make sure Taisia feels both appreciated for her efforts and remains keen to continue acting as oracle for us, would you please send her a note of appreciation and/or gratitude?

You can post a supportive comment below, add to those at The Hairpin HERE or mail her privately at the following address:
AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com
Also, you've had any niggling questions you'd like to ask the Baba, please send those too! The more the merrier. You never know what will inspire Baba Yaga to utter her uncanny wisdom.

Breaking Casting News: OUAT's The Shadow (spoiler warning)

The Shadow from OUAT

Just a quickie but I assume by now, since the "character" debuted at the end of Season 2, that you know about "The Shadow" in Neverland so it shouldn't be a surprise that "he" would get a voice.

The (somewhat unexpected) news (ie the "who" being unexpected, not that they gave "him" a voice) did make me think about The Shadows in fairy tales, specifically the malevolent, usually unseen-till-the-last (if at all), larger and over-arching nemesis that isn't named (from War, through to incarnations of The Morrigan) or given a specific personality.

I find this kind of character interesting because in fairy tales - and myth - Shadows (with a capital "s") can usually be defeated but they're so large, such forces of nature - are, in fact, often a personification of nature - that the vanquishing is only ever temporary. Sometimes it's for the lifetime of the hero/heroine, sometimes it's for centuries but it's part of that whole cycle of life thing and one of the reasons they are a necessary archetype in fairy tales. Often fairy tales are the smaller stories happening within a period of a Shadowed time or land and conquering the Shadow isn't part of the story at all.

Where I think modern retelling of tales often fall down is they 1) feel the need to make it so big/global/destroy-the-world type stakes that it MUST be faced NOW and 2) as such they must destroy ALL trace of the Big Evil, so that it will NEVER rise again, but this upsets the balance of the world in ways that are rarely dealt with.

Anyway, we shall see (probably at the end of this season) what happens in OUAT's Neverland with this oh-so-powerful Nemesis. Will he be forever destroyed? Or will he simply change form? (As energy does, since energy can't actually be destroyed, only transformed.)

For those who don't mind spoilers, finding out who the voice of The Shadow will be might make you think about shadows in a different way too...
✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line - NOTE: SPOILER AHEAD! ) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

NYC ComicCon: Catherynne Valente On Fairy Tales

Just thought you might like to see this little quote from New York City's ComicCon last weekend (Oct 10-13), because it's awesome:

Valente's brand new release! (love this series)

"Here's the thing about fairy tales," Catherynne M. Valente (The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two) said during one of the many panels devoted to science fiction and fantasy literature during this past weekend's New York Comic Con, held at Manhattan's Javits Convention Center. "They are the best-edited stories of all time... boiled down, espresso-like stories that go straight to the back of your reptile brain." 

Valente, coming at (the challenge for keeping things new) from the fairy tale side, made much the same point, challenging the notion that any mythological or folkloric creatures were overplayed in modern fantasy. Any creature, she suggested, could still be done in an interesting way. "Everything's already been told," she said--"but you haven't told everything."

Stories that directly coffee-jolt your lizard brain. Seriously. Awesome. I have to quote her sometime soon.

Reported from NYC ComicCon by Shelf Awareness. (Emphasis in bold is mine.)

As a bonus, here's the lovely trailer for Valente's (AWESOME) Fairyland Series:

"How To Draw Grimm's Dark Tales" (Walter Foster)

I recently discovered this had been released and, as a long time fan of the Walter Foster "how to draw" series (they're some of the only technique books that actually made me feel like drawing) I was pretty excited to see this title added.

Unfortunately, I'm not confident on the drawing techniques and instruction shown here. (No offense meant to the artist - it's just that with Walter Foster books I have extremely high expectations.) Usually the art is of a "more seasoned" quality, in both style and mood for the subject, as well as technique, than what I can see in the (albeit few) previews.

BUT I can almost certainly vouch for the writing (which is where all the juicy fairy tale info and extras are).

Merrie Destefano is a truly excellent writer who's own work draws largely from myth, folktale and fairy tales and I've have read enough of her work to feel confident to recommend anything she's written to others, sight unseen. Her work for Walter Foster is different of course, in that it's usually non-fiction but she's obviously still a storyteller and can get you excited about the subject being drawn just from her words. Despite my disappointment in the art itself, I'm quite excited to see what she ended up writing for How To Draw Grimm's Dark Tales - Fables and Folklore.

You should note this book appears aimed at people who believe fairy tales to be all sugar, light and happily-ever-after-ed and haven't considered that these tales may have a darker side than they're aware of so while the information may not be new to many readers here, it's bound to be entertainingly enlightening to that crowd.

Here's an excerpt of what to expect inside:

Dark fairy tales and legends have been passed down orally from generation to generation for centuries. Today, these tales have penetrated every aspect of pop culture and media—from cinema and TV shows to books and theatre. While fairy tales have often been sanitized and tweaked for children, their true origins are dark, edgy, grisly, and often full of malevolence. How to Draw Grimm’s Dark Tales, Fables & Folklore guides artists through the process of drawing, painting, and digitally illustrating the dark and mysterious characters of legend and lore—good and bad. 

...Throughout the book, informative sidebars and introductions reveal the history of each character, as well as the origin of their grim tales, symbolism, and variations in their stories. How to Draw Grimm’s Dark Tales, Fables & Folklore is full of creative resources and encouragement for beginning and intermediate artists alike. With its varied cast of characters, comprehensive instruction, and fascinating peek into the tales themselves, this book is sure to kindle artistic imagination.

I only wish we'd had some different illustration examples of Grimm's Dark Tales so we could enjoy the visuals just as much as the writing.

Breaking News: "A Tale Dark & Grimm" in the Movie-Making

FilmNation is making Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark & Grimm into a movie (I know there are MANY people who have been waiting for this to happen).

Coraline director Henry Selick has signed on to direct A Tale Dark & Grimm, a live-action film based on Adam Gidwitz's children's novel.Inspired by the Grimm fairy tales, the story follows two children who run away from their own dark fairy tale in hopes of finding a happier life, but they end up landing in eight other terrible tales. (THR)

Henry Selick didn't just helm Coraline but also A Nightmare Before Christmas (love that movie!) and James & the Giant Peach, so adapting children's stories isn't a new thing. This one, however, is live-action so I'm curious to see how he goes about it.

The book (and series) have almost been begging for someone to option them and transform them to the big screen and unless Selick and co. do a really bad job on the adaptation, it's going to be a big winner for the studio (and fairy tales everywhere).

Here's the synopsis in case you haven't read the book (FYI: you should fix that right away!):

In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after.

...and the simple, but effective, trailer from Penguin, in case you haven't seen it either:

And, if you're not yet convinced this is worth your time (and that you should read it BEFORE the movie comes out) I am including an excerpt from a review from The New York Times:

“A Tale Dark & Grimm,” by Adam Gidwitz, is something else entirely. In fact, it’s unlike any children’s book I’ve ever read. If “Reckless” is an old-school fairy tale fantasy, and “The Grimm Legacy” is a modern one, “A Tale Dark & Grimm” is a completely postmodern creation. It plunks Hansel and Gretel into a succession of other, lesser-known Grimm tales — “Faithful Johannes,” “The Three Golden Hairs,” “Brother and Sister” and more — but creates a narrative through-line that wends through all the tales like a trail of bread crumbs. Parents do horrible things; they fail their children, and they kill them. But Hansel and Gretel become true heroes — they go on a quest; they save others; they come home; they learn to understand their parents’ burdens and failings. Heavy. And yet “A Tale Dark & Grimm” is really, really funny. The first line is “Once upon a time, fairy tales were awesome.” 

The tone ricochets between lyrical and goofy. There’s an intrusive, Snicket-y narrator who warns the reader every time gore is imminent, apologizing, urging the reader to hustle the little kids out of the room. And it all works. As the story progresses, it gets less and less faithful to the source material and becomes its own increasingly rich and strange thing. A Child’s Garden of Metafiction! It reminds me of Eudora Welty’s “Robber Bridegroom,” in which bits of fairy tales, myths, legends and Southern folklore are stitched together into a marvelous new . . . something. 

Gosh - so many new fairy tale movies in the works. Still! *pig-in-mud grin*