"Frozen" (Sub)Fandoms Transform Elsa Into The New "Girl On Fire"

Fan made poster by nickart

Note: Yes, I was going to include this in my list of back-up articles but realized I'd referred to this in my previous post on Frozen and thought it deserved it's own slot, considering the amount of information and the linkage I wanted to include. As such, though, the first line links to the main article that has a really nice summary of the meme and it's popularity.

Frozen fan art and sequel speculation leads to trend of portraying Elsa as a fiery or Phoenix-like queen and the new 'Girl On Fire'.

It was inevitable that someone would head down this path but it's proven to be a "hotter trend' (groan) than expected. 

I'm sure the popularity of Katniss in her flame dress (from Hunger Games/ Catching Fire) and Daenerys, Mother of Dragons (from Game of Thrones) have helped the idea along but there's no doubt people just love this idea. 

I like the speculations of the phoenix-like character (who has a lot of similarities to Cinderella if you read them) and the This Could Have Been Frozen POC Tumblr crowd are loving this too, showing ethnic, asian and desert-homed version of Elsa. Some of it is silly and fun. Some of it seriously works.

Over the last few weeks, fans have spontaneously evolved a thriving sub-fandom around an alternate universe (AU) version of Elsa, the tormented snow queen, in which she has the ability to control the element of fire instead of ice. Replacing her austere blue and white color palette for every possible shade of red, the fandom has churned out fanart, song lyrics, GIF sets, and fanfiction devoted to the fiery queen. 

Do a Tumblr search for "Frozen fire" or "Elsa fire" and you'll be amazed at just how much there is on this theme. People have redone Let It Go as Let 'Em Burn, complete with altered animation & animated fire footage... (it's very well done from lyrics to animation but the singing is a bit hard on the ears, so consider yourself warned). There's even a nouveau-style fire queen t-shirt.

I find it really interesting that it's my home country, Australia, that has really cottoned on to this meme. While we do get snow in a few places, many Aussies haven't experienced snow and ice on the sort of scale Frozen shows but we're extremely familiar with sunburn and fire.. 

From a dedicated Aussie Tumblr:

“Mimis are fairy-like beings of Arnhem Land in the folklore of the Indigenous Australians of northern Australia.
They are described as having extremely thin and elongated bodies, so thin as to be in danger of breaking in case of a high wind. To avoid this, they usually spend most of their time living in rock crevices. They are said to have taught the Aborigines of Australia how to hunt, prepare kangaroo meat and use fire. They are like humans but they live in a different dimension.”

— also because Mimis. They’re the closest thing this country has to the trolls in Frozen.

I must admit, ever since seeing the amazing animation of the flame-Esmerelda in Hunchback of Notre Dame, I have really loved the idea of a fire elemental or phoenix-like character. 

There's so much potential to play with art on such a theme: lava castles, phoenix birds, dragons, all those scary-but-real fire phenomenons of nature...

Fantasia 2000 did a jaw-dropping job of transforming Mt. St. Helen's into a Firebird but it's not quite the same as a character with a story arc, conflict and various motivations. 

What do you think? Would you like to see a fairy tale fire heroine (or hero)? 

Fairy Tale News Hound Digs Up More Than She Can Chew, er, Post (aka Article Roundup From Between the Coffee Stains in a Reporter's Notebook)

It's no secret that I barely get to a quarter of the fairy tale news stories I dig up and there are always a good handful I regret not sharing so I'm going to try something and we'll see how it goes.I'm going to list a group of stories I haven't had time to post on that I think are worth checking out, giving you links to the various key articles and web pages so you can both be aware of these things happening and research them yourself if they catch your interest. 

This won't be uber-regular as it could turn into a column all by itself (!) but from time to time, hopefully I can pass on a plateful of fairy tale goodies that you can follow up on at your leisure.

My big challenge, considering I'm already interested in them, is to keep my summaries brief and concise so this post doesn't turn into an encyclopedic-sized essay.... 

(Note: Most of these are from last week and any events mentioned are still running/exhibiting.)

• Tolkien Medieval and Modern: On Fragments, Soup, and Rapunzel

Beren and Luthien by Helena Panassol 

From a blog that, studies and critiques Tolkien's work comes a parallel with Rapunzel:

"...the Silmarillion presents a reconstruction of the story of Rapunzel, in which Luthien, trapped in a “wooden house” at the top of “the greatest of all the trees,” causes “her hair to grow to a great length,” and “of the strands… twine[s] a rope” and “climb[s] from her prison” (Silmarillion 203). "

I wish it expanded on it a little more but there's enough there for you to start your won research if you're intrigued. 

• Crazy (and possibly-wrong) predictions made from the new Maleficent banner poster

A fun post with some silly thoughts that also points out the two-sided nature of the banner and that the dual (and dueling) sides of Maleficent that are likely to be explored in the movie. This does appear to be the driving force of the movie but the article also kind of want to make a whole list of more silly predictions for fun now too. :) The article also touches briefly on the discomfort being felt by money-makers on Wall Street at the darkness of the film (which is the key talking point about the movie this week).

"... if you didn’t already predict a rosy reception to Sleeping Beauty: Dark Side Edition, you can start placing your bets...""... the structure of the poster symbolizes Malificent’s inner struggle: one side is dark and thorny, and the other is lush and community-oriented..."

• "Wicked" (Live Action) Movie Has Started Gearing Up, Though Nothing Is Official Yet

Try not to get TOO excited just yet... except it's hard not to perk your ears up when the composer is already so enthusiastic.

"..."Wicked" composer Stephen Schwartz... revealed that the "Wizard of Oz" origin story has already "started gearing up" for the big screen. Although, he admitted that there are still no concrete plans for the Wicked movie adaptation. However, after years of false starts, it seems that this year could possible the year for "Wicked" in the big screen.
"... his creative team are already thinking about what to consider in order to do so.
"What are we going to change?" Schwartz said. "What are we going to keep? How do you use a whole new language and medium to tell the story? [We can] really look at it again and say, 'Oh, we can do this, and we've always wanted to do that and we couldn't onstage, but we can in a movie.' We're actually having a blast."

• Weird Science: Can A Frog Turn Into A Prince? How Many Lies Could Pinocchio Tell Before It Became Lethal?

Third year natural science undergrads ask these questions (and more in the same vein) seriously and come up with some interesting answers.

"Pinocchio could only sustain 13 lies in a row before the maximum upward force his neck could exert cannot sustain his head and nose. The head’s overall centre of mass shifts over 85 metres after 13 lies, and the overall length of the nose is 208 metres."Lengthy, extensive lies are advised against, for the health and well-being of Pinocchio." 

"...It is theoretically possible to gain enough energy for the transformation of a frog to a prince from the kinetic energy of air alone."However, extraction of such amount of energy is practically impossible for present science, as it would require extracting all kinetic energy from the air molecule."This would result in an environment of absolute zero temperature. While solar heating would slowly provide the air with energy again, the health of the prince/frog and any other person (princess) in the area cannot be assured.

(A separate article HERE on Rapunzel's hair - what type of hair it would have to be, how strong, anchor points etc)

• Red Caps: New Fairy Tales for Out Of the Ordinary Readers by Steve Berman

A brief but good introductory review of this fairy tale anthology that lives on the dark side of the border.

Red Caps might be a rock band. Or they might be something more sinister, a fey source of sounds that are but the backdrop to thrills and misadventures. These thirteen stories provide readers jaded by the traditional, Old World fairy tales with tempting new stories that will entice bored readers from their suburban ennui. Closets are waiting to be explored. Escape from work camp leads to a dangerous encounter on a wet road. That high school year book is magical and might be mocking you…or helping you find love. And isn’t love one of the central premises of the fairy tale? 

These teenage boys and girls need not fear that their love has no worth, because Steve Berman has written for them princesses who love maidens and adorkable students who have wondrous and smart boyfriends. Readers can be assured that, if the tale does not end happily, it ends most memorably.

• "The Mermaid and the Shoe" and "The Mermaid's Shoe" double book review

Both are inspired by Andersen's mermaid but they take their own journeys.
Cate from Something to Read for the Train also had a recent review worth reading (HERE) on the first book as well.

"Not every little mermaid has to follow in the wake of Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tale. Two new mermaids with tales all their own swim to the surface in “The Mermaid and the Shoe,” written and illustrated by K.G. Campbell, and “The Mermaid’s Shoes,” written and illustrated by Sanne te Loo. These modern mermaids make for a refreshing and amusing departure from their famous predecessor."

• Who Brought the Filipino Folklore to NBC's Grimm? (Not for the faint of heart.)

Sergeant Wu, a character not (currently) "clued in" to the world of the Other on NBC's Grimm has to deal with seeing an Aswang - a fascinating Filipino folklore addition to the world folklore rearing its head on Grimm these day. Scary as all hell, we still like seeing folklore and fairy tales from all over the globe appearing in our modern multi-cultural world.

"A big thanks to Filipino-American actor Reggie Lee! The Filipino folklore ruled in the United States TV ratings which additionally emphasizes Filipino-American actor Reggie Lee, who plays Sergeant Wu on supernatural TV series “Grimm”. “Mommy Dearest” is the fourteenth episode of Season 3 of Grimm..... In Reggie’s interview, he related his part in helping create the story, how he gave the writers three mythical Pinoy creatures to choose from, and they wound up picking the aswang. “Binigay ko yung manananggal, yung dwende saka tiktik. But they really, really fell for the tiktik. So I was really happy that they stayed true to the Filipino story”, he said."

• Theater: A Mermaid Tale to Ward of Racism and Fascism? (staged by India's Theatre Nisha)

A very interesting use of the tale - read the excerpt (& the article) for a brief overview. The link above on Theater Nisha takes you to their production photos on Facebook.

Theatre Nisha’s version though, is not as happy as Anderson’s, reveals Sunandha. Where in the book she becomes a ‘daughter of the air’, on stage dies of a broken heart. “We wanted to give a context for the mermaid - a contrast and, at the same time, draw parallels to her story with modern day incidents,” explains the director.
On stage, Ariel not only rebels against what she is expected to do, but her actions are a metaphor for several incidents relating to women and their safety. “Through Ariel, we are confronting issues of honor killing, racism, fascism and maybe a little bit of jingoism that’s gotten a hold of us these days,” she says.
The characters are quite fluid – no one actor portrays the mermaid all by herself..."

• Article: The Colors in Fairy Tales by Seven Miles of Steel Thistles

Snow White's Apple
by Benjamin Lacombe

An article that caught my eye and stayed with me this week, about colors in illustrations contrasted with the mention of specific colors in fairy tales, as well as the conciseness of language used in fairy tales as opposed to retellings. Reminds me of discussions on the SurLalune boards.

"A fairytale does not have to try hard.  In keeping everything simple, it also keeps everything fresh. ‘Close by the King’s castle lay a great, dark forest’ leaves almost everything to your imagination, and then comes the ‘old lime tree’ and the cool well, and that’s as much as anyone needs to know.  A novelist might add a description of the well, providing it with a carved marble parapet or a rustic stone wall.  It might be beautifully written and very fine – but in a fairytale, it would merely get in the way....Colours in fairytales are strong, simple, basic, and meaningful.... White, black and red are meaningful colours because they are rare in nature and therefore noticeable. White is the colour of innocence, the colour of an untrodden fall of snow under which the whole landscape is transformed. A white dove is an emblem of peace, a black raven a signifier of wisdom. In some variants ofSnow-White, it is a raven which the queen sees against the snow, a more likely and a sharper contrast than an ebony window-frame. Black is unusual. Most birds are brownish: even today with our dulled attention to nature, we notice black crows and white swans.  Before chemical dyes, black was an expensive colour for clothes: it stood out: most people could not afford to wear it. And red of course is the most meaningful of all colours, the most emotionally charged.  Red is the colour that accompanies childbirth, wounds, war, accidents. Red is the stuff of life and death.... Colours in fairytales aren’t decoration, they aren’t even ‘just’ descriptive. They carry information.  They are a form of emphasis. And they can be relied upon. A golden head which rises to the surface of a well may be strange, but won't be evil. ..."

• 1908: Costumes for the Blue Bird at the Moscow Art Theater

A collection of photos I haven't seen all together before. Some of it is that odd-vintage style but some of it is really wonderful. 

Seeing it all together, gives you a good idea of the mood this particular production evoked in the audience.

“The Blue Bird is a 1908 play by Belgian Maeterlinck. It premiered at Constantin Stanislavski’s Moscow Art Theatre.  

The story is about a girl, Mytyl, and her brother Tyltyl seeking happiness, represented by The Blue Bird, aided by the good fairy Bérylune.”

• STC (Sydney Theater Company)'s Pinocchio is a beautifully designed, upbeat, musical spectacular. (April 11 to May 4th)

This looks like a lot of fun. Unfortunately I'm currently on the wrong continent...

Pulling no punches, this production is designed for a world raised on American idol. From the original fairy-tale Myers and O’Brien have created a 21st century music theatre spectacular for all ages. Conceived by the Windmill Theatre and the multi-Helpmann Award winning creative team behind last years hit play School Dance, this very physical, funny and heartfelt musical comedy looks set to accomplish that rare and wonderful feat – breaking new ground on a story we all thought we knew!

• Disney teams up with HSN (Home Shopping Network) for exclusive and high(er) end movie-related merchandise for Maleficent, Cinderella and The Hundred-Foot Journey.

The promise of exclusive behind-the-scenes and making-of movie content is quite tempting to go check out, especially because... MALEFICENT!

“We’re about content-driven retail. That’s the beauty of our business model.”...Disney welcomed HSN’s fashion director and other executives on set to gather inspiration for the movie’s aesthetics via conversations with the art department, costume designers and other crew members. That intel was shared with HSN’s merchandise and marketing teams, as well as its go-to designers, who put together an exclusive collection comprising curated items as well as products designed specifically for the event.... Following the 24-hour launch event later that month, HSN will air Countdown to Maleficent specials in primetime every night leading up to the film’s May 30 release. ...(HSN and Disney) indicate that the programming will build upon the precedent set by their Oz partnership, which featured props, set pieces and trailers from the film as well as appearances by star Mila Kunis and the movie’s makeup artist."

UPDATE 4-12-14: I neglected to add a link to HSN in case you want to check them out. Apologies! You can find the site HERE and this HERE is where news on the Maleficent merchandise & specials will be updated. If I get any advance news I will be sure to share that with you too.

• Harry Potter movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, confirmed to now be a trilogy.

Fan Made poster (source)

Slightly older news but if you haven't heard it yet, you need to know: Yes, the Harry Potter spin-off will now be  "three megamovies" and J.K. Rowling will be doing the screenplay (it's her screenwriting debut). 

And check out the fan-made Harry Potter-styled moving poster! I have a strong feeling we are on the verge of "gif posters" as being the new official advertising medium as well. You heard it here first.. ;) 

"That is when Warner announced that Ms. Rowling had agreed to adapt for the big screen her “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” a 2001 book billed as one of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbooks. Three megamovies are planned. 

The main character will be a “magizoologist” named Newt Scamander. The stories, neither prequels or sequels, will start in New York about seven decades before the arrival of Mr. Potter and his pals."

• Cymbeline is getting a modern reboot in film form. 

Known as Shakespeare's fairy tale or a Roman-era Snow White, this film is currently in production with no release date yet announced. Although this is older news because it's been happening for a while now, I haven't mentioned it yet as details have taken a really long time to trickle in, a trailer released late last year has been removed from everywhere and it's still pretty under the radar overall. It would appear, though, that we're finally getting closer to seeing the film finished and released. 

The cast is stellar, including Dakota Johnson as Imogen (that's the Snow White character), Milla Jovovich as Queen, Ethan Hawke as Iachimo and Ed Harris as Cymbeline. 

(See the link on the title for a little more information and the 'reboot' link for film style details.)

Phew! I'm going to stop there as that's an awful lot for one post but this is by no means everything happening with fairy tales in the last week. Seriously. I'll bring you some more news tomorrow...

OUAT Portraits by Adam Osgood (& A Question For You All...)

OUAT's Snow by Adam Osgood

An illustration post for you today, with some interesting Once Upon A Time fairy tale character portraits by Adam Osgood.

The thing most interesting about these is that they are so "illustrative", even more than caricatures of the actors playing their characters. This gives us some very different illustrations of familiar fairy tale characters and, I think, gives another possible perspective on these archetypes than the ABC show does. It's kind of cool.

      

                

I've included quite a few different portraits (you can find even more on his website HERE and his Tumblr blog HERE) and although I probably don't need to label them for you I should point out there are a few characters with more than one portrait. Snow has two (the one at the head and the other in white/grey diamonds), the Mirror is shown in both genie and mirror form and Belle is shown in country girl mode as well as in her traveling cloak (one of my favorites).

 

The Evil Queen actually has a whole page of different looks! (You can find them on Mr. Osgood's site & Tumblr, linked above), something which is really interesting when considering archetypes. Pictured are the Snow White's Evil Queen/Stepmother look (above next to her current nemesis), The Evil Queen taking on the guise of Ursula (because, if you remember, there was a real one revealed as a punch line), and the one in the hat is Regina/Evil Queen in hunt mode. I think we first see this version of her in the Hansel and Gretel episode, although there was a separate  - and wonderfully creepy - blind witch in that OUAT story too.

I really should post more on Once Upon A Time - there really is so much to delve into regarding use of fairy tales and fairy tale characters and motifs, even if it's not your preferred type of show. Now that the current season has brought the Wicked Witch of the West to life, complete with Oz additions and metaphors, the season is much better and richer in lore than the Neverland half (which consisted of a LOT of wandering around in Peter Pan's jungle LOST. Yes, exactly like that old show). Even though we've had essentially a third (?) "reset" of people stuck somewhere and missing memories etc this iteration is proving quite interesting... (and that's all I'll write about re my opinion on the plot lines of OUAT for now).

                                  

I'm considering the idea of a chat board/forum type of thing to add to the blog, so people who want to discuss episodes from different fairy tale series (specifically OUAT and Grimm at present) and various TV specials have a place to talk specifically to fans/viewers who are also fellow fairy tale friends. Although it's late in the season this time round there's still  to talk about!

What do you think? Is that a feature you'd enjoy and/or find useful?

Film: "The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga"

I've been hoping I'd find a way to see this film so I could post on it properly but I can't see that happening for a while yet so it's high time I let you all know about it, in case you get the chance to., especially since a trailer was uploaded just a few weeks ago.

Note: all artwork, animation and photography in this post is from the film, production blog or official website.

It definitely seems to me that witches of the fairy tale kind in general are having a come back and that includes Baba Yaga. Though this film was released in 2013, it's making the critic rounds right now and the response has been overwhelmingly thumbs up.

Independent filmmaker Jessica Oreck has a name you may have heard of if you're in film and indie film circles. She's the creator of that curious and very different entomological film "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo". While "Baba Yaga" is being touted as even more experimental due to use of mixed media using aspects of animation to blend two stories together, the familiarity of Baba Yaga and her stories might mean it's more accessible to people like us. All I've read about the film, themes, synopsis and treatment seems far more straight forward than "Beetle Queen" to me but then I'm someone who finds is quite comfortable with the mention of flying pestles and huts with chicken legs...

How's this for an intriguing introduction?

Deep in the forest, wedged in cracks in the bark and under the moss covered rocks, hide memories and myths. These subconscious tales, drawn from the natural world, inform the societies we build. Jessica Oreck's fantastical work combines animation, traditional storytelling and contemporary non-fiction filmmaking to recount the Slavic fable of the Witch Baba Yaga. Directed by Jessica Oreck.

I also love the summary/explanation at the official website, presented in lovely book form:

Variety just posted a really interesting and informative review of the film a couple of days ago, which was a nice surprise. Here are some excerpts:

Nature and civilization square off in Jessica Oreck’s poetic meditation-cum-documentary “The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga.” Alternating between two complementary narratives (fairy-tale and cultural-anthropological) in two languages (Russian and Polish) and two formats (animation and live-action), Oreck spins a mesmerizing web that appropriates a wealth of disparate Eastern European images — of mushrooms, farmers, falling trees and war-destroyed buildings — to illustrate its lyrical discourse.
The story Oreck tells is simple: Man, fearing nature’s wildness, builds walls against it and demonizes it in folklore. But there is another, far more violent force within man himself that, once unleashed, sends him fleeing to a wilderness that now affords sanctuary. 

...Oreck’s version of a well-known Slavic fairy tale replaces a wicked stepmother with hostile soldiers as the reason two children must venture into the woods. There they encounter Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch who flies around in a giant mortar and lives in a movable hut mounted on chicken feet. She demands near-impossible tasks of the sister and brother, threatening to eat them if they fail. But, aided by small representatives of nature — a talking mouse, cat and sparrow — the duo accomplish her bidding. Foiled, Baba Yaga must allow the children to leave, reluctantly giving them a magic comb; fleeing marauding soldiers, the boy throws the comb on the ground whereupon it transforms into an impenetrable thicket.   The siblings wander in the forest where they are reunited with their mother and all live happily ever after.
Oreck presents this fairy tale as a series of animation storyboard panels, rendered with 3D perspectives. Though these illustrations do not literally constitute animation — there is no frame-by-frame character movement linking one drawing to the next — the camera simulates storytelling by constantly roaming the panels, zooming in and out and slowly panning across surfaces.

The Polish monologue, borrowing freely from evocative poetry, musings and memoirs, encompasses a far less cohesive procession of live-action images.... 

You can read the whole review HERE.

The juxtaposition of the animation images (including those shown here) and the more documentarian-style live action scenes sounds like it would come across as very experimental, especially while watching, it seems the resulting feeling is a successful melding of the two mediums to tell a cyclic story of man vs nature and man vs man as well as nature vs society.


If so, that is exactly my impression of what it would be like to face Baba Yaga: terrifying, confusing, a personification of all things scary and fear for your life, only to realize later that she made more sense than the places and people you originally thought of as being safe because she is bigger than just a person and has a bigger purpose, whereas much of what you took for granted as being safe before, no longer is. Where you thought you were facing death in the forest, you learned to live. The world of man (and war) doesn't work like that at all - it's almost the opposite - you fight to live, only to be faced with death on many levels everywhere you go.


Clearly this is a film that is more at home in an Arthouse theater than a mainstream one (and not just because it's foreign) but then people who are drawn to fairy tales often have eclectic tastes so there's likely more than a handful of you who find this as intriguing as I do. The reviews are by-and-large people being happily surprised and drawn in more and more by the film as it goes along, when at the outset they expected to just 'survive' it for critical review purposes.

Here's the trailer, which shows the use of live action against tale-paced words. Though the animated images illustrating the fairy tale are missing, there's no doubt about the content.

Some additional recommended reviews and related articles:

• Unseen Films - Review
• Michelle J. Enemark Talks About doing the Animation For the Film
• Twitch Film: Baba Yaga... A Ravishing Meditation on Our Relationship With Nature - Review
• The Film's Production Blog
• "The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga" - Official Website

"Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer!" (Real Boy? No. Real Hero? Yes!) The Complete Collection Coming June

Back in the middle of 2009 (!) I posted on a new and innovative graphic novel, titled Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer! and was a little stunned no one had ever thought of such a wonderful idea match before. Because it works, really well. I'm not the only one who thinks so either. Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer! has garnered much critical praise as well as enthusiastic recommendations from respected comic book reviewers and online Geek kings such as Topless Robot.

There have been two volumes published since but now a new company has taken the creative team of Dusty Higgins and Van Jensen under their wings and is releasing a soft cover, French-flapped, 500+ page graphic novel of the trilogy in June this year (which is all four volumes - part three was published in two parts).

Note for fairy tale enthusiasts: a former newspaper crime reporter, writer Van Jensen is clearly drawn to fairy tales. He's also the author of Snow White: Through A Glass, Darkly.

Here's the press release:

After gathering substantial praise for their individual volumes, artist Dusty Higgins and writer Van Jensen officially join the Top Shelf family this summer with the first-ever complete collection of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer! 

Click through for more details and a 12-page preview. (Just click on the book cover image to start.)

This puppet may not be a real boy… but he just might be a real hero.

When bloodthirsty monsters invade Pinocchio’s hometown and kill his father Geppetto, Pinocchio discovers a new benefit to his magical nose: telling lies produces a never-ending supply of wooden stakes to combat the vampire hordes! Will Pinocchio be able to defeat these horrors, avenge his father, and save his friends?

Jensen (Green Lantern Corps) and Higgins (Knights of the Living Dead) present a captivating blend of comedy, horror, romance, and adventure, rooted in the original Italian novel but brought – as if by magic – to new life.

 One of YALSA’s Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens!“It’s the greatest thing I’ve read all year. And you’ll notice my nose didn’t grow one bit when I said that.” — Mark Waid“Page after page of amazement.” — Publishers Weekly“The premise for this graphic novel is really almost too good to be true… and the execution doesn’t disappoint.” — Booklist“Outstanding.” — Topless Robot“Sometimes dark, sometimes silly, but always fun, Pinocchio coming of age Batman-style is just the thing for fantasy and horror fans.” — MTV“Really, really good.” — Comics Alliance“Seriously, it’s perfect.” — Comic Book Resources

I've really enjoyed the art, the writing and ideas behind this series and am seriously considering picking up this special edition copy! As an extra incentive, Amazon currently has a pre-order price deal of over $6 off HERE.

You can check out the original trailer, which neatly shows you the art style, story concept and balance of humor and urban fantasy, HERE. Highly recommended if you like comics, urban fantasy, Pinocchio, fairy tales and being generally cool. ;)

Original Release banner

Frozen II: It's Happening (Probably. Maybe. They're Thinking About It.)

Frozen in the Style of Mucha by Yar'Tzana-Serenade

Yes, it's true! There are rumors... but that's still as concrete as it is for now.

It's becoming more and more likely that, thanks to the film's monumental success, Disney will return to Arendelle for further 'Frozen' tales.Some fans might be a tad perturbed at the thought of a sequel, because the original is so adored, but the film's directors, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, have admitted that the folks over at Disney are just as concerned. (Source)

Talk about a Frozen sequel, addressing the "discourse" of the fans is definitely happening amongst all the official-Frozen people but it's still early days of Frozen's success, historically speaking and it's still a "new movie". Though Frozen has just become the most successful animated film of all time (yep - broke the billion barrier!) it doesn't guarantee we'll be seeing sequels. It's pretty clear that any consideration of a sequel will want to avoid the (generally) lower quality writing and/or animation of the direct-to-dvd crowd. If they do take a stab at this, it's likely it will be big screen all the way.

Here's as much official word about it as was discussed in a recent interview (posted 4/4/14) the directors had with Den of Geek:

Fan made poster for Broadway Musical

We're past the age of straight to DVD sequels now, that much is thankfully clear. And obviously there's been talk about sequels to this, a musical... but how closely do you stay now as guardians of it? How do you stop The Jungle Book 2 happening to it? How do you protect these characters, or do you have to accept that it's someone else's now? 

Chris: ...I think with John Lasseter being there, he's such a guardian of the movies now... especially of Frozen, he really was such a big part of it. And the characters too. I think we'll be right there, but he's the 800 pound gorilla who says no, our characters don't do this. They don't go there. 

Jennifer: Right now, I certainly feel very protective of the characters, and it'd be very hard to see that happen. Having said that, the fans have seen different things in the film, some of which wasn't our intention, but they're responding to it, and there's a discourse going on. 

There really is. 

Jennifer: It's flattering. They're talking about our film at a deeper level than just it was good, it was bad. And that in itself means a lot. You don't want to take that away from fans. There is that balance of wanting to stay involved and protecting the characters, certainly going forward, but also liking the world that each person is making.

Basically, "yep we're thinking about it but don't get too excited, we're still feeling precious about this relatively new film." (You can read the whole interview HERE.)

Earlier this year Disney's CEO, Bob Iger, hinted that a follow-up to the animated behemoth is already in the pipeline as he told a conference call with investors that the film "has real franchise potential." (Source)

So, yes. They're definitely thinking about it. But the real question is: why am I blogging about it on a fairy tale news blog? Well Frozen has officially forever altered the way The Snow Queen will be considered; The Snow Queen as a character, the manifestation of snow, ice and Winter powers and also of the fairy tale. At least it retains the idea of strong women which is so prevalent in Hans Christian Andersen's story, though I'd love to see that connection strengthened a little more.

The Four Seasons - Tapestry artwork by Brittney Lee- Character artwork by Bill Schwab

It's a complete dream on my part, but now that the Disney-ness has been dealt with, with regard to this fairy tale rewrite, and certain cliches have been, at least, bent, if not broken in Frozen, I can see it paving the way to tap more of the original Snow Queen story and themes in a sequel, especially the idea of seasons and maturation, which is one of the reasons I really love the depiction of the Disney characters as shown in the image at the head of the post - there's more of an echo of the fairy tale than the artist probably realizes. The development art, immediately above by Disney artist Brittney Lee, shows the concept of applying the seasons to the story, themes and characters isn't foreign to them either, so you never know...

Whatever the case, Frozen and all associations with The Snow Queen (whether we like them or not) are not going away any time soon. Fan art, stories and theories are only continuing to grow and take some interesting - and fairy tale friendly directions (more about that soon, hopefully). Speculations are already growing about the film's transition/morph into a Broadway production, despite the fact that Disney has made it clear they are taking it slowly and carefully on that project and that we are unlikely to see anything for a few years yet.

So what do you think? Excited about a possible sequel? What do you think are the chances of fairy tale elements involved if there is? (And what if they're NOT from Snow Queen?)