Erstwhile: Untold Tales From the Brothers Grimm

Erstwhile: Untold Tales From the Brothers Grimm (2012) Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy, Elle Skinner

As a huge fan of folk and fairy tales, I’ve had Erstwhile on my RSS feed for awhile now, and I was vaguely aware that they’d published a printed collection of their tales, but when it popped up on Amazon, I immediately grabbed it up.

I won’t say that “Untold Takes from the Brother’s Grimm” was true for me, as I have read all of the tales here before. But I can read folk tales again and again, and the treatment given the tales here (the are rewritten and drawn as comics) is lovely.

The tales are: “Maid Maleen”, “The Bird, the Mouse, and the Sausage”, “The Little Shroud”, “The Farmer’s Clever Daughter”, “The Old Man & His Grandson”, “A Tale with a Riddle”, “The Sweet Porridge”, and “All Fur”.

I actually own a hardback copy of “The Old Man & His Grandson”–though when I searched for it on Amazon, I WAS INSTEAD DISTURBED.

Several of the tales–as would be expected from the traditional Grimm tales, are quite dark and sad. Other stories were written lighter and more amusing than I remember the original tales being, which is perfectly fine, because I like funny.

They also have one of my all time favorite stories, “The Farmer’s Clever Daughter” which I adore. For in both “The Farmer’s Clever Daughter”, “All Fur” and (to a lesser extent) “Maid Maleen” the girls in these stories rescue themselves. “Maid Maleen” is somewhat problematic, and there are other versions of that tale I prefer, but they did a pretty good job of changing the bride’s doom from being caused by her ugliness to being caused by her actions. But it’s still not one of my favorite tales.

If you love folk and fairy tales, I recommend checking out the Erstwhile site, and then if you like what you see, buying the book to support them.
Rating: 8/10

Published by Strawberry Comics

 
 

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