I Hate Fairyland #5 Review

The thing about hate is it has a way of making a story that much more compelling. If something is bad enough to hate it’s worth knowing why.

This series certainly has a lot of hate in it, but is the latest issue good?

I Hate Fairlyland #5 (ImageComics)

Gertrude has been stuck in Fairyland for so long she’s practically lost her mind. The people of Fairlyland aren’t too happy Gertrude is still around and the queen has been doing her best to get rid of her — an objective which hasn’t been met thus far so now the queen’s getting another little girl named Happy to find the key to/end Gertrude’s invincibility (a rule held only if the key isn’t discovered) is nearly at hand!

Why does this book matter?

Skottie Young has delivered one fantastically drawn and dastardly dirty take so far; his trademark love for the cutesy elements smattered with darker adult tones/black comedy approach is allowed to bud more fully than ever in I Hate Fairyland.

The enemy!

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

As far as climactic battles go Young nails the climax down with blown up brains, shocking demonic glee and a wonderfully f’d up twist at the end. Gertrude gets to take on her fellow little girl competition Happy one on one, but also reveals what happened last issue. This is fast and fun reading for the action fans.

The art continues to be excellent as ever too. Young had a knack for making monsters and creatures look fun but also quite creepy. Even good guys look awfully weird (emphasis on awful at times) and it’s clear he’s loving the amounts of gore he gets to play with.

Something tough that Young also successfully accomplished is characterizing Happy. While she’s a good guy she’s so overly cute she’s downright annoying and thus visually villainous. Even though Gertrude is a bastard we root for her due to Happy’s glassy eyed obnoxious cheer.

It can’t be perfect can it?

The ending lands rather abruptly which is good but a bit of a surprise. After all the build up and all the waiting for Gertrude it sort of just ends even if the twist is a clever one. It’s so abrupt one wonders if there will be a sequel.

Is It Good?

This has a climax so good it’s worth skipping sex for.