(Heads up: spoilers below for the previous series!)
Four years ago Gertrude, the psychopathic 30-something stuck in the body of a cute little six-year-old, finally escaped Fairyland. Decades of some truly horrific (and most of the time completely unnecessary) bloodshed were over, and Gert finally got to go home.
…where she wakes up as a low-level assistant at some generic corporation, bored out of her mind. But still: not in Fairyland. She probably goes on to live a boring but peaceful life, right?
Nope, not even close.
I don’t want to give away too much because it was such a (fun?) surprise to catch up with her four years later and see how completely awful everything is. Oh, and if you were worried that Gertrude being back in the real world means no more cartoon violence? Nope again. Skottie Young is making up for lost time with this issue, there’s plenty of cartoon violence. (Some of it is imaginary. But Gertrude has a really good imagination.)
As for the art, Brett Bean’s lines with Francois Beaulieu’s colors are brilliantly bonkers. Whether it’s a delightful mouse dad telling a bedtime story, or gore-filled panels of Gert going to town on a room full of obnoxious customers who really should’ve taken one look at her and kept their mouths shut (spoilers: they did not) there were a lot of disturbing details to linger over. I mean, the images themselves are really upsetting, but the colors are gorgeous!
I’m glad Gertrude is back, even though I’m very nervous about what’s to come. (Skottie does like pushing the envelope of “too far.”) And if you’re wanting even more adorable horror, subscribe to Skottie’s substack, where he and several artists and writers are very busy with their “Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland” series.
