While everything I read this week sucked, two things I read last week were wonderful!
Nothing makes me happier than completely ridiculous alternate worlds..I generally think DC does a better job with these, as the Elseworlds are much more entertaining than What Ifs. But I fell in love with the Spider-Man Fairytales, and looked forward to reading the Avengers version when I heard it was coming.
It didn't disappoint! Both the art and the writing are simply fun. There's a real sense that the writer actually likes the characters, and both the male and female characters are allowed to shine.
The first story is a retelling of Peter Pan, with Wanda in the Wendy role and Captain America in the Peter Pan role.
Avengers Fairy Tales 2 is a take on Pinocchio, with Henry Pym, Wasp, and the Vision.
Several things make these stories an absolute delight to read. Firstly, the stories themselves are allowed to be fun and don't fill every panel with bloated self-importance that plagues the majority of both Marvel and DC lately. The art reflects that sense of fun, and compliments the story, giving the tales an additional sense of whimsy that is appropriate to fairy tales.
Secondly, the women in these tales are simply wonderful. Their powers are *celebrated,* and never once portrayed as something negative. There's no Marvel Girl syndrome at play here, for either Wanda or Wasp, the women who play the prominent roles in the first two stories.
In the Peter Pan story, womanhood as a whole is practically celebrated. At the beginning we have Wanda musing:
"If there was ever a story that deserved to begin with the worlds 'once upon a time'... this is indeed it. For you see, time is exactly what this story is about. Take Wanda here, for example. She'd reached a certain time in her life. Wanda was rather unhappy with the way her body had been changing recently. She knew her parents kept secrets from her, but was this one of them? Did all girls develop magical powers as they got older?
But as it turns out, it wasn't a "female thing" after all."
After a long day of exhausting powers, Cap, his shadow, and Wasp (in the role of Tinkerbell) come along to whisk Wanda and her brother to Neverland.
Once there, they are greeted by the Lost Boys:
And of course, must battle Klaw. This unfortunately ends with the Avengers being tied up and at Klaw's mercy.
And who should save the day? Though Wanda is initially annoyed at her powers, by the time she and the Lost Boys are captured by Klaw, she grows to see that magic certainly has it's place:
"Sick of all this masculine madness, Wanda decided the situation called for...a little female intervention.
Boys may have gotten them into this mess..but the girls would now get them out of it. Wanda may have come to Neverland with a girl's innocence...but it was with a woman's touch she saved the day!"
Awww. And save them, Wanda does with her powers. Unfortunately, in the final moments of the battle, Cap's shadow gets trapped in an iceberg, and Cap won't leave it. He tells Wanda to take the Lost Boys back home with her, promising that they'll meet again:
And the story ends with an adult Scarlet Witch telling the story to a group of children.
The highlights of the story are the Wasp and the Scarlet Witch both having powers that are celebrated and in fact save the day. It's kind of wonderful.
Avengers Fairy Tales 02 is a take on Pinocchio, with Henry Pym, Wasp, and the Vision. Wanda also makes a guest appearance as the Scarlet Fairy:
In this version of events, Janet was shrunken during a battle between her husband and her husband's first attempt to build them a son (Ultron.) Despite this, Janet is a very awesome and independent character in this story and without her, neither Vision nor Henry would come to very happy endings:
The Scarlet Fairy comes back to grant but one wish of Vision's, which ends up saving his father's life. As a result, the family lives happily ever after:
Again, the women in this story are celebrated even though the story is ostensibly about the boys. And the art is gorgeous.
Nothing makes me happier than completely ridiculous alternate worlds..I generally think DC does a better job with these, as the Elseworlds are much more entertaining than What Ifs. But I fell in love with the Spider-Man Fairytales, and looked forward to reading the Avengers version when I heard it was coming.
It didn't disappoint! Both the art and the writing are simply fun. There's a real sense that the writer actually likes the characters, and both the male and female characters are allowed to shine.
The first story is a retelling of Peter Pan, with Wanda in the Wendy role and Captain America in the Peter Pan role.
Avengers Fairy Tales 2 is a take on Pinocchio, with Henry Pym, Wasp, and the Vision.
Several things make these stories an absolute delight to read. Firstly, the stories themselves are allowed to be fun and don't fill every panel with bloated self-importance that plagues the majority of both Marvel and DC lately. The art reflects that sense of fun, and compliments the story, giving the tales an additional sense of whimsy that is appropriate to fairy tales.
Secondly, the women in these tales are simply wonderful. Their powers are *celebrated,* and never once portrayed as something negative. There's no Marvel Girl syndrome at play here, for either Wanda or Wasp, the women who play the prominent roles in the first two stories.
In the Peter Pan story, womanhood as a whole is practically celebrated. At the beginning we have Wanda musing:
"If there was ever a story that deserved to begin with the worlds 'once upon a time'... this is indeed it. For you see, time is exactly what this story is about. Take Wanda here, for example. She'd reached a certain time in her life. Wanda was rather unhappy with the way her body had been changing recently. She knew her parents kept secrets from her, but was this one of them? Did all girls develop magical powers as they got older?
But as it turns out, it wasn't a "female thing" after all."
After a long day of exhausting powers, Cap, his shadow, and Wasp (in the role of Tinkerbell) come along to whisk Wanda and her brother to Neverland.
Once there, they are greeted by the Lost Boys:
And of course, must battle Klaw. This unfortunately ends with the Avengers being tied up and at Klaw's mercy.
And who should save the day? Though Wanda is initially annoyed at her powers, by the time she and the Lost Boys are captured by Klaw, she grows to see that magic certainly has it's place:
"Sick of all this masculine madness, Wanda decided the situation called for...a little female intervention.
Boys may have gotten them into this mess..but the girls would now get them out of it. Wanda may have come to Neverland with a girl's innocence...but it was with a woman's touch she saved the day!"
Awww. And save them, Wanda does with her powers. Unfortunately, in the final moments of the battle, Cap's shadow gets trapped in an iceberg, and Cap won't leave it. He tells Wanda to take the Lost Boys back home with her, promising that they'll meet again:
And the story ends with an adult Scarlet Witch telling the story to a group of children.
The highlights of the story are the Wasp and the Scarlet Witch both having powers that are celebrated and in fact save the day. It's kind of wonderful.
Avengers Fairy Tales 02 is a take on Pinocchio, with Henry Pym, Wasp, and the Vision. Wanda also makes a guest appearance as the Scarlet Fairy:
In this version of events, Janet was shrunken during a battle between her husband and her husband's first attempt to build them a son (Ultron.) Despite this, Janet is a very awesome and independent character in this story and without her, neither Vision nor Henry would come to very happy endings:
The Scarlet Fairy comes back to grant but one wish of Vision's, which ends up saving his father's life. As a result, the family lives happily ever after:
Again, the women in this story are celebrated even though the story is ostensibly about the boys. And the art is gorgeous.
