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mehitabels's review
4.0
Loved this! For a fairy/folk tale addict, and Marvel fan, this was the perfect entertainment. Plus, not totally obvious. I learned some about characters I was unfamiliar with, cheered when my favorites appeared (even as little background jokes), and wished for more.
allmadhere106's review
3.0
I found this through my public library's website and I had high hopes for it. The main premise is that Marvel has taken common fairy tales and switched out the characters with our favorites from the comic-verse. However, only one of the stories was a fairy tale and there wasn't really anything added to the stories, so they felt pretty dry overall. At first it was kind of fun to try and figure out who everyone was, but that died away after awhile. It may be good for the selected age group but I didn't find it necessary to reread, especially considering _Fables_ and Zenescope's _Grimm_ series.
whatchareadingheather's review
4.0
I think they definitely got creative with tailoring stories that we all know and love to fit the theme of The Avengers without being too different from the original work. I also thought the artwork for each story was different while still being lovely to look at. My only issue is that they did a lot of repeat characters, which I think might have been based around which characters were popular at the time, but it’s now like there weren’t any other characters that they could have used.
witchofthemountains's review
3.0
I wanted to like this volume more. After all it combines my two favorite things: Marvel and fairy tales.
I disagreed with some of the pairings they made and felt like they could have done a better job in retelling the fairy tales with Marvel characters. Some of the art styles were less than ideal, but none of them were awful. I'd love to see another run like this with a little more thought put in.
I disagreed with some of the pairings they made and felt like they could have done a better job in retelling the fairy tales with Marvel characters. Some of the art styles were less than ideal, but none of them were awful. I'd love to see another run like this with a little more thought put in.
faeriedrumsong's review
3.0
A number of folk and fairy tales are so ubiquitous that they are seemingly learned by cultural osmosis rather than through any conscious instruction. With largely recognizable characters like Batman and Wonder Woman, comic books have added to this pantheon of cultural knowledge. Writer C.B. Cebulski and a talented team of artists, including Kyle Baker and João Lemos, have reimagined the storylines of six literary and fairy tales with a cast of actors from Marvel Comics.
In Once Upon A Time… Captain America becomes Peter Pan and the Scarlet Witch is Wendy. Cebulski combines the characters by giving “Cap” flight and giving the normally passive Wendy the power to mentally cause explosions. She saves the day in the midst of a dramatically drawn panel of violent lines and shapes. Bright colors and a feeling of openness fly the reader smoothly from scene to scene. With only a rudimentary knowledge of the comic characters involved, it is possible to follow the story and gain enjoyment from the twists in the Peter Pan tale.
But, not all stories fare as well. In Created Equal, the superheroes used to reinterpret the tale of Pinnochio may be less familiar to the general population. Dr. Hank Pym, scientific genius, becomes Gippetto and Vision, an alien android, plays the part of Pinnochio.
Much darker in art and tone, this story is filled with subtext that is completely lost without prior knowledge of how these characters are connected in the Marvel Universe. Without that knowledge, the storyline seems needlessly convoluted. The introduction of a teacher intent on isolating and abusing Pinnochio, instead of the traditional fox and cat or the Disney donkey-boys antagonist, seems exceptionally odd - unless you know that the teacher is played by Ultron, Dr. Pym’s enemy, who created Vision to destroy Dr. Pym.
This collection, using stories previously published in other volumes, fulfills the promise of the cover and introduces a nicely drawn series of stories using tales of fandom to infuse tales of fairies with a fun twist. If the reader can bring the backstory of the Marvel Universe, Cebulski and his team will do the rest.
(Can you tell this was for class?!) hahahaha!
In Once Upon A Time… Captain America becomes Peter Pan and the Scarlet Witch is Wendy. Cebulski combines the characters by giving “Cap” flight and giving the normally passive Wendy the power to mentally cause explosions. She saves the day in the midst of a dramatically drawn panel of violent lines and shapes. Bright colors and a feeling of openness fly the reader smoothly from scene to scene. With only a rudimentary knowledge of the comic characters involved, it is possible to follow the story and gain enjoyment from the twists in the Peter Pan tale.
But, not all stories fare as well. In Created Equal, the superheroes used to reinterpret the tale of Pinnochio may be less familiar to the general population. Dr. Hank Pym, scientific genius, becomes Gippetto and Vision, an alien android, plays the part of Pinnochio.
Much darker in art and tone, this story is filled with subtext that is completely lost without prior knowledge of how these characters are connected in the Marvel Universe. Without that knowledge, the storyline seems needlessly convoluted. The introduction of a teacher intent on isolating and abusing Pinnochio, instead of the traditional fox and cat or the Disney donkey-boys antagonist, seems exceptionally odd - unless you know that the teacher is played by Ultron, Dr. Pym’s enemy, who created Vision to destroy Dr. Pym.
This collection, using stories previously published in other volumes, fulfills the promise of the cover and introduces a nicely drawn series of stories using tales of fandom to infuse tales of fairies with a fun twist. If the reader can bring the backstory of the Marvel Universe, Cebulski and his team will do the rest.
(Can you tell this was for class?!) hahahaha!
bowienerd_82's review
3.0
The stories didn't always come out as well as one might hope, but the art for the Peter Pan version was so gorgeous, it made up for the lack in the storytelling. Steve Rogers as Peter Pan was a sort of awesome I never expected.
barefootsong's review
3.0
I'm not really up on the comic book characters aside from any movies (which I know disqualifies me from making any comparisons with these comic book verse characters!), so I don't really have a sense of how well integrated the comic book characters are with the fairy tales they've been planted in. As fairy tales, however, these stories were fairly enjoyable, if a tad on the preachy side. The retellings were interesting and I liked most of the artwork, but I think some of them were a bit too condensed, so it was hard to get a real feel for the characters' situations.
(FYI, Thor, Black Panther, Iron Man, and Hawkeye as the Lost Boys in the Peter Pan story is adorable and probably my favorite thing. ♥)
(FYI, Thor, Black Panther, Iron Man, and Hawkeye as the Lost Boys in the Peter Pan story is adorable and probably my favorite thing. ♥)
absentminded_reader's review
3.0
If you have a chance to look at this book, you will likely be impressed by the art. Claire Wendling's "cover" pieces are quite excellent, as is the art by João Lemos and Takeshi Miyazawa. They truly exemplify fairy tales. The problem was in the stories. C.B. Cebulski took Marvel characters and shoehorned them into old tales. This would be disconcerting enough for those who weren't familiar with the characters, but when mixed with moralistic passages, the surreal preachiness of the tales soured the experience for me.
Still, the art is often breathtaking. (Marvel Fairy Tales) is worth a look.
Still, the art is often breathtaking. (Marvel Fairy Tales) is worth a look.
shadyglade's review
4.0
I'm a fan of both graphic novels and retold fairy tales, so this one seemed right up my alley. I liked the wide range of stories, and art styles and loved how each one varied in how closely it stuck to the tell. The funnest part was in the 4 Avengers stories, trying to figure out who was who.
All in all I came away with the idea that I really needed to know more about the Marvel universe/characters to better appreicate this (most of my knowlege comes from the movies...). But I still enjoyed it and it was a quick read.
All in all I came away with the idea that I really needed to know more about the Marvel universe/characters to better appreicate this (most of my knowlege comes from the movies...). But I still enjoyed it and it was a quick read.