Fairest of All: A Villains Graphic Novel

Villains Graphic Novels #2

by Serena Valentino

Disney''''s New York Times best-selling Villains series comes to life in this graphic novel adaptation of the book that started it all in this tragic tale of love and loss, the untold story of Snow White''''s Wicked Queen. The tale of the young princess, Snow White, and her evil stepmother, the Wicked Queen, is widely known—the Queen was jealous of the girl''''s beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen''''s attempt on the sweet, naive girl''''s life. But what caused the Queen to become so, well, wicked? Perhaps the Queen hated her stepdaughter for her resemblance to the King''''s first wife. Perhaps she resented the girl for her beauty. Could the Queen simply have been born that cruel? Or does it have to do with a mysterious mirror, gifted to her upon her wedding and swirling with dark magic? And who is the man in the mirror? Is he the reason for the Queen''''s downfall? This tragic tale of love and loss is the untold story of the Wicked Queen, a woman who just wanted to be the fairest of all...

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Retellings, Young Adult, Fairy Tales, Fiction

130 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 2, 2023

About the author

Serena Valentino is best known for weaving tales that combine mythos and guile with her work on the comic book series GloomCookie and Nightmares & Fairy Tales, and her best selling Disney Villain Novels which have earned her critical acclaim for her unique style of storytelling, bringing her readers into exquisitely frightening worlds filled with terror, beauty and extraordinary female protagonists.

Her Disney Villain novel series would be best enjoyed if read in this order: Fairest of All: The Story of the Wicked Queen, The Beast Within: The Story of Belle’s Prince, Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch, Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy. Mother Knows Best: A Tale of the Old Witch and The Odd Sisters: A Villains Book to be released in Summer 2019. Book 7 will be out Summer 2020, Book 8 summer of 2021, and Book 9 Summer of 2022.

Serena lives in New Orleans with her dog Gozer, and a very tiny kitty named Momma.



Contact: Serena@serenavalentino.com

Reviews

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a retelling of love and redemption, this isn't it. But if you want a fleshed-out origin story that portrays the Wicked Queen as a flawed, morally grey and realistically human character, this graphic novel does a rather good job.

I love how the book explored themes such as grief, loss and childhood trauma as well as how they have shaped the Queen into who she is. While there is no excuse for her actions still, I found myself feeling sympathy towards her. The use of a vivid green and black colour palette is also an interesting choice.

I didn't love the ending and some scenes were rather confusing, but overall I did enjoy what the author has done here. Not a fan of the original novel series but I am definitely keen to check out all their graphic novel adaptations.

[Jessica (ThatDamFangirl) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending was so sweet!

[Tati Alvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5ish this was a good origin story that makes the reader sympathetic to the Queen. But also hate her for what she became.

[Cash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than the original! I love the artwork and the colours in this novel, can’t wait for the next one!

[Nettles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic art! I've followed the artist for awhile (FionaCreates) and they are amazing!

The story itself was okay. It had the creepy old fairytale vibe and I definitely felt for the queen with *detailed tragedy*, but it was supposed to explain how she emotionally became the villain that she is, and ultimately it didn't convince me. The big switch from protector to betrayer of Snow White was hand waved away by blaming creepy witch sisters...? Idk

[Ashley Love Sellers · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I liked:

- More backstory with Snow White and her Prince.
- The Queen being kind originally.

What I didn’t:

- The green color scheme was harsh on the eyes.
- So many plot holes.
- The Queen kept getting fooled by people who’d shown their true colors before.

I wanted to read all these books, but I don’t see that happening anymore. I don’t care if they were intended for a younger audience - the writing isn’t solid. I’m honestly surprised they’re continuing this series.

[Bookish_Aly_Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun read! If you are a fan of the Villains series and graphic novels this one is for you. This is pretty much an illustrated version of the Fairest of All book from the original series, but I didn’t mind one bit. I loved the artwork style, especially how it was all done in green, white, and black. Overall, this is a fun, quick read!

[Emma]

Better than expected 🪞

[The Romance Bookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the story! Serena Valentino is amazing at making these classic tales come to life again with her own twists. I will say I did prefer the art style in Cruella more. I like more color and details. Still great art, just would have loved more color. The green and black made it difficult to read at times for me.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh I dunno. Meh.

[J MaK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this quite challenging to actively support specifically the unnecessary repetition as a conduit for the Queen’s transition from loving mother to grief stricken murderess.

[Selena | Beauty's Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story I’ve already read, but I was curious to see how this would be told, being adapted into a graphic novel!

And I genuinely loved it just as much! It’s been a while since I’ve read the original story, but as I went through this, it all came back to me. This was fun to read and definitely one I will pick up again!

I would recommend reading the full story first, which is itself not a long book either. But if you read this first, you lose some of the important details. But even knowing the story already, I found this to be incredibly enjoyable! I loved seeing the scenes come to life! And the artwork is absolutely beautiful!

I hope they continue to adapt the rest of this series into graphic novels!

[Rubi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't a fan of the art but not bad

I still find it sad how the Queen went from a loving step mother to an envious murderous villain. She left her grief and manipulative father and Odd Sisters to drive her mad.
Snow loved her but she was too far gone.
The adaptation wasn't bad but I just wasn't a fan of the style of art used for this Graphic Novel. Neither the Queen or Princess looked all too beautiful with the style and I just felt some details were but that was to be expected. Not a bad adaption though and easy read for those who dont want to reread the novel and just refresh their memories 😊

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This origin story was a bit more difficult to buy into compared to the Cruella de Vil storyline. While it connected all the key elements of Snow White together with their own significance (the apple, the mirror, vanity, the spells) it still felt slightly disjointed and even farfetched. I didn’t not enjoy it and graphically it was easy to consume, but not something I’ll go out of my way to recommend. 3.25 stars

[Jessica (a GREAT read) · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's pretty clear I am trying to wait until I get to the bookstore to pickup my next read instead of starting something I have on hand! Lol. I turned to my shorter reads TBR and decided on the graphic novel version of Fairest of All by Serena Valentino and illustrated by Fiona Marchbank. While it's the first in the Villains series, it's actually the second graphic novel version. I don't know if they'll be doing anymore since this one is now two years old. Oh well. They were fun to read and there were some stories I wouldn't have minded "seeing" as well as reading!

In this one, as you will guess, we get to see how the Evil Queen came to be! I found this to be one of the more tragic stories of the Villains series as the Queen wasn't at all evil to begin with. She was just a girl wanting to be loved and not being able to find it, certainly not with her father who resented her. Then one day she meets the king and love does happen.

Soon she is queen and has a beautiful new stepdaughter and all is happy, until it's not. Among the many wedding presents is one strange and oddly familiar mirror. When the queen looks upon it, she swears she sees a familiar and ghostly face. And soon begins the slow beginning of the Evil Queen.

I truly love these Villains stories as I love seeing how the villain came to be the villain we all know! Most of them started out as happy normal people before the Odd Sisters got involved. And thus begins a Disney legacy.

Marchbank's illustrations were beautiful too! I forget how edgy the style of graphic novels can be. Or at least some of the ones I read! Truly each artist gives a different edge to all these bookish tales I know in a new form! The tri-color points of black, white, and green add a stunning harsh edge to the story! I would've thought purple to be a better choice since the Queen we all know wears this, but perhaps that was being saved for Ursula, should she get a visual story too. But I am not sure if we will get to the point of more graphic novels.

It always amazes me how a decent sized novel can be reduced to a hundred pages or so into a graphic novel. Yes, things have to be cut and it's been so long since I've read the novel already but I feel like this graphic novel does a remarkable job of keeping to Valentino's original story. All is there as it should be and seeing the Odd Sisters again was another trip! I forget what they looked like in Cruella's graphic novel, but alas, that's not on hand at the moment.

Truly a stunning piece of visual work as well as written work! If you're a fan of the Villains series, I highly recommend checking out these graphic novel versions! They are as fun and delightful as their written counterparts!



Overall Rating 5/5 stars

[Selin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich kannte die Villains Reihe bisher nur vom Hören und habe selbst noch keines der Bücher gelesen darum hat mich diese Graphic Novel besonders interessiert.
In der Graphic Novel geht es um die böse Königin, wobei hier der Fokus eher auf der Vergangenheit liegt, also vor den Ereignissen des bekannten Märchens.
Die Graphic Novel ist Design-technisch sehr monoton gehalten da nur mit weiß, schwarz und vor allem einem Giftgrün illustriert wurde. So schön ich das fand fand ich leider auch, dass das nicht besonders zu einer Vorgeschichte passt. Von Anfang an diese Farben zu verwenden lässt die Geschichte in einem negativen Licht erstrahlen. Plus, die Farbe verliert nach einer Weile ihre Wirkung da das Buch nicht gerade kurz ist.
Die Zeichnungen passen schon zu dem alten Disney Stil und ich konnte mir gut vorstellen wie die einzelnen Comic-Panels animiert aussehen würden.
Die Geschichte selbst hat mich nicht soooo sehr umgehauen. An einigen Stellen fand ich die Interaktionen zwischen den Charakteren schlicht oberflächlich und die Tiefe die vermutlich im Buch vorhanden ist fehlt hier.
Ich selbst würde die Graphic Novel nicht nochmal lesen aber ich denke Fans der Villains Bücher wird es schon gefallen

[Maxine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this one was okay. It was better than I thought it would be, and I actually really liked the final twist at the ending.

I liked the limited color palette (black, white, and poison apple green), but I think the green should have been more visually striking, since it's pretty pale and tends to blend in with the white background. Accents of red or purple (two other colors the evil queen is associated with) could have been fun, too. But, overall, I thought the art was fine.

I'm... not a big fan of stories where the writer tries to humanize or explain the behavior of Disney villains. Most of the time they seem to end up excusing the villain's evilness entirely, which I don't particularly care for. And this story does exactly that: "oh, she's not really wicked at heart! She's just sad and mentally unwell because of the men in her life!" I think that's a lazy approach, frankly. Let my girl be evil! She does everything wrong and I want to see more!

But!! I really liked the scenes with the queen and Snow White interacting. I thought they were sweet. 💚🕊️

Don't understand what the deal was with the Odd Sisters, though. And don't care enough to read the book about them, either. 🤷‍♀️

[Caro]

Die Idee Disneymärchen sich nochmal anzuschauen, aber von einer anderen Linse fand ich schon immer richtig gut, vor allem bei Schneewittchen was zugegebenermaßen eines der bekanntesten ist. Die böse Königin als Protagonistin mit der Frage wie ist es eigentlich so weit gekommen und wer ist eigentlich der Mann im Spiegel? Ich finde es ist sehr deutlich vor allem bei den Graphic Novel das sehr viel Gedanken und Details berücksichtigt wurden. Eins davon ist allein schon die Farbgebung, die Hauptfarbe ist grün und zwar dieses bekannte Disney Bösewicht Giftgrün. Auch die Geschichte passt perfekt zeitlich und vom Kontext in das Originalmärchen und lässt einen das Ganze nochmal von einem anderen Blickwinkel betrachten. Teilweise hat es mich thematisch ein bisschen an ein Shakespeare Drama oder allgemein ein Bühnenstück erinnert. Was wiederum auch sehr gut zeitlich in das Märchen von Schneewittchen als Ganzes passt. Die bisherigen Graphic Novels die ich gelesen habe waren entweder komplett in Schwarzweiß oder komplett in allen Farben, also war dieses Grün, schwarz, weiß definitiv am Anfang vielleicht ein bisschen gewöhnungsbedürftig aber auf alle Fälle etwas sehr besonderes.

[Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

✓ Spoilers have been covered.

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DNF - page 100

This book was really depressing. A little bit too depressing for me. I can handle depressing parts in a book but I just found this to be really sad. Because you are seeing someone who had good intentions from the start to be a mother and queen and who was happy in life and ends up falling into a deep dark spiral in life with ultimately their death.

I found the backstory of the Queen to be interesting but I found it seemed to follow the same story as the original story. It just dealt with the Queen's mental health as well.
There was nothing in this book to make me go "WOW" or to find it unique from other fairy tales. Besides going into the backstory.

Again, I like that this book focuses more on the villain in Snow White but I wish there was a bit more then just the Queen having a depressing life, dying and then Snow White (of course) getting married by a man.

[Lesemaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante Geschichte, mittelmäßige farbliche Gestaltung

Nach dem durchaus schönen Cover war ich etwas enttäuscht von der Farbgebung der Illustrationen im Inneren, diese finde ich nicht gut gelungen und zu eintönig. Die Figuren waren kaum erkennbar, und ich war etwas enttäuscht. Trotzdem sprach meine Tochter das Buch in der Buchhandlung an, angezogen von der Frage nach der Ursache für die Boshaftigkeit der Stiefmutter, der bösen Königin, in der klassischen Geschichte von Schneewittchen.
Die Neuinterpretation des Märchens aus der Sicht der bösen Königin ist interessant und originell. Endlich erfahren wir die Hintergründe und die Perspektive dieser oft verurteilten Figur. War sie von Geburt an grausam, oder gab es bestimmte Ereignisse, die sie zu dem machten, was sie wurde? Diese Fragen werden auf spannende Weise erforscht.
Obwohl die farbliche Gestaltung der Bilder im Buch nicht beeindruckend ist und die Figuren manchmal schwer zu erkennen sind, können wir den Inhalt dennoch empfehlen.

[Bibibabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante Geschichte aber visuell nicht meins

"Die Schönste im ganzen Land" ist ein einfühlsames Graphic Novel über die Geschichte der bösen Stiefmutter in Schneewittchen. Das Buch gehört zur "Disney Villains"-Reihe, in der sich die Autorin Serena Valentino eine Historie für die "Bösen" ausdenkt, die erklärt, warum die Figuren so sind, wie sie sind. In dieser Reihe ist die Welt nicht mehr schwarz und weiß. Schneewittchens Stiefmutter ist am Anfang des Buches eine ganz normale Frau, eigentlich sehr nett und liebevoll zu ihrer Stieftochter. Jedoch versucht sie am Ende, die Kleine umzubringen. 

Der Schwerpunkt der Handlung liegt auf der Charakterentwicklung. In dieser Geschichte finde ich den Wandel plausibel und interessant. Sie verleiht der Protagonistin eine Komplexität, die passend für das Zielpublikum ist (ab 12 Jahren).

Die visuelle Darstellung des Graphic Novels hat mich leider wenig angetan: die Bilder sind gut gezeichnet aber nur in schwarz, weiß und grün gefärbt.

[Sabine Kupfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hier wird die Geschichte um Schneewittchen und ihre Stiefmutter aus der anderen Perspektive erzählt. Wie es dazu kam das die Königin eifersüchtig auf die Schönheit ihrer Stieftochter wurde und letztendlich sogar einen Anschlag auf sie verübte. Und vor allem was der Spiegel für
eine tragende und wichtige Rolle hat…

Ich finde an der Villains-Reihe besonders schön, dass hier die Seite der Antagonisten näher
beleuchtet und ihre Geschichte erzählt wird. Im Hinblick auf die böse Stiefmutter von Schneewittchen, lernt man diese von einer ganz neuen Seite kennen. Das sie nicht von Grund auf böse ist und sogar anfangs eine liebende und fürsorgliche Mutter für Schneewittchen war.

Diese Graphic Novel veranschaulicht perfekte die Romanvorlage. Ich habe im Vergleich zum Roman nichts
vermisst und fand die Zeichnungen der Figuren perfekt umgesetzt. Gerade das die Zeichnungen in grün/schwarz
gehalten sind, gefällt mir besonders. Das passt für mich gut zur Stimmung der Geschichte.

Ich hoffe sehr, dass die anderen Villains-Bände auch noch so eine schöne Comicadaption bekommen werden.

[Nicole Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I obtained an ARC from the publisher for my honest review.

To be fully transparent, I have not read the original Villains novels. Perhaps for this reason, I felt that there were missing moments from this graphic novel form. I did like the relationship between the King, Queen, and Snow at the beginning, I just felt like without having more of the inner thoughts of the Queen, the change was too abrupt. It is a slim graphic novel; there was room for more connections and scenes. Because of this, I felt that the characters reacted in extremes at times, possibly heightened by the three color panels. I get what they were trying to portray by having black, white, and bright green but it didn't work for me, mostly in the beginning when the Queen was supposed to be the most kind, loving person ever. Having her always in black or green played against that for me as they are stark, sickly colors. Also, Verona was always in green as was the background of rooms and at times it was not clear what was a wall and what was her arms. I kept wishing that they had made the beginning in full color and then it got diluted down to the three gradually until the end, showing the Queen's dissent into madness.

I would be willing to read the original text version to see if I just don't like the story. That said, some books benefit from a graphic novel version but for me, this one didn't.

[Mrs_R_Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fairest of All: A Villains Graphic Novel by Serena Valentino & Fiona Marchbank is the 2nd graphic novel adaptation from Valention's Villians Series. Based on the tale of Snow White, this is the Evil Queen's story. In it, Valentino answers the questions we have all asked:
*What made the Wicked Queen so wicked?
*Why is her appearance so very important to her?
*Who is the man in the magic mirror?

I really enjoyed this story and will be purchasing it for my library.
grades 7 & up

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get what they were trying to do here. It just didn't work. This is meant to be a humanizing back story for the Wicked Queen from Disney's Snow White, apparently in continuity with the film. It just doesn't work, at least not in the graphic novel adaptation. Maybe the novel this is based off of does a better job of explaining the huge shift in the Queen's behavior, from saccharinely devoted stepmother to obsessed with her own beauty to the point of murder. I think it's partly because the swing is so extreme. There's an implication that she isn't really in control, which I don't find any more satisfying than simple jealousy. I just find it out that a book that's intended to give a villain her own voice instead takes her agency. It might have helped if the Queen had been given a name. It's deep Disney lore that she was at one point assigned the name Grimhilde, and I don't see why that name, or literally any other, wasn't used here.

[Jennifer Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in the Villains series for awhile, but the only one I've read so far is Evil Thing, which I've heard strays from some of the plot points developed in the other books. I decided to dive into the graphic novel version of Fairest of All and found it to be an entertaining read. I found the backstory of Snow White's stepmother to be both heartbreaking and believable. It's easy to believe that the things she went through in this origins story would lead her to madness and betrayal. The illustrations in this book were just okay for me. I loved the concept of bright green as a contrasting color and it does make sense (green with envy), but it just didn't quite work for me. Overall, I did enjoy the story and I think that the graphic novel format will help draw a new audience of young readers to the series.

[Damarise Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finding the Queen’s Humanity: A Gentle Reflection on Fairest of All.

I went into this book expecting it to follow the movie exactly and was surprised when it began differently. I really appreciated seeing the queen’s backstory and learning that she was not immediately evil. It made her feel more human and gave depth to her character.

As I read further, the story started to lose me. There were many shifts between past and present, which made it harder to stay connected. I also did not like that the king was not always with Snow and the queen because it made their family feel distant.

Near the end, things became confusing and the conclusion felt rushed. Without spoiling anything, I would give the ending a 5 out of 10.

Overall, I liked the idea of exploring the queen’s side of the story, but I wished the pacing and transitions were smoother.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This take on the origins of the Wicked Stepmother in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is an interesting one. While I'm not sure if it's supposed to be "cannon," I do find it fascinating that Valentino has given the Stepmother a backstory and a reason for being as cruel as she was.

Her own life was full of misery--her mother had died at childbirth and her father was a cruel, vicious man who thrilled in calling her ugly. He was a maker of mirrors and let her know that she wasn't worthy of looking into one.

I liked the art style of the green while the Queen was happy and slowly dissolving into black as she becomes the Wicked Stepmother that we've come to know from the movie.

[Jnyama · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than I had anticipated. In general, I'm not a huge fan of the trend of making all the classic villains misunderstood--sometimes there is a danger in making evil too sympathetic, after all--but this one did so in an interesting manner. The art, which was restricted in color and angular compared to the more rounded Disney characters, was not overly charming to me initially but grew on me as the book went on. I'm not sure the premise would have worked for me in the longer source material, but was it was certainly compelling enough to sustain this relatively short graphic novel. Recommended for fans of the Snow White tale, Disney or otherwise.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't sure it would take. I wasn't a fan of Maleficent, and I think I was convinced these stories would try to make me a fan of the villains. But I don't think that's their purpose. The story of Snow White is special when it comes to Disney and nostalgia. I think this story does right by it. There's a strong story that's quite heartbreaking and relatable in there.

I dinged a star for the art. I'm not a huge fan of the pencils, but I did think it was interesting aesthetically, being only painted in black and green.