I Hate Fairyland: The Whole Fluffing Tale, Compendium One

I Hate Fairyland #1-4

by Skottie Young

Eisner Award-winning writer and artist SKOTTIE YOUNG (MIDDLEWEST, TWIG, THE ME YOU LOVE IN THE DARK) tells the bloody good tale of the gruesome, grotesque, green-haired GERT!

In this deluxe mega-sized compendium, join Gert, a grown woman trapped in a six-year old girl’s body, who has been stuck in the magical world of Fairyland for over thirty years. All Gert wants is to return home, but with an endless array of cute and terrifying Fairylanders blocking her every move, she might lose her mind in the process. We’re talking totally fluffing losing it.

Accompanied by a chain-smoking fly named Larry and her trusty blood-soaked battle-axe, Gert battles an army of cosplay Gerts, a goblin king, and her own sanity, only to find herself sucked into a fantasy hellscape forever. Forever ever. Forever ever? Yeah. No biggie.

Collects I HATE FAIRYLAND Issues 1-20, I HATE IMAGE FCBD SPECIAL

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

560 pages, Paperback

Published July 23, 2024

About the author

Skottie Young has been an illustrator and cartoonist for over ten years working for entertainment and publishing companies such Marvel, Warner Bros., Image, Upper Deck, Mattel, and many more.

He is currently illustrating the New York Times Best Selling and Eisner Award Nominated adaptions of L. Frank Baum's OZ novels with writer Eric Shanower. The series has gained acclaim from both fans and critics.

Skottie currently lives in Illinois with his family, Casey, Baxter and their Saint Bernard, Emma.

Reviews

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gertrude (Gertie) is a young girl who is unwillingly transported to Fairyland, where she is to remain until she and Larrington (Larry), her guide, find the key to the door back to her world. According to Queen Cloudia, this shouldn't take long. Twenty-seven years later, Gertie is still in Fairyland, a bitter and violent woman stuck in the body of a child. Queen Cloudia wants her gone but is forbidden from harming visitors to Fairyland, so she brings another little girl into Fairyland in an effort to circumvent the rules.

This was violent, irreverent, and gross. Vomit, snot, blood, tears, etc. were plentiful. The cartoonish gore was a little too gross for my tastes, unfortunately. I was reminded of Ren & Stimpy, which I found more repulsive than entertaining, as well as Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan.

I had some trouble feeling sympathy for Gertie when I realized that she was primarily stuck in Fairyland not because she was unfairly trapped but rather because she refused, from the beginning, to listen to her guide. From the sounds of things, she really should have been able to get out of Fairyland decades sooner.

The story got so twisted in on itself by the end that I wasn't always sure what was going on. Despite the "Compendium One" bit in the title, though, this felt like a complete story on its own, so thankfully I didn't feel compelled to go hunting for more story, although Wikipedia tells me the story does indeed continue.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Shibosan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Я очень люблю арт Скотти Янга, но его ран Deadpool, Vol. 1: Mercin' Hard for the Money должен был, конечно, снизить мои ожидания и подготовить к тому, что в качестве сценариста он не настолько же хорош (хотя я и люблю Strange Academy: First Class). Ну сага о девочке Гертруде, попавшей в Сказочную страну, неплохо там свихнувшейся и ставшей ее бичом и ходячим кошмаром, вроде как была его magnum opus, так что руки должны были дойти рано или поздно.

И всё оказалось довольно разочаровывающе - после забавного стартового выпуска все довольно быстро становится очень репетативно и напоминает популярный во времена моей юности анимационный веб-сериал Happy Tree Fiends - яркие милые мультяшные персонажи и нарочито гипертрофированное насилие и гор, которыми все кончается. И так раз за разом. Лишь только ко второму-третьему тому начинается какое-то более-менее интересное развитие сюжета и развитие персонажей. Meh.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well that was insane in a pretty spectacular way. Taking a child, dumping them into Fairyland with a quest to find a key and get out, and then seeing how crazy she gets when she can't find the key, for decades, without aging.

I know I was initially drawn to this because the art reminded me a bit of Rocko's Modern Life with a healthy dose of Ren and Stimpy style writing. A bit like an adult fractured fairy tale that sticks to anger and violence rather than sexual comments, and with a sense of humor to make some of us proud.

Admittedly, this does got a bit off track sometimes, but then again, that is a bit of the fun of the read at times. The fact that this basically falls back to the plot line eventually helps too, and one could almost argue that it's a complete story, except that I know this is only the first volume of the series. It came back for a second volume that has it's own trade paperbacks out there (and maybe a compendium someday too). Still, it's mostly a lot of fun. Obscenely rude and violent at times, but still fun.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and gratuitously violent in a cartoonish way, ending is solid and I liked the sort of bonus issue at the end where she goes around killing all the image comic writers. Seriously one of the more unique comics I’ve read in a while!

[Jesse A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and colorful.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️/5
Y’all have heard me talk about I Hate Fairyland before and I’m back to tell you more!

I have read volumes 1-6 but as soon as Compendium One (volumes 1-4) was on our radars @thebookcloser and I preordered it.

This is the first time I’ve ever reread anything as an adult and I loved it just as much the second time.

I’m NOT a graphic novel girlie. But, I love this series SO MUCH. Gert is a smart sass fluffing baddie and her guide Larry is a scrotum shaped fly. The banter between these two is hilarious.

These are for adults!
AMAZING graphic artwork. Adult humor. Seriously the best thing to read if you are in a rut, having a bad day or are in between books and don’t know what to read.

Can someone please just take my word for it and order it???? You can get volume 1-4 in this book or simply get volume 1. You’re gonna want the paper copy. The art is too perfect for an ereader.

[Shelby Mace · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art is incredible, there are so many smaller details to notice, it’s easy to spend time just pouring over it. The storyline is pretty straightforward and uncomplicated, feels a bit like tank girl somehow. It’s irreverent, gory, and endlessly entertaining.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this compendium! Very entertaining and I loved the art style. Gert is wild but she is free.

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not for me, but I acknowledge that others might get something out of this.

First of all the art style, which reminds me of those chibi webcomics takes some getting used to. It is very basic, but cute to look at. I think I prefer my comics to have more detailed artwork.

Secondly the premise doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Gerta is trapped four 27 years (!?!?) in Fairyland and everyone involved suffers. She is offered multiple possible solutions to escape her fate, but the book comes up with far-fetched reasons of why she can't.

Then there's the edginess. Lots and lots of curse word, gory action and fourth wall breaking to squeeze in various Pop Culture references. It got old fast and I assume this book is targeted towards teens.

It's unfortunate, because the book would have potential. There could be social criticism, what happens if you don't follow the laws of a certain place or how a happy place can actually be really cruel to different kind of people. Sadly the book doesn't explore these topics, but throws another 'Haha he just died brutally' joke in the readers face.

I think this is a comic for those people who like American cartoons like American Dad, Family Guy, South Park and so on. Series that are very sarcastic and feature ugly art styles. I loathe all of those. If you like those, this book might be for you.

[Akshay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a humongous collected edition of the fully creator-owned and written+drawn comic from the mind of one Skottie Young.

Telling the tale of six-year old Gert (a.k.a Gertrude) who was sucked into Fairlyland and given a mission and a guide to find the key that will take her home - only to find that she just can't seem to find the damned thing and literal decades pass until she is pretty much a forty year old drunken cynic who had not physically aged even a day. Her guide is the seemingly now dead-inside fly named Larry who seems to have a hilarious like-loathe relationship with his once-young-at-heart charge. There's also Queen Cloudia who rules Fairyland and is frustrated beyond measure that this once-child just won't be done with her mission and prevents any new children from coming to visit since only one can come through at a time and in the meantime, Gert has become a creature of pure mayhem!

The story is pretty funny and the endless substitution of swear-words with cutesy alternates and Skotties choice to use a cutesy font for each such word is a fun choice that does not get old.

The book being artist-driven really makes that the most consistent and standout feature to make me recommend this book because it is really well done and only gets better and better as the book goes along - clearly this book allowed Young to really dig into his crazier-creative side and let the goofy concepts find life on the page in the form of the various creatures and species and more that populate the environs of Fairyland. All of which by the way, Gert makes her way through with clubbing, stabbing, punching, burning, eviscerating, bludgeoning, hacking, kicking, biting and pretty much every kind of violent act and its synonym you can think of as either an intended or unintended result of her sometimes just being in a place. All this violence and the story as a whole are drawn in Youngs' cutesy style with an overdose of the bright colours and even more cuteness because it is Fairyland - even the hell-like place we visit at one point has a cutesy edge to it somehow!

I wanted to note that there are moments where it touches on what feels like the need to be grosser than it needs to be and misses out cool opportunities. This stood out to me because there is a lot of action and such which I would have liked to see more of but (for example) we see the fight start and then we're at the end and get to enjoy none of that. But at other points I get to enjoy some brutal vomiting or something that I would have been fine having an off-panel implication of and not needing to see it rendered for me to see. I'm not queasy on these things, I grew up having seen shows like Ren and Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Jackass and more (not commenting on them or how I felt about them here) but to me, gross-out humour is normally a low bar when you go out of your way to stick it in ones face and can be more effective sometimes when its implied and even exaggerated rather than showcased up-front.

The part that made me not read the series through the first time around, was actually the story. But bear with me here.
The initial issues are amusing, but once the main concept is laid down, there is a kind of rinse-repeat feel to some things and it is cute and violent and the wierd contrast carries to a point but it is not either totally unique (Happy Tree Friends anyone?) or overly engaging if I wanted even a little more. BUT, this time I read a little further and somewhere after the initial issues, Skottie seems to have either planned it as such or it happened along the way, but the story finally finds some semblence of legs - Gert and Larry and even a few side characters start having character moments and the plot which moved fast from the first issue, starts to balance out as we go from a comic that started as if someone was just writing extemporaneously but now is combining that with at least some broader plan to guide that free flow. So yes, it does get better as it goes, narratively speaking.

I would not rate this book higher because I appreciate the chaotic crazy but either a book fully embraces its madness and hopes for the best, or it tries to have a flow and this one is somewhere in between - even as the story clips along with more coherence in the back half of the series, it is uneven between some well-told chapters and some things that just move so fast, from start to finish through the series, that at times it feels like a lot of ideas that did not get space to breathe and quite a bit felt rushed. Maybe I'm expecting too much but it did reduce my enjoyment of it as I was reading it.

It is definitely a fun book once it gets going and focuses more on story and finds a better stride, flaws and all. I don't know if it was limited by print-run from the publisher or the creator or what, but I think it could have found a way to feel less rushed - as I understand it, it was a pretty hot seller and so should not have been kept to a limited run if they wanted.

If the premise catches your fancy, it is 100% worth a read because it is a fun book.

[FantasyBookNerd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dubbed ‘The Whole Fluffing Tale’, this compendium collects the first twenty issues of I HATE FAIRYLAND.

Telling the story of Gert (Gertrude) a cutsie green haired six year old who gets dragged into fairyland and given the task of finding the key to return to her world.

Except things don’t go according to plan. Instead of the task taking a day, Gert ends up staying in fairyland for thirty years. But instead of growing up, Gert finds that whilst she ages mentally, her physical appearance remains that of a six year old girl.

Along with her guide, a testicular shaped fly called Larry, Gert becomes the scourge of fairyland. In her bid to find her way home, Gert chops, eviscerates, burns, destroys, explodes and all manner of gruesome methods, through fairyland.

Taking the Deapool kind of maniacal irreverence, I Hate Fairyland is a fun romp filed with blood and guts.

At times it can be a little annoying, particularly the proliferation of made up swear words, such as Muffin Fluffer. However, I did enjoy this. The artwork is garish and in your face, and there is a definite Jamie Hewlett influence in Scottie Young’s renditions, but this is not a bad thing coz I loved Tank Girl.

All in all an enjoyably, chaotic and bloody romp that made me laugh.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea the ride I was climbing aboard when I picked this Compendium. But I am so glad I did as I followed Gert (Gertrude) and Larry the Guide (a gnat/fly - think Jiminy Cricket but drunk) on their adventure to get Gert the hell out of Fairyland via a quest to find the key that will unlock the door back to her world. Let's just say Gert is not so bright when it comes to clues and riddles plus she gets frustrated and kills the people (sometimes on accident, mostly on purpose) who could help her along in her quest. This goes on for approximately 40 years and she's still stuck in her 6 year old body - she's been done with that. Queen Cloudia is about done with it as well so hires multiple assassins to get rid of Gert so that the gates of Fairyland can be opened again. Things don't go to plan - much killing and gore follow. 518 pages of wholesome horror in the guise of a precious green-haired munchkin and her lush conscience known as Larry. Too many failed shenanigans ensue and even a 4th wall break. Good time with awesomely rendered artwork and spectacular use of color.

[Jamie Canaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Years ago, when the series started, I was reading the issues/volumes as they released but I’m terrible about keeping up with series releases sometimes and I feel off. So when I saw there was a compendium edition that collects issues 1-20 (It’s a chunker!) I had to have it.

It somehow hit different reading then vs the current state of the world which made it an even more interesting read and the dark humor was very welcomed. Basically a sweet little girl gets stuck in Fairyland and all she has to do is perform some fun tasks to be sent back home but instead she gets stuck, unable to complete things properly, and just gets angrier and meaner the longer she’s trapped in a little girl’s body now as an adult.

--from 📚 On Reading in June 2025 (Best of)

[AquaMoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the creators of Ren & Stimpy teamed up with the creators of Robot Chicken who then brought the creators of South Park on board and they then (over a 'Shroom pizza) came up with a Nightmare Twisted Fairy Tale version of Alice in Wonderland, I'm pretty sure the result would resemble the I Hate Fairyland saga.

The messed-up humor, the gratuitously grotesque, the raunchy dialogue, and the author's no-holds-barred willingness to Go There reminds me of the animated shows I loved back in the day. Which, in turn, makes my weird little Gen-X heart happy with Nostalgia and ALL the Warm Fuzzies!

[LaCrissa Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm my dad's daughter. If he says to read a graphic novel or that a book is fun, I'm going to check it out. He's not been wrong yet!
This graphic novel was just what I needed to split up my heavy reads at the moment. It follows Gert, a little girl who falls into fairyland and for many years tries to fight tooth and nail (literally) to get home. I fluffing loved this muffin hugging book about this little sasshole (IYKYK)!

[Scrapper InLa · Rating 3 out of 5]

If she had only listened to her guide, I suppose she would have been released.
It was unhinged and irreverent. There is only so much death and mayhem before it wears on one.
Why didn’t I enjoy it more? It unwinds toward the end. It reminds me of Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe. Highly derivative and not in a good way.

[Joanne Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like JTHM before, angry children doing evil things. I'm all in. Love this comic.

Gertie is a nearly 40 year old woman trapped in a child's body , she has been stuck in Fairyland for 3 decades. She's angry, she's over it, and Fairyland is going to suffer.

[Elaine Fultz, Teacher Librarian, MLS · Rating 5 out of 5]

So in planning a future tattoo, I realized that Skottie Young's style is what I want, so I finally tackled this gruesomely fabulous graphic novel after only leafing through the comics at bookstores. Blood and brains and Gert's toxic green ringlets, yes please.

[Max Sarmento · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dove into my first comic read to date. Fantastic and whimsical story, with extra blood and gore. If you appreciate “Happy Tree Friends” with a mix of fantasy and humor, this read is for you. Can’t wait to dive into other issues and genres. 🐻 ⭐️ 🍭

[Farah Tarek · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fluffing son of a journey

[Metabull · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun!! A great way to start off 2025. I absolutely loved it!

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. Larry the fly is my favorite for his dry and sarcastic humor. The art is bright and wonderful even if it’s occasionally morbid.

[Heather Farrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's so ridiculous, silly, and violent, and I absolutely love it ❤️🪓

[Trike · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not like. Not my style of humor, at all.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole fluffing story all tangled into one bloody good time. A vibrant bloody fairytale that pays tribute to the magic we all know. Highly recommended!

[Tyler Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.16/5 is a fair grade. I colour, the art, the ridiculousness, and the humour were all great and made this very enjoyable. Although it did get a tiny bit repetitive, I would definitely recommend it.

[Dennis-Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing funny out of control comic, would recommend for any adult who’s still in touch or looking for their inner rough talking, scary funny crazy kid

[Manic Booksy Dreamgirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit too frantic for my taste. Some of the artwork was excellent and it had a lot of ideas but I think this could’ve been refined into something much more digestible.

[Sean Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devilishly fun in both story and art.