Fresh off the loss of her goblin friend to a strange portal, Bernice must weigh her responsibilities as protector of Harrow County with her desire to get her companion back safe and sound. But the past weighs heavily and the fair folk use Bernice’s use her memories against her.
And something more disastrous than she could have feared may be around the corner to threaten both the worlds of Man and of haints.
Collects Tales from Harrow County: Fair Folk #1–#4.
Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.
All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.
And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.
Priscilla is missing, kidnapped by goblins during the events of Death's Choir. Bernice sets out to find her, but unwittingly finds herself in the midst of a magical civil war that only she can stop. But first, she'll make it much, much worse.
Fair Folk's problem is that it's working against itself from the get-go - it's mostly about Emmy's legacy, but by having that be the main focus, it throws Bernice and the other characters into shadow, and like Death's Choir before it, the plot seems to drag them along in its wake rather than them having any agency up until the last issue. Emmy was the centre of Harrow County's world for good reason, but by having her be the centre that everything gravitates around and yet not actually a presence in the story itself, it all feels aimless.
There are some improvements however - Bernice roping Georgia into her adventure helps the two of them grow together, and the revisiting of the characters of the haints that we didn't see in the first mini-series helps fill in the gaps around where they've been and why they're acting the way they are. For better or worse, Harrow County has moved on, and we get to see the fallout of that to help make the world feel cohesive again.
Emily Squall's artwork is pretty good, but it's definitely the weakest of the four or so artists that have worked on Harrow County thus far. Her monsters are great, and you can tell she enjoys drawing them from the sketchbook section in the back, but all of her human characters look oddly stunted, like they've been squashed from the top down. It's not distracting enough to take you out of the story, but it did make me raise an eyebrow every few pages.
In some ways an improvement on the previous mini-series, but in others the complete opposite, Fair Folk keeps the Harrow County narrative going, but it does beg the question as to why.
It's billed as "Tales From", but the entire story still revolves around the main character of Harrow County. Additionally, the art is both inconsistent and sloppy. If you enjoyed the original, don't sully your memory with this.
Another excellent volume. The series is still following Bernice, who is searching for her lost goblin friend Priscilla. The search leads them into the fairy lands, and Bernice finds herself on a quest to find the lost fairy queen. This is like a cross between Celtic mythology and southern gothic, which works better than you'd think.
”And, near as I can tell, Emmy never looked back.” - Bernice Anderson in Fair Folk #1.
Fair Folk picks up exactly where Death’s Choir left off...with the ultimate question, “Bernice, who is Emmy?” This extension to the Harrow County universe delivers an emotional flashback to the ending of the original series within the first few pages, one that’s sure to thrill long-time Harrow fans. As you might have guessed by the subtitle Fair Folk, introduces the Golden Ones that dwell beneath the town of Harrow. They were once peaceful and lived happily with their benevolent Queen. You can’t help but feel sorry for the winged creatures as they recall their enslavement by a group of malicious Haints, who want nothing more than to see the return of the black magic they worshipped above.
Interestingly enough, this miniseries feels more connected to it’s predecessor than Death’s Choir. Now, a lot of that could be due to the art by Emily Schnall, it’s very reminiscent of Tyler Crook’s gorgeous moody watercolours, down to the fine line art and creepy creature design. In fact, the opening page spread in issue #2 actually made me do a double take. But it’s most likely to do with the fact that this miniseries is very Emmy centred, even though she is only mentioned and briefly appears in a flashback. Fair Folk expands on the friendship (or should I say relationship?) between Emmy and Bernice in some interesting and shocking ways. I don’t want to spoil anything, but this was something myself and I’m sure many others had been suspecting for quite some time. I’ll leave it as tantalizing as that.
A great expansion to the world of Harrow County and a must read.
I thought this was a decent addition to the series. It definitely felt reminiscent of the first Harrow County series . I thought this book ended a little quickly, but I'm looking forward to the next volume to see how everything concludes. I definitely miss Tyler Crook's artwork, but the art here isn't bad.
Bernice goes to find Priscilla, who was pulled underground by the goblins. Traveling through a fairy circle, she goes to where the Fair Folk live, and finds that this is where many of the Haints have come now that Emmy is no longer in Harrow County. The Haints threaten Bernice and force her to cast a spell so that the people of Harrow County will call for Emmy to return, so that the Haints themselves can return. Bernice does, but then strikes a deal with the Fair Folk to find their queen, so that they will help her to escape and try to stop the Haints. Will she be able to accomplish it all in time?
This is a nice continuation of Bernice’s tales in Harrow County, but it felt rushed. It was OK.
Wonderful story and graphics as usual. This time Bernice is trying to find Priscilla and winds up underneath the ground where she will face strange haints and demons. Will she be able to escape with her girlfriend? The Emmy scarecrow was my favorite and of course it ended on a happy note.
Taking place right after the last volume, Bernice has to go and find her friend, Priscilla the haint, from the underground.
That's the blanket description of the book. However, Cullen Bunn likes to mix in interpersonal relationships with his characters to really flesh out the story. So here, we have Bernice having to have to deal with her girlfriend finding out about Emmy and who she was to Bernice in the past. And while we have always known that they were close, Bunn kind of hints that Bernice may have had more in mind in terms of where her relationship with Emmy was going to grow. Ultimately, she has to trust her new girlfriend to be a bigger part of her life, as holding onto the past will definitely complicate things to say the least.
The artist on this was Emily Schnall, and while it is certainly different Tyler Crook's art from the original series, she still managed to capture the feel of the original. The book feels creepy but at the same time almost like a fairy tale - which is perfectly appropriate for this book being that it deals with fairies and enchanted woods, and things like that.
This was another good entry into the Harrow County story. I'm looking forward to volume 3.
The first volume of the spin-off was a reminder of what a wonderful, spooky little thing Harrow County could be before it got tangled up in its own attempt to be an epic. The second, alas, starts huffing on the fumes of that overreach, even as it tells on itself by having a poor approximation of the original series' lead shamble disappointingly around. On top of which, it could very easily be read as an anti-refugee parable. Despite all of which, those night parades of haints, and fair folk revels, and rural twilights do all look so seductive that I'll probably keep going again, just like last time.
Picking up where the last volume left off we see Bernice try to find out just what happened to her little goblin friend. This volume continues to flesh out the world of Harrow County and how it can’t move on without Emmy’s presence. Chuck in a bunch of different ghouls and goblins and it’s a solid tale. Bernice continues to be a strong lead for the comic but I wish things would go a little darker. The comic teeters and teases on darker matter but doesn’t quite go there. The world of Harrow Country continues to have an unsettling but oddly pleasant vibe and I hope it continues on for a while to come.
Not quite as strong as the first volume, this is still not too bad, and recommended, especially if you're a Harrow County fan. Bernice sets out to find Priscilla, her goblin friend, missing since the events of the first volume, and sets in motion all sorts of problems for the good people of Harrow County. Art was all right, though too often, Bernice and Georgia look like little girls instead of grown women. If there are more volumes coming, I'll be here for them
Hedge witch Bernice goes through a portal to a fairy world with her girlfriend Georgia to try and save Priscilla, her goblin friend.
This volume was pretty good but I don't think I'll remember much about it months from now. The scarecrow effigy of Emmy that the haints had created was creepy and I'm a fan of Priscilla.
Not a huge fan of the story itself so dropped a star. BUT I wanted to read this for quite some time because I'm trying to delve into doing my own graphic novel. I found out that the artist hand draws his artwork and watercolors it (which is what I do with my comic characters!) and I LOVE that he does everything traditionally. The artwork is amazing and I want more!! 😀
Wonderful follow up to volume 1, very engaged and exciting story. Volume 1 and 2 has been my only intro to the harrow county universe, so I would definitely recommend. Makes me very curious about the rest of the stories that take place in this world!
Harrow County is such a sweet place to visit although this volume requires previous visits. The fairies are vs. the haints and all YA lesbian witches are caught in the middle.