I Read Comic Books discussion

This month's Book of the Month is Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman! This visually stunning retelling of the classic Snow White story won an Eisner this year for Best Adaptation from Another Medium, and it's easy to see why!

What did you think about this story? Did you enjoy the departure from the original Snow White tale? And how about that ART?!

As a reminder, this thread is FULL SPOILERS!

This month's episode is a Patreon exclusive, available on September 28th. Once the episode is live, we'll post a link in this thread. Get your discussion points in ASAP to have them read on the show - Make sure to mark them as "OK TO AIR"!

My review

I really loved this book. I'm a big Gaiman fan and I'd read the short story a couple of times before this adaptation. I think it's pretty good Gaiman work and his classic kind of "Let's see how twisted we can make this seemingly innocuous fairy tale" story.

Colleen Doran's art is just awesome. It took what is a solid short story and elevated it like only a great comic book artist can. It feels like throw back fairy tail illustrations, which makes the horror bits all the more terrifying. Doran was definitely more than deserving of the Eisner.

Great art, interesting twist, EXTREMELY overrated as a reading...

Oneirosophos wrote: "Great art, interesting twist, EXTREMELY overrated as a reading..."

I pretty much agree with you - I thought some parts of the story were needlessly gross but the art is SO GOOD!

*ok to air*
Read this one earlier this year and I gotta say it didn't do it for me. The art was interesting and I appreciated the style, but I wasn't ready for it to become erotic. I don't know if I'm being a prude, but something about that turn, especially with the tone and subject, turned me off.
It could just be that in 2020 the world around us shapes how we're absorbing new material. There are other comics I've read this year that I think I would enjoy more if the world wasn't on fire and some comics I've skipped altogether because it's hard to focus. Gaiman is still a top notch story teller, but I can't recommend this one they way I can others.

"OK TO AIR"

I did not expect to like the evocative, panel-less stained-glass art style but it's a natural fit for the familiar-but-off fairy tale narrative. And I loved the contrast between its pristine beauty and grim morbidity.

I adored this delightfully creepy twist on the Snow White fairytale, that paired with the beautiful art makes this graphic novel a must-read!

I am not always a fan of Neil Gaiman, but his erotic and dark tale was intriguing in that the reader sympathized with the queen and that Snow White was the evil one. But it was the gorgeous Art Nouveau illustrations by Colleen Doran that elevated this story!

For a longer review, read the post on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2019/10/3...

*OK to air*

Here is my review from last year.
OK to air.

This is the real story of the monstrous Snow White, before her P.R. people spun it to make her look like the innocent victim. The story is creepy as heck. But the real star is Colleen Doran's art. Visually inspired by Harry Clarke, but also Aubrey Beardsley and Art Deco, the art is intricate, colorful and sumptuous. As beautiful as Monstress, but with a much easier-to-follow story. While this is a complete story, I would like to be able to go deeper and find out more of Snow White's past. What made her so evil and powerful?

I read this with an IRL group. Some of us wondered about why they put fat on her skin. It turns out, that makes being burned alive more painful.

Ok to air along with anything in my full review here!

Neil Gaiman is a master of twisted stories and in SGA he flips so many Snow White tropes on their head - I was really impressed by how naturally and subtly many references are that it took me a moment to fully realize them, rather than being...low hanging fruit. I'm sorry.

I also appreciated how Gaiman's inversions highlight how elements of a fairy tale that was already quite sexist, are already twisted - yeah, he made Prince Charming really gross, but he kisses a (presumably) dead woman in the original story, so...isn't he already?

Colleen Doran's intricate and pain-staking art really elevates the story - according to her afterword, most of it was done by hand, and more than once. I especially like how often she used full-page spreads; even without panels, it was easy to follow along and had a storytelling, dream-like quality to it. Gaiman's story is great, but Doran's work makes it even more compelling, and visceral, and an experience that lasts well beyond reading it.

Our episode for this book is up on our Patreon!

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