A review by hypops
The Dragon Slayer: Folktales from Latin America by Jaime Hernández
4.0
Three, young-person-friendly, Latin American folks tales written, drawn, and adapted by comics legend Jaime Hernandez.
The eponymous first story is passable, but nothing exceptional. It’s a mostly predictable story about a poor servant woman marrying a prince after slaying a dragon.
The last two stories, however, are outstanding. One is a fun morality tale about a young woman whose husband (a rat) falls into a pot of soup. She mourns his loss and spreads her sadness to others. In case you don’t already know how the story ends, I won’t spoil it, but the moral of the tale is a twisted variation on “not counting one’s chickens before they’re hatched.”
I especially love the last story. I’m a big fan of children’s stories in which immoral behavior is rewarded, and wow does this little spit get rewarded for his immorality! The story is a riff on some of the great trickster folk tales. Again, I won’t spoil it for those who don’t already know the story, but the main character—the youngest of three brothers—is pathologically lazy, but he is also heroically savvy about preserving his laziness.
Everything in the book is drawn in a simplified and cartoonishly exaggerated version of Hernandez’s usual style. A fantastic and quick read that I hope to come back to and revisit in the future. Absolutely worth your time.
The eponymous first story is passable, but nothing exceptional. It’s a mostly predictable story about a poor servant woman marrying a prince after slaying a dragon.
The last two stories, however, are outstanding. One is a fun morality tale about a young woman whose husband (a rat) falls into a pot of soup. She mourns his loss and spreads her sadness to others. In case you don’t already know how the story ends, I won’t spoil it, but the moral of the tale is a twisted variation on “not counting one’s chickens before they’re hatched.”
I especially love the last story. I’m a big fan of children’s stories in which immoral behavior is rewarded, and wow does this little spit get rewarded for his immorality! The story is a riff on some of the great trickster folk tales. Again, I won’t spoil it for those who don’t already know the story, but the main character—the youngest of three brothers—is pathologically lazy, but he is also heroically savvy about preserving his laziness.
Everything in the book is drawn in a simplified and cartoonishly exaggerated version of Hernandez’s usual style. A fantastic and quick read that I hope to come back to and revisit in the future. Absolutely worth your time.