A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
Metaphrog's Bluebeard by Metaphrog
4.0
Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley.
Bluebeard is and is not a strange. A modern reader sees it as a warning tale for women but the whole “rein in one’s curiosity thing’ gets more than a raised eyebrow from today’s woman. I mean, she at least didn’t kill anyone. The Brothers Grimm are a bit better. But there is something about Bluebeard – the castle, the beard, Angela Carter’s short story. Who knows?
Metaphrog’s retelling, in graphic novel form, combines these various versions and presents something that is pretty darn good.
In this version of the story, the center, the part that holds is the love that the family has for each other, this is particularly true of the sisters. By filling in, or better answering questions versions, that the original versions raise, Metaphrog not only makes the story more engrossing but more modern. There are issues besides the question of curiosity vs feminism. There are also the issues of rich and poor that that are raised in the original but dealt with in passing.
The artwork is glorious. But the stand out winning aspect is the use of the name Eve for the heroine. It is reclaiming the story in so many different ways, moving it beyond the curiosity evil original and taking it further than Angela Carter’s “Bloody Chamber”.
Bluebeard is and is not a strange. A modern reader sees it as a warning tale for women but the whole “rein in one’s curiosity thing’ gets more than a raised eyebrow from today’s woman. I mean, she at least didn’t kill anyone. The Brothers Grimm are a bit better. But there is something about Bluebeard – the castle, the beard, Angela Carter’s short story. Who knows?
Metaphrog’s retelling, in graphic novel form, combines these various versions and presents something that is pretty darn good.
In this version of the story, the center, the part that holds is the love that the family has for each other, this is particularly true of the sisters. By filling in, or better answering questions versions, that the original versions raise, Metaphrog not only makes the story more engrossing but more modern. There are issues besides the question of curiosity vs feminism. There are also the issues of rich and poor that that are raised in the original but dealt with in passing.
The artwork is glorious. But the stand out winning aspect is the use of the name Eve for the heroine. It is reclaiming the story in so many different ways, moving it beyond the curiosity evil original and taking it further than Angela Carter’s “Bloody Chamber”.