Hansel and Gretel: a beautiful illustrated version of the classic fairytale

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And adding to the horror of the tale are the amazing stark ink drawings by Lorenzo Mattotti, the black colouring relieved only by patches of grey and white.

Hansel and Gretel: A TOON Graphic by Neil Gaiman | Goodreads Hansel and Gretel: A TOON Graphic by Neil Gaiman | Goodreads

Ternyata Hansel and Gretel ini (kalau benar sejarahnya) justru sangat setia dengan versi awal milik Grimms. For example, why does Hansel drop white stones that are easy to follow the first time he and Gretel are abandoned in the woods but breadcrumbs the second? Newbery Medal-winner Neil Gaiman retells Hansel and Gretel as a story of parents plotting a murder by neglect, with full-spread India ink compositions by Lorenzo Mattotti as dark and terrifying as his forest setting.Mattotti’s arresting and frightening illustrations fill each two-page spread with thick black brushstrokes, the children appearing as tiny, indistinct figures, often in the book’s corners or near the seam. It's all in black and white with an edgy-artsy spin to it (and edgy in the sense that I had to really squint at some of these pages to see what was happening, NOT edgy as in mind-blowingly unique). These pieces of art (which the publication page says are in “a rich black ink, on a smooth woodfree paper from Japan”) proved to be the inspiration for Gaiman’s take. The children are left abandoned in the woods and all you can see of the woodcutter is an axe and an eye. The New York Times Bestselling author Neil Gaiman and fine artist Lorenzo Mattotti join forces to create Hansel and Gretel, a stunning book that's at once as familiar as a dream and as evocative as a nightmare.

Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman | Waterstones Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman | Waterstones

And, it’s okay, it’s safe to tell you that story — as long as you tell them that you can be smart, and you can be brave, and you can be tricky, and you can be plucky, and you can keep going. I have read and watched a couple of different versions of this tale and this one, I feel is what the original would be like. They feel slapped together, because even though they're not mentioned in the text, the drawings show the mother coming along for the abandonment, and a duck helping the children cross the river.Mattotti masterfully and subtly uses negative space so each image isn’t immediately noticeable, like the most menacing game of hide-and-seek, and the abrupt oscillation between the clean, white pages of words and the silent, chilling dusky pictures is striking… Gaiman’s fans and lovers of visual storytelling will devour this eerie version of a classic. The smudgy, inky artwork is pretty unique and suitably grim(m) and ominous—you have to squint to make out what the illustrations are even depicting, which makes them nightmarish. Find out what the witnesses saw; read the witch's recipe for cooked boy; read the whole story but set in space! And the art work is dark but full of details so one can really take some time to look at the pictures and enjoy them.

Hansel and Gretel: a beautiful illustrated version of the

A frequent contributor of covers for the New Yorker, he’s recognized as one of the most outstanding international exponents of comics art. Remember many years ago when everyone said things like, "Wouldn't it be awesome if Tim Burton directed a version of ________"? I picked this up thinking it would be a fairy retelling, just like The Sleeper and The Spindle, but found that it was the exact story, as I remember it being told, every single time. It brought something new to a already well known story while still being beautifully told and illustrated.I guess it’s for kids but I don’t know if they’d like Lorenzo Mattotti’s unappealing and grim(m) black black BLACK art. In fact the only difference I could spot was that he omitted any mention of a witch - here she’s just your run-of-the-mill crazy old woman who lives in a house made of sweets and eats children. This is no Disneyfied version, no friendly animals or dancing candlesticks there to help the two children. The Grimm version is as frightening as a bedtime story gets, but this version will scare people in new ways, and some of those people may need to start drawing right away.