Comics: Fables: Frau Totenkinder (Hint: SHE IS AMAZING)
I am finally caught up with Fables. Holy fuckballs. So I looked up the author and yes, I was right to suspect the guy is a staunch political conservative. It's...actually incredibly interesting knowing I was right about that not least because it means that the following sequence of facts, that I am convinced are all utterly intentional, are suddenly about a million percent more fascinating in terms of authorial choice:
a) I'm certain the rare but fairly blatant arguments against abortion in this comic are intentional and reflective of the author's beliefs.
b) No one can convince me it's coincidence that the war against the Adversary basically shakes out as a thematic duel between Gepetto and Frau Totenkinder - between the man whose chief source of power are the infinite children he carves from his magic grove, and the woman whose magic is powered by the deaths of children, whose name means Mrs Deadchildren, who sacrificed her own firstborn child in exchange for survival, and who, in modern times, it's heavily implied, remains within the law by funding abortion clinics. It is LITERALLY a war of Infinite Babies vs. Abortion.
c) And yet - Mrs Deadkids is the good guys' champion. She's the one we're rooting for. No one can convince me that's a coincidence or an accident either, but it is...complicated and wonderful and completely not what I was expecting from the guy who kept dropping gentle hints about his political orientation.
NGL, this comic bugs me sometimes with its heteronormativity in a genre that would be just perfect for queerness of all sorts, but I forgive a lot for Frau Totenkinder. She's amazing. And complicated. And powerful. And heroic. And morally ambiguous. And murderous. And dangerous. And loyal. And utterly unapologetic about who she is and what she's done and what she's going to do and what she never will.
She defies an empire because a young woman was once kind to her when she was in pain. She brings a god of fear to his knees to prove she can, and when she cannot kill him, she shrugs and smiles, and says, I'm done now, and leaves for a new life, and a new beginning. She moves backwards through the phases of her life; it's time to be young, and terrifying, once more.
YOU GUISE. I JUST. FRAU TOTENKINDER. I LIKE HER A LOT.
This is the sequence where she decides to leave her people, leave her disguises, once more awaken her full potential, and go to war against a god. Sorry it's so long, but I feel the whole sequence needs to be seen to understand its impact. It's so wonderfully...primal. Even the gingerbread house.
It's a really interesting series. Some of the stuff in it bugs me; some is incredible. I'd like to make this into a series of posts, but we'll see if I feel I have anything else worth saying.
Have any of you read this series?
a) I'm certain the rare but fairly blatant arguments against abortion in this comic are intentional and reflective of the author's beliefs.
b) No one can convince me it's coincidence that the war against the Adversary basically shakes out as a thematic duel between Gepetto and Frau Totenkinder - between the man whose chief source of power are the infinite children he carves from his magic grove, and the woman whose magic is powered by the deaths of children, whose name means Mrs Deadchildren, who sacrificed her own firstborn child in exchange for survival, and who, in modern times, it's heavily implied, remains within the law by funding abortion clinics. It is LITERALLY a war of Infinite Babies vs. Abortion.
c) And yet - Mrs Deadkids is the good guys' champion. She's the one we're rooting for. No one can convince me that's a coincidence or an accident either, but it is...complicated and wonderful and completely not what I was expecting from the guy who kept dropping gentle hints about his political orientation.
NGL, this comic bugs me sometimes with its heteronormativity in a genre that would be just perfect for queerness of all sorts, but I forgive a lot for Frau Totenkinder. She's amazing. And complicated. And powerful. And heroic. And morally ambiguous. And murderous. And dangerous. And loyal. And utterly unapologetic about who she is and what she's done and what she's going to do and what she never will.
She defies an empire because a young woman was once kind to her when she was in pain. She brings a god of fear to his knees to prove she can, and when she cannot kill him, she shrugs and smiles, and says, I'm done now, and leaves for a new life, and a new beginning. She moves backwards through the phases of her life; it's time to be young, and terrifying, once more.
YOU GUISE. I JUST. FRAU TOTENKINDER. I LIKE HER A LOT.
This is the sequence where she decides to leave her people, leave her disguises, once more awaken her full potential, and go to war against a god. Sorry it's so long, but I feel the whole sequence needs to be seen to understand its impact. It's so wonderfully...primal. Even the gingerbread house.
It's a really interesting series. Some of the stuff in it bugs me; some is incredible. I'd like to make this into a series of posts, but we'll see if I feel I have anything else worth saying.
Have any of you read this series?