Sadly Never After

Last updated
Sadly Never After
Date
  • February 7, 2018 (Part 1)
  • March 7, 2018 (Part 2)
  • April 4, 2018 (Part 3)
  • June 13, 2018 (Part 4)
  • July 4, 2018 (Part 5)
No. of issues5
Main characters
Publisher Image Comics
Creative team
Writers Skottie Young [1] [2]
Artists Skottie Young
Letterers Nate Piekos of Blambot
ColouristsJean-Francois Beaulieu [3]
Creators Skottie Young
Jason Howard [4]
Editors Rian Hughes
Original publication
Published in I Hate Fairyland
ISBN 978-1-6321-5887-1
Chronology
Preceded by Good Girl
Followed by Gert's Inferno (story arc)
The Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland (spin-off)

Sadly Never After (also known as Gert: A Real Muffin Fluffer) is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Skottie Young that was released in five parts throughout 2018 by Image Comics as the fourth volume of the American comic book series I Hate Fairyland , set in the Image Universe. Part 1, Hell of a Trip was released on February 7, 2018, Part 2, There's Magic In That There Cauldron!, was released on March 7, 2018, Part 3, The End!, was released on April 4, 2018, Part 4, Gert In Space!, was released on June 13, 2018, and Part 5, Fuck Fairyland, was released on July 4, 2018. [5]

Contents

Following the death of Gertrude "Gert" in the previous volume, the series follows two new storylines, as Gert is condemned by the devil, Bill, to eternally repeat her quest in an identical copy of Fairyland in a pocket dimension within Hell, while in the real Fairyland, Gert's former companions Duncan Dragon and Larry seek to resurrect her in order to save Fairyland from "Dark Cloudia", revived by Horribella. Produced as the final volume of the series, it was followed by the spin-off anthology series The Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland in 2021, [6] and a revival series, beginning with the story arc Gert's Inferno , in 2022, again written by Young with a new illustration team. [7]

The series has received a universally positive critical reception. [8] [9]

Premise

Part One: Hell of a Trip

Following her death and descent into Hell in Good Girl , Gert finds "Happy" to actually be the devil, Bill assuming her form, who after failing to torment Gert with a twisted version of her childhood home, creates an identical version of Fairyland within Hell, condemning her to an eternity of repeating her quest. [10] [11] [12] [13]

Part Two: There's Magic In That There Cauldron

The witch Horribella calls Bill and demands "her" bones as payment for causing Gert's death, which Bill has delivered to her through Duncan Dragon, who has become a postal courier after learning how to fly. Planning to bring about the end of Fairyland, Horribella revives the figure to life as a powerful undead being who kills her and declares "I Hate Fairyland!" before going on a rampage. [14] [15]

Part Three: The End!

The undead being is revealed as "Dark Cloudia", a corrupted version of the former Fairyland Queen Cloudia. Reasoning that since Cloudia was returned to life, Gert can be brought back to, Duncan recruits Larry to track down and confront the Fairyland Council to resurrect Gert to save Fairyland. The Council initially refuse, citing the rules of Fairyland, but Duncan retorts that the rules, and the council, are directly responsible for the crisis, and that by kidnapping children like him and Gertrude, they have abdicated any moral authority. Conceding that Duncan is correct, the council orders Bill to deliver the pocket dimension containing Gertrude's Hell to the council chamber. [16] [17]

Part Four: Gert In Space!

In her personal Hell, Gert, having recruited the pocket dimension's generated version of a younger Larry, commandeering the spaceship of an astronaut in an attempt to escape, is surprised when Duncan and Larry enter Hell and inform Gertrude about Dark Cloudia. Agreeing to kill Cloudia again, she exists the pocket dimension and returns to life along with the Hell-generated Larry. On learning her actions would serve the Council's purpose, Gert attempts to renege on the deal, only for the Council to promise to return Gert home if she succeeds in defeating Cloudia, noting that as she is now a force of pure darkness, Gert must become a force of good, combining their powers to forcibly empower her with their combined magic. [18]

The title is a reference to the Muppets skit Pigs in Space .

Part Five: Fuck Fairyland

As Dark Cloudia destroys the army of the current Fairyland monarch, King Cone, she is attacked by the empowered Gert, who embarks in a brawl with her across Fairyland with her new magical powers, depowering Cloudia and beating her up. Sick and tired of violence, on Larry's advice, Gert decides against killing Cloudia again, and hands the defeated villain over to King Cone to be imprisoned for her crimes. The Council then appears, angry because Gert didn't kill Cloudia, in spite of having technically fulfilled their request to simply "defeat" her, threatening to exile Gert to a remote place in Fairyland, until Gert reminds them per their own rules that they cannot take back their combined magic from her until acknowledging she had defeated Cloudia and returning her home, and could use it to kill them unless they honored their part of the deal. [8]

Fearful, the Council quickly sends Gert back home, much to Larry's sorrow (who had been unable to say "You're welcome." to Gert's "Thank you." for looking after her and truly having raised her over all her years in Fairyland), who hopes Gert enjoys the life she has fought for all these years. On Earth, Gert, now an adult woman in her thirties, finds herself employed as a clerk in a television station, frustrated by her mundane existence and looking for a way to return, before abandoning her search and cursing Fairyland one last time before getting back to work, determined to face her lot in life. [9]

Development

In June 2018, Skottie Young quietly announced that the then-ongoing fourth volume of I Hate Fairyland would be its last, via a variant cover for Gert In Space!. On the release of the final issue in July 2023, Young elaborated on his reasoning for ending the series and the potential for the series to return, stating:

"That's right, I just finished inking the last panel on the last page of I Hate Fairyland #20. What I've known for a while, but you just found out, was that's the last page of the series, at least for now. I know, some of you are probably cursing my name right now while some of you are saying, "It's about time." Either way, I knew it was time for me to bring Gert's story to an end for the time being. I LOVED writing and drawing this series [and] was blown away by the support and love you all had for it [but] as much fun as this was, I started having other ideas [and] knew that I didn't have the time to carry on writing and drawing an ongoing series [and] develop a brand new project [and so] made the choice to bring [I Hate Fairyland] to the ending I always saw for Gert." [19]

Reception

Issue #Publication dateCritic ratingCritic reviewsRef.
1February 20189.5/105 [20]
2March 20188.6/106 [21]
3April 20187.5/107 [22]
4June 20187.8/105 [23]
5July 20189.8/107 [24]
Overall8.7/1030 [25]

Collected editions

TitleMaterial collectedPublished dateISBN
I Hate Fairyland: Sadly Never After I Hate Fairyland (vol. 1) #16–20 [26] August 22, 2018 [27] ISBN   978-1632158871
I Hate Fairyland Book Two [28] I Hate Fairyland (vol. 1) #11–20
I Hate Image: FCBD Special #1 [29] 		September 17, 2019 ISBN   978-1534312487
I Hate Fairyland Compendium One I Hate Fairyland (vol. 1) #1–20
I Hate Image: FCBD Special #1		June 25, 2024 ISBN   978-1534397729

Follow-ups

In the final issue of Sadly Never After, then-intended as the final chapter of I Hate Fairyland as a whole, Skottie Young expressed interest in one-day returning to the series, stating:

"I'll tease a little of the future. While this is the end of I HATE FAIRYLAND as an ongoning series, that doesn't mean we can't drop into the world from time to time, whether it be a one-shot of a mini-series of "TALES OF"-style stories. Nothing is on the schedule just yet, but talks have been had and ideas have been scribbled down. So for now it's not a GOOD-BYE, but more of a SEE YA LATER." [19]

In August 2021, Young confirmed I Hate Fairyland would return later that year with the spin-off midquel anthology series The Unbelievable Unfortunately Mostly Unreadable and Nearly Unpublishable Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland , to be written by him along with a revolving team of new artists, and set during the events of the first four volumes, to be published freely to his Substack newsletter ahead of an Image Comics publication, while the main series would be revived in 2022 with a new #1 issue, in what would become Gert's Inferno , with Brett Bean replacing Young as the series' primary artist, following Gert as she is paid to return to Fairyland to rescue a missing child. [30] [31]

Sadly Never After has been cited by French cartoonist François Locufier as an inspiration for his webtoon series Geraldine & Mona, to which it began development as a fan-fiction sequel, featuring Gert have a daughter on her return to Earth. [32] [33] [34]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Liefeld</span> American comic book creator (born 1967)

Robert Liefeld is an American comic book creator. A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, he is known for co-creating the character Cable with writer Louise Simonson and the character Deadpool with writer Fabian Nicieza. In the early 1990s, Liefeld gained popularity due to his work on Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which started a wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Liefeld's Youngblood #1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invincible (character)</span> Comic book superhero

Invincible is a superhero created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker, currently drawn by Ryan Ottley. Invincible first appeared in a preview as part of Savage Dragon #102, before graduating to his own self-titled regular series in 2003, as the premier title in Image Comics' then-new superhero line, a relaunch of the Image Universe. Invincible appears in Invincible, Bomb Queen, Noble Causes, The Pact, Savage Dragon, The Astounding Wolf-Man, Dynamo 5, I Hate Fairyland – I Hate Image, and Battle Beast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Seeley</span> American comic book artist and writer

Tim Seeley is an American comic book artist and writer known for his work on books such as Grayson, Nightwing, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, G.I. Joe vs. Transformers and New Exiles. He is also the co-creator of the Image Comics titles Hack/Slash and Revival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Rankine</span> Australian comics artist, writer and illustrator

Dean Rankine is an Australian comics artist, writer and illustrator. Rankine's work has appeared in many comics, books and magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skottie Young</span> American comics artist

Skottie Young is an American comic book artist, children's book illustrator and writer. He is best known for his work with various Marvel Comics characters, his comic book adaptations of L. Frank Baum's Oz books with Eric Shanower, his I Hate Fairyland comic book series, and a series of novels with Neil Gaiman, Fortunately, the Milk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Bá</span> Brazilian comic book artist

Gabriel Bá is a Brazilian comic book artist best known for his work on The Umbrella Academy, Casanova, and Daytripper. He is the twin brother of fellow comic book artist Fábio Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fábio Moon</span> Brazilian comic book artist (born 1976)

Fábio Moon is a Brazilian comic book artist best known for his work on Casanova. He is the twin brother of fellow comic book artist Gabriel Bá.

<i>I Hate Fairyland</i> American comic

I Hate Fairyland is a black comedy fantasy comic written and illustrated by Skottie Young, and published by Image Comics, which started publication in October 2015. The comic follows Gertrude "Gert", a woman who was transported to a mystical world called Fairyland as a child. Twenty-seven years later, Gert is now an un-aging, violent misanthrope who, alongside her reluctant guide and friend Larry, constantly tries and fails to return to Earth, across the storylines Madly Ever After, Fluff My Life, Good Girl, I Hate Image, Sadly Never After, Fluff This World, Gert's Inferno, Last Gert Standing, In the Mean Time, and Happy End Game.

<i>Secret Warriors</i> (2017 series)

Secret Warriors is a 2017 comic book series which focused on a new incarnation of the Secret Warriors superhero team. The team is composed of "Inhumans who are a little outside traditional Inhuman culture". It's the second series of the title Secret Warriors to be published by Marvel Comics. It ran for twelve issues from May 2017 to January 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ringo Awards</span> Annual comic book award

The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Ringo Awards, are prizes given for achievement in comic books. They are named in honor of artist Mike Wieringo and they were founded by the Reisterstown, Maryland-based Cards, Comics, & Collectibles shop alongside the Ringo Awards Committee in 2017, their ceremony meant to succeed the Harvey Awards which left the Baltimore Comic-Con as its venue in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damnation (comics)</span>

Damnation is a comic book limited series written by Donny Cates and Nick Spencer, illustrated by Rod Reis, and published in 2018 as four monthly issues by Marvel Comics. It was the main story in a crossover event with some plot elements occurring in tie-in issues of related ongoing series also published by Marvel.

<i>Farmhand</i> (comics) American comic book

Farmhand is an American comic book created, written, and illustrated by Rob Guillory with help from letterer Kody Chamberlain and colorist Taylor Wells. It has been published in monthly installments and paperback collections by Image Comics since July 2018.

<i>G.I. Joe</i> (2019 comic book) American comic book series

G.I. Joe is an American comic book series published by IDW Publishing, written by Paul Allor and drawn by pencillers Chris Evenhuis, Niko Walter, Ryan Kelly and Emma Vieceli, alongside colorist Brittany Peer. Based upon the G.I. Joe franchise by Donald Levine and Hasbro, this series is a reboot of the previous comic book series that used to take place in the Hasbro Comic Book Universe.

<i>Snake Eyes: Deadgame</i> Comic book limited series

Snake Eyes: Deadgame is an American comic book limited series by Rob Liefeld and Chad Bowers, and debuted on July 15, 2020, by IDW Publishing. The series features several characters from the G.I. Joe franchise by Donald Levine and Hasbro, but focuses on Snake Eyes as the main character.

<i>Crossover</i> (Image Comics) American comic book series

Crossover is an American comic book ongoing series created by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill, and is being published by Image Comics.

Last Gert Standing is a graphic novel written by Skottie Young and illustrated by Brett Bean that was released in five parts throughout 2023 by Image Comics, as the second volume of the 2022 revival of Young's 2015–2018 isekai comic book series I Hate Fairyland, set in the Image Universe, and the sixth volume overall. Part 1, We Need To Talk About Gertrude, was released on June 21, 2023, Part 2, Seven Gerts Enter, One Gert Leaves!, was released on July 19, 2023, Part 3, Here Or There Be Dragons, was released on August 16, 2023, Part 4, How To Train Your Gert…Or Not, was released on September 13, 2023, and Part 5, A Storm Full Of Pain, was released on October 25, 2023. An omnibus edition was released on January 17, 2024.

Gert's Inferno is a five-issue comic book graphic novel written by Skottie Young and drawn by Brett Bean as the fifth volume of I Hate Fairyland. Published by Image Comics, the story revolves around an adult Gert as she is hired by a billionaire to rescue his son from Fairyland.

The Unbelievable Unfortunately Mostly Unreadable and Nearly Unpublishable Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland is a comic book anthology series based on I Hate Fairyland by Skottie Young. Published digitally by Substack, and physically by Image Comics, the spin-off revolves around Gert and other supporting characters during the events of the series, the five-issue "Fluff This World" following Gert after her escape from Fairyland in "Sadly Never After".

Fluff My Life is a five-issue comic book graphic novel written and drawn by Skottie Young as the second volume of I Hate Fairyland. Published by Image Comics, the story revolves around the now-Queen Gert as she seeks a new method of escape from Fairyland, joining up with Duncan Dragon.

Outer Darkness is an American comic book series published by Image Comics, created by John Layman and Afu Chan, and set in the Image Universe. Set in the far future, the series follows amoral Captain Joshua Rigg and the crew of the starship Charon as they explore the outer darkness of deep space, encountering demonic possessions, hauntings, and cosmic horror as they do so. the title was announced near the end of 2018, running for two six-issue volumes into 2019: Each Other's Throats and Castrophany of Hate, after which it was relaunched in 2020 as Outer Darkness/Chew, a metafictional sequel to Layman's previous series Chew, Rob Guillory returning as a guest artist, the three-issue miniseries collected as Fusion Cuisine.

References

  1. ↑ Start, Ian; Mitchell, Brian (January 25, 2019). Skottie Young is Gert from “I Hate Fairyland!”. Skybound Entertainment . Retrieved January 25, 2019– via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ Piskor, Ed; Ruggart, Jim (July 22, 2019). The Skottie Young Shoot Interview. Cartoonist Kayfabe. Retrieved July 22, 2019– via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ↑ Lehoczky, Etelka (May 1, 2016). "No Pink, But Plenty Of Red, In Hack-N-Slash 'Fairyland'". NPR . Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  4. ↑ Lu, Alexander (June 14, 2016). "Interview: Skottie Young On the "Street Fighter Blood Sports" of I Hate Fairyland's New Arc!". Comics Beat . Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  5. ↑ Johnston, Rich (August 13, 2018). "The Top 500 Most-Ordered Comics and Graphic Novels in July 2018". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved August 13, 2018.
  6. ↑ Melton, Ian (October 13, 2019). "Talking with Skottie Young: Leaving Deadpool and Working Hard on Middlewest". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  7. ↑ Dar, Taimur (December 22, 2021). "Interview: Skottie Young takes a trip back to the mother-fluffin' world of I Hate Fairyland". Comics Beat . Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  8. 1 2 Drum, Nicole (August 2, 2018). "Comic Book Reviews for This Week: 7/4/2018". ComicBook.com . Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  9. 1 2 Santiago, Victor (August 27, 2018). "Review: I Hate Fairyland Vol. 4". Modern Gafa. Retrieved August 27, 2018. The final battle wraps up and Gertrude, after nearly forty years trapped in Fairyland without aging, gets the ending she truly deserves – one that is sadly never after. At least she finally seems to have learned something and gets a brief moment of catharsis before it's all over. It's weird seeing her grow as a character when she's still just a mad sociopath.
  10. ↑ Bailey, Benjamin (February 7, 2018). "The Pull List: I Hate Fairyland, VS, X-Men Red, And More". Nerdist . Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  11. ↑ Griffin, Carrie (February 7, 2018). "I Hate Fairyland #16 Review". Impulse Gamer. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  12. ↑ Comic Frontline Staff (February 12, 2018). "Top Panels of The Week! – 02/07/18". Comic Frontline. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  13. ↑ Ferreri, Rob (May 26, 2019). "Review: I Hate Fairyland #16: Hell in a Handbasket". Comic Crusaders. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  14. ↑ Santiago, Victor (March 5, 2018). "This Week In Comics: 3/7". Modern Gafa. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  15. ↑ Wallace, Elizabeth (March 7, 2018). "Review – I Hate Fairyland #17". Pixelated Geek. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  16. ↑ D. Ivester (April 3, 2018). "I Hate Fairyland #18 Review". The GWW. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  17. ↑ Drum, Nicole (August 2, 2018). "Comic Book Reviews for This Week: 4/4/2018". ComicBook.com . Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  18. ↑ Drum, Nicole (August 2, 2018). "Comic Book Reviews for This Week: 6/13/2018". ComicBook.com . Retrieved August 2, 2018.
  19. 1 2 Young, Skottie (July 4, 2018). "I Hate Fairyland #20 Letters Page". Image Comics . Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  20. ↑ "I Hate Fairyland #16 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  21. ↑ "I Hate Fairyland #17 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  22. ↑ "I Hate Fairyland #18 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. April 4, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  23. ↑ "I Hate Fairyland #19 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  24. ↑ "I Hate Fairyland #20 Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. July 4, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  25. ↑ "I Hate Fairyland: Sadly Never After Reviews". ComicBookRoundup.com. August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  26. ↑ Johnston, Rich (September 29, 2019). "Image Comics' Twenty-Five Best-Selling Titles, Right Now". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved September 29, 2019.
  27. ↑ Young, Skottie (August 22, 2018). "I Hate Fairyland Volume 4: Sadly Never After". Previews World . Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  28. ↑ Johnston, Rich (April 18, 2019). "Paper Girls, Black Science and Skywards End – as Sea Of Stars, Unearth, Reaver and Space Bandits Begin in Image Comics July 2019 Solicits". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  29. ↑ Davison, Joshua (October 11, 2017). "I Hate Fairyland Special Edition #1 Review: Gertrude Kills The Image Universe". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  30. ↑ Young, Skottie (August 18, 2021). "The Return of I HATE FAIRYLAND!". Substack . Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  31. ↑ Epps, Justin (November 21, 2022). "I Hate Fairyland Is Back With More Laughs and More Gore (Review)". Screen Rant . Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  32. ↑ Locufier, François (5 May 2023). "Géraldine et Mona". WEBTOON (in French). Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  33. ↑ Locufier, François (April 6, 2024). "Geraldine & Mona: Before the Comic / Unused Idea" . Retrieved April 6, 2024– via Tumblr.
  34. ↑ Locufier, François (April 8, 2024). "The "After IHF" Era (2018–2020) was an "I Hate Fairyland AU", explaining Gertrude's life after the comic (And before the revival in 2022). It was simply fan fiction and fan art. But it wasn't even close to comics original spirit, and the more I had ideas about it, the more I wanted to create my own thing with it, mainly because it became IHF only in name. So I started to create "Geraldine & Mona" starting with sketches in April 2020, with webcomics in 2021, and an official comics in 2023. It used the better parts/ideas of the AU, and created new things around it. (It's cliché, but most original stories started as fan-fiction anyway?)" . Retrieved April 8, 2024– via Tumblr.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.