IT is grisly, gothic and counts the artist behind The Walking Dead amongst its fans.
The Scots-based comic duo behind a new adaptation of a pitch-black traditional tale hope readers will go wild for their latest work.
Bluebeard: A Feminist Fairy Tale is a “radical re-working” of a centuries-old story about marriage and murder.
Authors including the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault are amongst those to take on the folktale in previous years, which involves a hirsute groom in an elaborate castle with an unwelcome secret for his bride about just what happened to his previous partners.
Glasgow-based Metaphrog – French-born artist Sandra Marrs and Scots writer John Chalmers – have spent two years developing their version, which is set to be published on May 5 by Papercutz.
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The story follows on from the duo’s previous adaptations of The Red Shoes and The Little Mermaid, as well as their cult graphic novel series Louis, which ran to five titles.
Adlard, whose gory zombie drama became a world-wide TV smash, has called the result “perfect in every way”, while best-selling crime writer Denise Mina branded it “wonderful”.
Other fans include Scots comic illustrator Frank Quitely, whose work on Superman, the X-Men and other top series earned him a solo exhibition at the Kelvingrove Museum in 2017. He commented: “Set in a dreamlike world, expertly painted with colour, texture, menace and beauty, this retelling of Bluebeard is a page-turner from the start and delivers on all fronts in the very best traditions of fairytale storytelling.”
The duo, who have been fans of the story since childhood, admit they were drawn to the tale “because of its darkness”, restaging it to flesh out main character Eve and her relationship with her family.
They said: “It felt necessary to create a feminist retelling and so we developed our heroine’s backstory to highlight her struggles in the patriarchy. We hope the result is a compelling, suspenseful read.
“Bluebeard is seldom seen in children’s books nowadays and has never been adapted into a graphic novel, and we wanted our version to appeal to adults and children alike.”
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