A Way Without Words

28 Oct

I’d heard good things about Matt Phelan’s Snow White,  so I put it on hold at the library.

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When it arrived, I leafed through it, confused at first. I read the jacket flap and became totally intrigued by his alternate setting for this traditional tale.

Publisher’s Summary:The scene: New York City. The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words “Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL.” In a moody, cinematic new telling of a beloved fairy tale, extraordinary graphic novelist Matt Phelan captures the essence of classic film noir on the page—and draws a striking distinction between good and evil.

 There are very few words in Phelan’s retelling of this classic tale. But words are not needed. The story is so familiar and his illustrations so detailed that the story tells itself. Check out the trailer: