The Return of I HATE FAIRYLAND!
What's in store for Gert and the Fairyland Gang!
WHERE, OH WHERE HAS MY LITTLE GERT GONE?
In 2015 I launched my first creator owned book at Image Comics called I HATE FAIRYLAND. I was nervous that something as wacky and over the top as IHF wasn’t going to find a place with readers but man, was I wrong! Over the next few years, the book sold really well, I received tons of fan art, photos of tattoos and a wild amount of IHF cosplay. I was blown away!
That being said, writing and drawing a monthly ongoing comic is a very difficult task. For the first 15 issues, I handled everything on the editorial and project management side along with my colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu and letterer/designer Nate Piekos. It was more work than I could’ve imagined. Finally I brought on a friend to help with editorial and management and that took a lot off of my plate, but it was still so….much…..work. As I was approaching issue 20 I knew I was ready for a break. (Pssst…those 20 issues are collected in 2 hardcovers, available signed by me directly from my online store! )
It wasn’t that I didn’t love telling stories in the fun world I created, because I did. I adored it. I just felt like I was missing out on telling some other stories because so much of my time was being taken up by the green haired terror that was Gert and the gang. So I made the hard choice to push pause on IHF so I could go see what other trouble I could get into.
I always knew I would get back IHF someday and even told everyone in the back of the last issue the same. So I set out to spend 1 year writing and taking a break from drawing interiors, something that I had been doing non-stop since 2001. I couldn’t have predicted that year would turn into over 3 years.
But here we are, 3 years after putting Gert to bed for that long ass nap…
SHE’S BAAAAAAAACK!!!
I announced the return of I HATE FAIRYLAND in my first post on my new SubStack platform and now it’s time to get into some of the details of those plans!
I’m approaching this in two ways. First up we’ll talk about the new ongoing I HATE FAIRYLAND that will be launched and published at it’s original home, IMAGE COMICS. I’ll be writing that series full time but handing over the art duties to one of my favorite cartoonists, BRETT PARSON!
Brett has been the genius behind the art on TANK GIRL comics for several years and stepped in and did an arc of THE GOON with Eric Powell. I’ve been dying to work with him for a long time and now I can die! Well, after I make him draw a good 30-40 issues of IHF! I mean come on, look at his sketches of Gert! Those teeth alone are worth the price of admission!
And what would IHF be without Eisner Nominated colorist, Jean-Francois Beaulieu and the letterer who makes you feel like Gert has an actual audible voice, Nate Piekos? It’d be shit, that’s what! So, they’re back to play as well! Needless to say, your favorite murderous, green-locks girl is in great hands and I can’t wait to show you all more as we dive in!
You can expect some official announcements later this year and find this in comic shops in 2022!
IN THE MEANTIME!
You’re in for a treat. Wait, fuck that. I’M in for a treat. MANY TREATS!!! While Brett and I are building up the ongoing series and getting it ready for all you retailers and readers, I’m going to be publishing a bunch of short stories in the IHF universe. Those will be right here for all premium subscription levels and delivered to your inbox throughout the year
This series will be called…
THE UNBELIEVABLE, UNFORTUNATELY MOSTLY UNREADABLE, AND NEARLY UNPUBLISHABLE UNTOLD TALES OF I HATE FAIRYLAND!
These mini stories will be anywhere from 1-10 pages long and feature some of the best cartoonists I’ve come across in my years of playing pretend on paper for a job!
We’ve got Greg Baldwin, Joverine, Rachelle Aragno, Dean Rankine, Aaron Conley and Scott Brown so far! These are just some of the crazy talented people who you’ll see and there are plenty more to come!
The best part, these will start coming in months if not weeks! They’re already in process! So sign up now and be ready for your first UNTOLD TALES! And while UNPUBLISHABLE is in the title, you know after we get a ton of these stories stacked up, we’ll be proving that word wrong!
Stay tuned here for more updates!
I'm excited for more Skottie x Aaron Conley!! Looking forward to the mini comics. Thank you Skottie!
This is gonna be so awesome! My household loves I hate Fairyland and we have both the hardcovers. Glad to see Gert coming back.