The Belfry WebComics Index

Ye olde faerie tales quite often had the potential to be pretty screwed up. The morals of heroes were dubious at best, mystic creatures had the potential to be vicious little imps, and rape-pillage-burn was still a common substitution for saying “hello.” I have known people to be surprised by a certain scene in Cinderella that somehow got cut from the Disney version; something about the stepsisters getting mauled by birds. Yes, today’s fairy tales are certainly more cutesy and kid friendly. But what if one was to take the screwed up medieval faerie world and combined it with the cutesy of today? Well, then they’d probably have something that’s really messed up. And that’s Fairy Tale Rejects for you: a little comic that you could leave for a month and vaguely remember fondly, show it to your kid cousins because of the cute cartoony style you remember, only to immediately regret it when you see centaurs tearing apart wolves and satyr ladies prancing about without shirts, except that now it’s too late, they’ve seen it and they’re hooked. And with good reason, too: this comic is really well done.

This webcomic is still very young: as I write, it has yet to even break 30 pages, but already is showing promise. It has lots of quirky humor, but never forgets that it’s a story comic. The jokes aren’t exactly ROFL quality, but the world the author creates will draw you in and leave you wanting more. The art style is very nicely done, is in color, and overall the characters are just loveable. Well, except for Itchy. I know he’s supposed to be an unlikable mooch, but you’ve gotta be careful with how you use your unlikeable mooches if you want readers to emotionally invest in the plot, and this particular unlikable mooch is rather a bit too front-and-center for my tastes. But as much as I don’t like him, I’m still here writing a gushy review for this comic, so it’s not a dealbreaker, and the author does have him get mauled by wolves every now and then, and I appreciate that.

Now, I should warn that this comic does have violence and nudity. However, it’s neither a gore comic nor porn. The satyr ladies are all topless, but just in a natural shame-free sense. The violence is cartoonishly done and is so absurd at points that you know you’re not supposed to take it seriously. In fact, while the comic’s story is played straight, having a bunch of other stuff that it doesn’t take seriously is one of this comic’s best saving graces. It’s refreshing, retro, and fun. Yes, fun. It’s comics like Fairy Tale Rejects that keep me coming back to the Belfry to scan through the index for a good read, because for all the Microsoft Paint, horrible handwriting, amnesiac introductions, and spaghetti limbs that stink up the sea of webcomics like rotting corpses in a swamp of death, I know that somewhere in that swamp are diamonds I can sit down and gaze at for hours in pure, ecstatic wonder until I get up and realize that not only am I a massive geek but also that I am late for class.

If you have read through this entire review, congratulations! You have automatically won first prize in the “way too much free time” contest. Head over to Fairy Tale Rejects to pick up your winnings, because your prize is having proven to yourself that you now have no excuse to not read the comic. Seriously, it’s really good, and not even that long. Go on, read it. And leave comments to encourage the author to keep up the good work, and make sure to say that they are a wonderful person whose work has made a significant contribution to your life personally. Webcomic artists need to be told that every once in a while.