Spoilers ahead.
Artemis Crescent's graphic novel review of something she should have loved - that features practically everything she loves. But unfortunately, ultimately doesn't. Because bad writing - messy, poorly planned, problematic writing on a massive, moon-sized scale - shouldn't be brushed aside in favour of aesthetics and good ideas. For execution is everything.
My feelings on 'Fae and the Moon' are similar to other graphic novels I've read recently that seemed up my alley, such as 'Cheshire Crossing' and 'Garlic and the Vampire', but had left me disappointed in the end. Mainly due to the aforementioned messiness, confusion, and lacklustre execution (though 'Garlic and the Vampire' is admittedly objectively far superior to the rest, I still expected more out of it).My 'Fae and the Moon' review won't be the first of its kind I write today. Next one is coming up.
Here is a list of things wrong with 'Fae and the Moon':
• The setting is very limited - to Fae's house, and underneath her house, basically. We only see two panels featuring other people, who are Fae's neighbours, who she never interacts with, and we never see them again.
• There is really no point to Fae's mother's scrapbook and handmade book of potions and spells, other than setting up a blue flower as being a plot point for later on.
• Speaking of Fae's mother, who is she exactly? What is she? Is she a goddess? A witch? Is she immortal? In this world, she actually created the moon, presumably to keep any "dark creatures", who had existed since the beginning of time, at bay. It's not clear how long ago the creation of the moon happened. Was this from even before Fae was born? I have no freaking clue.
• Who are the mice, Frik and Frak, in relation to Fae's mother? In the end she acts like she knows them, and implied she'd sent them to look after Fae while she was gone. Huh?! And did Fae name them? They're nontalking animals, so she must have. But if not, then... what?!
• Why did Frik and Frak steal random stuff from Fae's house and keep them underground? This isn't brought up again.
• How come some animals can talk, while others, like the mice, can't?
• Speaking of, there is no real point to the talking Rat King and his rat horde, either. They could have been cut out of the comic and no difference would have been made. They could have been replaced by any other antagonist role, and no difference would have been made. Their "vermin in hiding taking back and taking over the surface world" plot goes absolutely nowhere. They're expendable, and once the Rat King, who wants the moon's power for himself, is suddenly, swiftly killed off by the dragon (oh, I'll get to him), the rats bugger off, never to be seen or mentioned again. Since they're presented as being an ostracised, marginalised minority race, not wanting to be shamed, killed and forced into hiding anymore, this is more than iffy.
• How did the Rat King know that it was Fae who took the moon from the sky? Never explained!
• The dragon, who we first see destroying Fae's house in trying to find the moon (which Fae had taken down in the hopes that it might bring her missing mother back to her) and Fae's mother (I think?). He is portrayed majorly as a violent brute - remember, he kills the Rat King, squishes him, but the comic doesn't remember, after the fact. Suddenly, at the end, when he is beaten down and dying, he becomes sympathetic - information is dropped on the reader about how Fae's mother had looked after him when he was a hatchling, when "others only wanted to destroy me" (huh? What? Who? Where? Why?!). She apparently just left him as soon as he could look after himself. She didn't bother to see him again afterwards. Sounds like she straight up abandoned him, but the dragon still sees her as his mother. Some mother. This supposedly took place before Fae was born. The dragon loves the mother and wants to protect her - then why did he not try to find her even before the moon went missing?! - and by extension he now wants to protect Fae. Citation needed. He destroyed part of her house with her inside it in his introduction! Even if he didn't know who she was at that point, it's still sloppy writing. Plus, he later says he was trying to stop the monster who was responsible for Fae's mother's disappearance. *Deep breath*, why did he not say so before!? To the scared little girl who looks like her mother in her house!? It could have saved a whole bunch of misunderstandings, such as Fae thinking that it was the dragon who was responsible for her mother's disappearance, because of an extremely vague dream she had (seriously, don't ask, it never makes any sense). He only cared about the moon in his first appearance. His motivation changes more than the moon phases. The dragon, whose name is Kulkan, in the climactic battle, refers to Fae as his "little sister"... and Fae immediately starts referring to him as her brother, despite them barely knowing each other and meeting only under violent, life-and-death circumstances. Also out of nowhere, Kulkan officially becomes part of the family, and Fae's mother's other child... who she'd abandoned for years. What BS.
• How did Kulkan find Fae's mother's house so quickly, years after she left him, if she was moving around constantly whilst in hiding?
• And what was that line from Kulkan calling himself "selfish once", like the Rat King... right as he kills the rodent? It doesn't come up again. Does it link to his past about others trying to kill him as a baby? Allow me to repeat the mantra of this graphic novel: What? Why? Who? When? Where? How? Huh?!
• Fae didn't 100% believe in her mother's stories about the moon and blue flowers and whatnot - they were more like fairy tales to her than anything. She didn't believe that dragons existed until one destroys part of her house. But talking rabbits, talking rats, smart mice, not to mention her being able to take the moon itself right out of the sky using ladders and it then somehow being small enough for her to hide in her cloak, her house, and in the chest in her room, all of this is normal to her. Not worth even commenting on.
• Now onto the talking rabbit himself, Percival. Initially he is set up to be Fae's friend, mentor, and guardian in place of her missing mother. He is like the cute animal mascot common in all magical girl-like media. But then - twist - just over halfway through the comic, he is revealed to be the true villain of the story the whole time. It's a decent and clever twist, though sadly I knew it was coming because someone on Goodreads carelessly revealed it in the first paragraph of their non-spoiler review. Regardless, it doesn't stop the What? Why? Who? When? Where? How? Huh?! mantra of everything. Why is Percival, or whoever he is and whatever he is called, so evil? Why does he want to take over the world? It can't just be because he is a creature of darkness, repelled by the moon. That's racist, isn't it? Why did it take so long for this shapeshifting monster of pure evil, who has existed since time began (however long ago that was in the context of this vague fantasy world and its poor worldbuilding), to find Fae's mother and attempt to deceive her into pulling the moon from the sky? Space is warped and time is bendable in this world and story. Why did he want to find the moon at all once it was gone from the sky, thanks to his tricking Fae into retrieving it herself and hiding it (he didn't count on her doing that specifically, but plot contrivance is plot contrivance)? The moon's gone, he's free in his power at night, and he can rule over everything. He doesn't really need the moon's power. But then he is immune to the moon's power in the sky? Or is less affected than other dark creatures, due to his shapeshifting? Why would the moon being different colours affect its power? In what ways? This point about the colours of the moon also ends up meaning nothing in the grand scheme of things. HOW WAS THIS COMIC PUBLISHED?! Why would Percival bother with the deception of both Fae and her mother at all? He's powerful (not to mention immortal) enough without them and their (witch? goddess?) powers. Whether or not the moon exists is in fact inconsequential to him. IT MAKES NO SENSE!
• It is made clearer at the end that apparently Percival had "killed" Fae's mother by completely absorbing her into him, and it wasn't enough power, so he then came after Fae for her power. Er, why was absorbing the mother, physically and in essence, not enough for him to take the moon? Why does he want the moon again, especially when he has its creator's power inside of him? How did he absorb her anyway? Again, why bother deceiving either of them when he could just absorb them and their power from the get-go?! Percival, in his true monster form, is defeated - killed, I think, though it's not made clear - far too easily by Fae beating him about with the moon he should be immune to. And his flowing blood, together with Fae's tears, make more blue flowers bloom, and free her mother. Thus they are reunited. It really would have been better for the storyline about grief if the mother never came back, if Fae had learned to move on, and grow from there. It feels like a copout.
• Just before Fae beats monster Percival over the head with the moon, she pulls up a weed from the ground (a blue flower stem? I have no frikin' and frakin' clue) and squeezes it, causing her hand to bleed (from its thorns? Its stinging nettles? Once again, I don't know). Why does she do this? It ends up doing absolutely nothing. It affects absolutely nothing. It doesn't even turn the moon in her hands red, indicating a difference in power, like how blue flowers combined with Fae's and her mother's magic can turn it blue. In fact, the weed and the blood disappear from Fae's hand when she first hits Percival with the moon. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT?! HOW DID THIS GET PUBLISHED?
• At the very end, when Fae's mother comes back, Fae mentions that her mother dropped her key in her Moon garden the night she disappeared, and that is why Fae had it around her neck throughout the story. This is literally the first mention of the "found Mother's key in Moon garden" plot point. Fae just has it, and the reader has no idea how she got it up until that moment. The mother is seen wearing it in a couple of panels in flashbacks, but otherwise there is no indication that she ever wore it, as "special" and "important" as it is. This seems like both a writer and an artist problem and miscommunication. I say once more, HOW DID THIS GET PUBLISHED?
• The mother (okay, her name is I'Lette, but I can't be arsed to constantly type that) also drops the bomb at the end: "The power does not run through the veins of every generation, but it seems to be within you [Fae]", and she has family outside of her little house of choice, to hide away from the dark creatures and to protect Fae. Um, WHAT? I thought she was immortal. What generations? What family? I thought she and Fae were the only ones in the world with moon powers, hence why Percival targeted them. How old is she? HOW LONG AGO DID SHE CREATE THE BLOODY MOON?! And why did she feel it necessary to go into hiding from creatures of darkness when she is powerful enough on her own, AND with her moon?
Phew! There are other blatant flaws, but I'm too tired out to write more. It's all so baffling and confusing.
But despite everything above, I don't hate 'Fae and the Moon'. It does contain good points. It is very cute, cartoony and sweet, with great artwork, and I can easily see it being pitched as a pilot on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, or the Disney Channel. It has decent action scenes. I adore the colours, and the elements and motifs of the moon, magic, animals, gardens, cute tea sets, and mother and daughter bonds.
I only wish the story made sense.
Stay tuned for another review of a middling, messy, baffling fantasy girl power graphic novel I seriously wanted to love.
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