Fairest #8 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: And here you thought the most dangerous thing about origami was the paper cuts.

The Review: I consider myself a cautious optimist by nature and practice.  I don’t blind myself to risks, but I tend to bet on the best possible outcome.  With showcase titles, I always look on the next feature with the hope that it’ll be better than the last.  Fairest has so far produced only one complete arc, a harmless but not outstanding affair whose art far surpassed the story.  The standalone that came after, well—I still waver between calling it bad or just mediocre.

But when every new storyline comes attached with a whole new creative team, there’s always a chance a pleasant surprise lies in wait.  Beukes gets your attention right away by setting a trend of defeating expectations.  At first, Rapunzel’s morose opening monologue leads you to believe you’re in for a sizable set-up to a simmering drama, but then the windows burst, showering her and her loyal haircutter Joel with a thousand origami cranes and shards of glass, and you know you’re in for a different kind of treat.