Review – Jim Henson’s Storyteller: Tricksters #2
Review – Jim Henson’s Storyteller: Tricksters #2
Written By: Jordan Ifueko
Artwork By: Erin Kubo
Published By: Boom! Studios
Available: April 2021
“When people told themselves their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories, the best place by the fire was kept for… The Storyteller.”
Growing up in the 80s there were two dark TV shows that kids would whisper about at school the next day the bonkers “Storybook International” and The Storyteller with the late, great John Hurt.
What made these shows different were that fact they were more honest! Not so many happy endings, with baddies winning, curses still in place and a deep moral lesson. But enough about the 1989 live action show, Boom! Studios have brought Jim Henson’s Storyteller with four tales of tricksters for across the globe.
Story/Writing
The next issue of The Storyteller presents extraordinary folk tales of legendary tricksters from the four corners of the world. NY Times bestselling author Jordan Ifueko (Raybearer), artist Erin Kubo, and letterer Jim Campbell present the next standalone chapter, available in April 2021.
A stranger appears at the Storyteller’s door and asks to tell a story to the Storyteller. She teaches him to sing back at key phrases and away we go…
A Yoruba village girl summons the great god of mischief, Eshu, to coerce her crush, a dashing hunter, to break up with his sweetheart and marry her instead. Eshu agrees to help her, excited at the chance to wreak havoc with them all…only to find that the village girl had a mischievous plot all of her own. A classic story within a story unfolds!
This is an empowering, inspiring, and completely unique take on the tale of the trickster god. You quickly learn the pantheon of the gods and recognise familiar characters from other mythologies. It’s important for readers to know Greek and Roman gods are of course reinterpretations of earlier African gods and this tall shows just how similar their creation tales are.
Artwork
Kubo’s artwork draws younger readers into this issue, the pages at the fireside crackle with an amber glow. The story is faithful and stunning beautiful showing the wider colours and shapes within the cultures it represents. The arrogant Eshu morphs and shifts across the pages and this makes his captivation with the story within the story even stronger with a giant becoming more and more human as the pages continue.
This is the first time i’ve came across her work but I can see a bright future for her!
The issue will feature main cover art by artist Peach Momoko and variant cover art by artist Dani Pendergast.
Final Thoughts
With each issue a complete standalonee it easy for readers to hop on and off as needed but if the standard of the past two issues continues then you should get them all. These are good as an educational tool for younger readers expanding their current fairy stories beyond the worlds of Disney and Grimm.
If I had one complaint, the issue is too short and I would have love a few more pages watching the story of the wrappings unfold.
This review of Jim Henson’s Storyteller: Tricksters #2 was provided as a free review copy by the good folks over at Boom! Studios
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