Book Cover
Title Jim Henson's The Storyteller
Author Various
Ilustrator Various
Publisher Archaia - 2011
First Printing Archaia - 2011
Book Cover
Title Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Witches
Author ---
Cover Art ---
Publisher ---
First Printing ---
Book Cover
Title Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Dragons
Author Various
Cover Art Various
Publisher Archaia - 2016
First Printing Archaia - 2016
Book Cover
Title Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Giants
Author Various
Cover Art Various
Publisher Archaia - 2017
First Printing Archaia - 2017
Book Cover
Title Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Fairies
Author Various
Cover Art Various
Publisher Archaia - 2018
First Printing Archaia - 2018
Category Graphic novels
Warnings None
Main Characters The Storyteller & his dog
Main Elements Fairies, Dragons, Witches, Giants, Anthropomorphism
Website ---




Click to read the summaryThe Storyteller

Click to read the summaryThe Storyteller: Dragons

Click to read the summaryThe Storyteller: Giants

Click to read the summaryThe Storyteller: Fairies




I'm not familiar with the show this was based on but I enjoy reading fairy tales and looking at beautiful art so I still enjoyed the first book in this series of graphic novels. Each story is written and illustrated by different authors and illustrators so you get to enjoy a wide variety of styles (with even the Storyteller and his dog changing a little each time). I must admit that my absolute favorite, no question, is Puss in Boots. Not just because it is a wonderful tale but the artwork was so magical and perfect I just found myself staring at the page not even reading anymore. There are tales from all around the world so no fear of getting bored reading the same tales over again, there are new stories to discover for everyone, and may we never stop telling stories...

Dragons - The first tale, though not technically a dragon, is beautiful. The native-themed artwork is beautiful and I loved the story too, even though it wasn't really a dragon, I think this was my favorite story. The second is a more standard dragon tale from England, with a very appropriate medieval tapestry theme for the art. Next we head to Eastern Europe for another tale (while I'm all for promoting women, I'm not sure swapping out a male character for a female one is appropriate for the time period, one can take things too far and make it anachronistic) but I also really enjoyed this one and some spectacular flaming dragon illustrations here! Finally we find ourselves in Japan with a water dragon whose huge size is impressively illustrated. Frankly, all the stories were well done and all the art was beautiful, I really recommend this book to get a taste of dragons around the world.

Giants - This was a fun collection of a mythical creature I don't usually read up on, so all the stories were new to me (well, some were more or less invented by their authors, put together from a mix of other stories, so will be new to everyone). The artwork was good in all cases, with four very different styles, though in the Tailor's Daughter the way their faces were drawn bothered me a bit, and in Pru's story, it had such a manga/anime feel I kept forgetting it wasn't a Japanese tale but a Celtic one. Finally, The Fisherman and the Giant had such a unique art stlye I wasn't even sure how the artist achieved it, I'd never seen anything like it before. This was an excellent collection.

Fairies - I guess it depends on your definition of fairy. The authors here decided they all wanted to avoid the standard Celtic tales (though I'm sure there are many that are not well known) so they went international to where the creatures they featured were, well, technically not fairies. Two did Elves from the Nordic mythology, which are kind of fairy like but are also not the same thing with the same habits. However I must admit I really enjoyed the first story, both the art and the tale. The second tale was also good but the art...ugh, definitely not my style! It was like looking at people through a fun house mirror. The third took place in Hawaii and the art was a perfect fit, all soft edges and pale but tropical colours. The last went with an interesting monochrome effect, orange when in the human world, green in the fey world. But it was definitely The Fairy Queen and the Shepherd that was my favorite.




Posted: October 2018

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