In these examples and also Troll Bridge, his version of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, there is a familiar refrain of the known becoming thrown in doubt. From his own creation Stardust to his interpretations of such classics as Locks, the more faithful account of the old woman who encounters the three bears in their home. This kind of plot twist is nothing new for Neil Gaiman, especially in fairy stories, in which he is a skilled practitioner.

Skin as white as snow? Eyes black as coal? Lips as red as blood? Hair as black as ebony? Someone call the Slayer!!! When you take into account the description of Snow White in Grimm’s tale, it almost makes you wonder if this wasn’t the intent all along. In fact I remember having read this years ago and I couldn’t believe it had never occurred to me before. Neil’s greatest achievement with this tale though is in enabling a believable reversal of the key roles. And the King himself is portrayed as nothing more than a neglectful father and husband. Prince-not-so-Charming becomes something of a necrophiliac, something implied in the original tale but omitted from the saccharine sweet cinematic version. And not only does he makes this accounting of the fable of Snow White much closer to Grimm than Disney in truly spectacular style, he also cleverly turns the familiar tale on its head and shows the perspective of the traditional villain in a new and refreshing light.Īnd he also ensures both female lead characters take centre stage, while creating some true empowerment for both, as well as making the male protagonists seem somewhat weaker and almost incidental to the power struggle, even somewhat deviant in nature. Now the story receives the graphic novel adaptation treatment and in doing so joins many of his other short stories.

Brite in 1997 and a year later in Neil’s short story collection Smoke & Mirrors. Originally released in prose form in 1994 as a benefit book for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, it was reprinted in the anthology Love in Vein II, edited by Poppy Z. Story:Like all good fairy stories Snow, Glass, Apples has had several lives before this.

Snow, Glass, Apples by Colleen Doran