FOLKLORE IN COMICS 221
One of the most obvious uses of folklore is straight adaptations , wholesale repro-
ductions, of traditional tales either as short stories or as graphic novels. While some of
these adaptations are intended for younger readers, the vast majority are designed for
the same age audience as were the original oral tales, young adults and adults. Little Lit:
Folklore & Fairytale Funnies , the compilation by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly,
off ers both reworkings of traditional tales and graphic retellings of 11 folktales and
nursery rhymes; Papercutz’s collection of four tales in Tales from the Brothers Grimm ;
Will Eisner’s Th e Princess and the Frog and Sundiata: A Legend of Africa are examples of
titles for readers of all ages, while Eric Shandower’s Age of Bronze series of the Trojan
War and the retellings of Beowulf and Bearskin by Gareth Hinds are for an older audi-
ence. Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix explore the traditional ballad in Stag-
ger Lee , demonstrating both the depth of their research and their creativity in bringing
the ballad alive in the comics format. Charles Vess and the myriad of authors in Book of
Ballads introduce traditional English and Scottish ballads to this same unconventional
audience.
Recently there has been a renaissance of creative reworkings of the traditional tales,
where the new narratives extend the story established in the traditional tales by placing
the newly created story in a diff erent time and setting or playing with genre. Vess, for
example, introduced Spider-Man to the world of Scottish myth in the 1990 graphic
novel Spirits of the Earth. Seven Sons by Alexander Grecian and Riley Rossmo moves
the seven identical Chinese brothers of the traditional tale to the New World to explore
additional themes of racism and settlement issues of the early American West, while
Shannon and Dean Hale rework the fairytale in Rapunzel’s Revenge so their spirited
heroine and everyman Jack are sharing adventures in a fantasy set in a similar location.
Rapunzel uses her long hair very diff erently in this rendition. Jewish folktales have also
received a similar relocation with Steve Sheinkin’s Rabbi Harvey series of short stories,
in which the title character either retells a folktale to help the community or is an actor
in a reworked tale. Other examples include Zenescope’s series Grimm Fairy Tales and
the two Marvel limited series, X-Men Fairy Tales and Spider-Man Fairy Tales where
characters and folktales are included in the larger frame story of the series’ universes.
Terry LaBan and Rebecca Guay, in the Elseworlds Green Lantern title, 1001 Emerald
Nights , incorporate the story of the title character with those of the classic world of
the Arabian Nights. Th e Dark Horse book series of Monsters , the Dead , Witchcraft
and Hauntings includes an extensive variety of folklore references and retellings of tales;
and the ongoing DC/Vertigo series Fables introduces famous fairytale characters into
contemporary settings.
Besides the reworking of entire tales, there are a wide variety of new (and not so new)
narratives incorporating both well-known and lesser-known characters, motifs and themes
in the narratives which both enhance reading appreciation for the conversant reader as well
as provide introductions to those not as familiar with folklore. In Captain Marvel Shazam
gets his powers and name from the acronym for Solomon (wisdom), Hercules (strength),
Atlas (stamina), Zeus (power), Achilles (courage) and Mercury (speed). Other stories
