Beauties
Beauties is a one-shot comic by Marguerite Bennett, with art by Trungles and lettering by Rachel Deering. It’s a simply gorgeous art nouveau inspired fairytale that turns the Beauty and the Beast story into a completely fresh parable about love.
In this story, instead of the Beast capturing Beauty, Beauty’s father, who has three daughters, captures The Beast. The first daughter makes him a pet. The second daughter makes him a slave. But the third daughter asks him what his name is. This launches Beauty and The Beast on a quest to find freedom and to learn how to exist together, for Beauty “would not flinch from scathing claws, nor would she let him turn his claws on her.” She’s no pushover.
The art is both delicate and lavishly sensual. The story is preachy but poetic – it is a parable, after all. The messages about unconditional love (and healthy boundaries) are moving. It keeps the original morals of the old fairytale and adds to them the importance of respecting yourself and your lover, accepting each other’s best and worst qualities, and letting go of bitterness.
This is a very short one-shot (22 pages) so you can read it quickly – but try to take your time. The comic is like a beautiful poem (and it has song lyrics running throughout it, which reinforces the poetic feeling). It’s a beautiful melding of art and words, just as comics should be, and the romance is stunning. Fairytale fans and of course Beauty and the Beast fans will adore this.
– Carrie S
Enter a beautiful fantasy kingdom with writer Marguerite Bennett, artist Trungles, and letterer Rachel Deering! A young woman and her lover risk everything to be together. Readers will find a very different retelling of the classic fairy tale, although this version has many beasts and a few beauties!
Comic, Romance
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