Review: Nursery Rhyme Comics

Nursery Rhyme Comics - Chris Duffy (ed.)
First Second, $18.99, ISBN: 978-1-59643-600-8

Old folk tales and fables have been a reference point for many successful modern comics — from the ubiquitous Sandman, through Hellboy and Fables, and more generally infusing the work of Bryan Talbot, Jill Thompson and Richard Sala, to name but a few.  It seems, then, almost a no-brainer to trace this influence to its most primal and vital source: nursery rhymes.  Ingrained in our memory since childhood, these absurd, fantastical ditties have in them a melting pot of cultural identities, superstitions and jumbled history; archetypes and morals that imperceptibly shape our view of the world when we’re young.

"Solomon Grundy" by Mike Mignola

For their collection of Nursery Rhyme Comics, First Second have assembled the leading lights of alternative cartooning, from established names like the Hernandez brothers, Mike Mignola, Gahan Wilson and Jules Feiffer to relative newcomers like Theo Ellsworth, Laura Park and Vera Brosgol, and everywhere in-between.   Each has taken a nursery rhyme to transform into comics, some that are as old as memory itself, and others with identifiable authors like Edward Lear.  The unbelievably high caliber of creators on offer here is enough to make any review practically redundant.

What’s intriguing, though, is the variety of ways in which the artists approach their sources.  For some, it is a pure illustration job, but one undertaken with obvious joy, that doesn’t stray too far from the accepted reading of the rhymes.  You have to wonder how many of those readings come from the Mother Goose books we read as children, and perhaps how many youngsters will grow up with these as their images of the nursery rhyme tales — it’s hard not to envy the child who forever has their image of Humpty Dumpty as a Gilbert Hernandez drawing.

"Humpty Dumpty" by Gilbert Hernandez

The real beauty of the collection, though, is where the artists offer an alternative take on the stories.  Lucy Knisley’s old woman who lived in a shoe becomes a rock ‘n’ roll babysitter (giving us a more acceptable take on the “whipped them all soundly” line); in Dave Roman’s hands, “One, Two Buckle My Shoe” becomes a tale of cloning and genetic engineering and James Sturm’s “Jack Be Nimble” is entirely too smart-ass for his own good. 

"Jack Be Nimble" by James Sturm

While it’s hard to escape the politics in rhymes like “The Lion and the Unicorn,” most of these nursery rhymes are simply fun ways to spark the imagination.  It’s a delight to witness so many of these sparks lovingly rendered in this volume.

-- Gavin Lees

"As I Was Going to St. Ives" by Theo Ellsworth

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