Snow White

Snow White

Graphic novel
Graphic novels are quite the rage these days. Even public
libraries have embraced or grudgingly added them. Of course they
differ in quality from quite forgettable to sophisticated or moving.
Matt Phelan's Snow White is one of the finest examples of this genre
I've ever seen.
The story begins at a crime scene. New York City police are
setting up yellow tape around a pale but lovely young woman. Then the
scene shifts to a mother and daughter playing in the snow. The mother
coughs blood. Ten years after her death her husband falls for and
marries a beautiful but cold hearted stage performer. The daughter is
sent to boarding school.
Then somehow the ticker tape machine keeping the industrialist
father abreast of stock market figures clues wicked stepmom in on our
heroine being far more beautiful. I think we pretty much remember how
things go from there.
Samantha (Snow) White is quite appealing. Evil Stepmom is over
the top sinister. We want her demise. In my favorite twist the
dwarves are homeless boys, the street urchins who were legion in the
Great Depression during which the story was set.
All in all, I'd consider this version of Snow White to be a
charming contemporary twist on a perrenial favorite story.
On a personal note, recently Eugene took me to Subway where we got
supper sandwiches. I packed on the iron in preparation for donating
blood. Then we stopped at KMart in Bangor which is sadly going out of
business. Eugene got me a journal, a set of jewel toned colored pens,
and a large set of scented markers.
My heart goes out to all who are being put out of work by this store's
closing and all the others that are becoming so common. In times like
these we need a far stronger safety net for people who lose their
means of sustenance through no fault of their own. They are legion.
Most of us could join them.
jules hathaway


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