

Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood … most people hear or read these fairy tales and more when we are children.

Often, they teach us life lessons, such as size does not always matter, don’t get lost and don’t believe everything you see. Next week, you can read a new adventure with these characters and many more in the graphic novel Legends: The Enchanted, from Radical Publishing.

Legends: The Enchanted takes these wonderful characters from fantasy and puts them into a futuristic world, with a splash of steampunk added that gives the art and setting a very unique look. Jack, Red Hood and the others are The Enchanted, basically a race of beings that have special abilities, most notably the power to heal. They are considered to be impossible to kill. These characters are the heroes of the story, and in this world they use their abilities to help others (well mostly, however some of them are heroes for hire, charging for their services).

In any fairy tale, there are evil characters trying to defeat or kill the heroes, and this story is no different. The main villains are The Hag, her son The Troll, and the Hag’s sister. The Hag has been casting a long and powerful dark spell that will remove the charm from The Enchanted that heals them, making them vulnerable. Early in the story, Pinocchio dies, and unfortunately, more beloved characters die before the story ends. As you would expect, good does triumph over evil, but not without a price.

I believe this story has three lessons. Everyone is vulnerable; perhaps not all the time, but it can and will happen. All things change over time; whether it is for good or bad, change is a natural part of life. No one can go through their entire lives alone; there are times when you need to work with and rely on others to succeed and survive.

This is an excellent graphic novel. The story and art, by Nick Percival, blend and tell the story together very well. There is some blood and violence shown, but I don’t think there was too much. As a character from the story would say, it was just right. I was afraid I would be put off by the art as I am not a particular fan of steampunk, but I thought it fit this work perfectly. Percival showed his vast talents with this work.

At the end of the story, some behind-the-scenes artwork is included. There are early concept images of the main characters, and we see the evolution of the look of the characters and their world. Also included is a sentence or two about each character. This section is a great addition to the book.

I do want to warn potential readers and parents that there is some questionable language. This is not a book for young children, because of the language and violence. Older teens and adults who enjoy tales that are re-imagined will want to give this graphic novel a look when it is released July 14.