Above you’ll see five covers to the great Lorenzo Mattotti’s adaptation of Hansel and Gretel. Like all of Mattotti’s work it’s rich and elusive and beautiful - a trip through dark woods and familiar nightmares. I can’t recommend his comics enough - they are right up there with the very best that the medium has achieved.
I wanted to write this little post for a couple of reasons - first, I feel that with the addition of Neil Gaiman’s story to the English editions of the book, there seems to be a lack of clarity as to what the origins of the book actually are. As you can see by looking at the size of the names on the Bloomsbury edition above (with the green writing) there seems to be a bit of an inequality in importance there. I’ve no illusions that Gaiman isn’t the name that’s going to sell the book - but it feels a little dishonest to me that some of the publicity clearly positions Gaiman as the originator of the work. Pity the poor Brothers Grimm who no longer get a look in, or the soul that told it to their mother, name lost to history.
(Let me be clear that this isn’t something I think Gaiman is to blame for, or is doing intentionally. I very much doubt that he views himself as important a creator of comics as Mattotti. I’ve not liked everything that he’s written, but I’ve always liked him.)
The second thing that I wanted to address is the size of the book itself. Now, I’m running by the sizes listed by amazon here, and I’m sure there are various editions and imprints I’m missing, but the main printings of the book are as follows.
2009 - Hansel e Gretel (Orecchio Acerbo, Italy) - 33.6 x 25 cm
2010 - Hansel y Gretel (Libros Del Zorro Rojo, Spain) - 32.2 x 24 cm
2011 - Hänsel und Gretel (Carlsen Verlag Gmbh, Germany) - 33.8 x 24.6 cm
The above editions are accompanied by the Brother Grimm’s version of the fairy tale. This has been replaced by a new retelling of Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman in the below English editions.
2014 - Hansel and Gretel Standard Edition (A Toon Graphic) (Toon Books, USA) - 26 x 19 cm
2014 - Hansel and Gretel Oversized Deluxe Edition (a Toon Graphic) (Toon Books, USA) - 32 x 23.1 cm
2014 - Hansel and Gretel (Bloomsbury Children’s, UK) - 21 x 15 cm
Basically, if you were considering getting that UK edition bear in mind that it’s a full 12.6 centimetres shorter than the original edition. That’s about a third of the original! In English, clearly the Oversized Deluxe Edition from Toon books is the one to go for, if you can expand your definition of oversized to include the meaning “still a bit smaller than the original”. It’s a beautiful book - it deserves to be seen as it was intended.
As a little bonus - here’s Mattotti drawing:
(Corrections and comments are welcome, as always)