When I read the first issue of Folklords, I thought it was going to be about a boy going on a fun adventure to find out that the world he knew was gravely misleading. You know, a message kind of like The Giver but with more lighthearted adventuring. We’re on Folklords #3, and I’m thinking that I was very wrong about the tone of this adventure. I was not expecting things to get as dark as they have gotten. If you aren’t caught up, now is your chance to exit before we get into spoilers. However, please return after you’re caught up.
We start with the narrator getting very existential, which is a little weird. However, we quickly get back to Ansel who is apparently being tortured by Hanz and Gretel. Gretel explains their story, and apparently the candy corrupted Hanz into a disfigured form. The most interesting thing is that the siblings seemingly came from a place similar to Ansel’s home. She talks about stealing some books and running away before getting to the gingerbread house of evil.
Well, Ansel is saved by the woman that Archer attacked last issue. Ansel steals a book full of modern inventions from Hanz and Gretel before they burn the gingerbread house with Hanz and Gretel inside. They go back to the woman’s cottage, and she tells Ansel that Archer sold him out, but Ansel’s not so sure he believes that. I’m not sure I believe it fully either. It seems too simple.
The most interesting part to me is the last bit where we see a figure riding a horse who appears to be Demure, Ansel’s maybe girlfriend. She seems to have a book about cars and is riding to an island village that may house the Branch Library of Banned Books. In the book Ansel stole, there was a card saying to take it to this location. What is Demure up to? Where did Archer go? How doomed is Ansel?