Fairy Tales For Adults

DC Comics's Vertigo imprint is known for providing readers with a darker, more adult comic reading experience. While you may know Vertigo for classic comics such as Swamp Thing and Sandman, it's Bill Willingham's Fables series that is gaining the publisher the most attention nowadays. Fables reimagines fairy tale and folklore standbys, such as Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf, in a modern day setting. These characters refer to themselves as "Fables" and have set up camp in a New York City community called Fabletown. If you're looking for a fairy tale that's delightfully twisted, and beautifully drawn, look no further than this modern day classic.

In 1987, CBS decided to air Beauty and the Beast—a modernized version of the timeless "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale. The series starred Linda Hamilton as an Assistant District Attorney who falls in love with Ron Pearlman, who of course plays the titular "Beast." Beauty and the Beast was a straight-faced drama that couldn't help coming off campy (the picture above spells that our clearly.) Although the series only ran for three seasons, it has since become a cult favorite.

American McGee's Alice was the original mouthful-of-a-title before Precious: Based on the Book Push by Sapphire came along. American McGee is a game designer responsible for turning Lewis Carroll's Alice into an emo, knife-wielding psychopath. We don't mean that as an insult. American McGee's Alice is one of the finest examples of fairy tales for adults. It's disturbing, entertaining and surprisingly profound. The game still holds up despite being over a decade old and was recently remastered and released alongside it's sequel Alice Return to Madness.

I couldn't have been more than six-years-old when I first saw Labyrinth. I must say, it was very unsettling experience. Creepy puppets, suffocating settings, David Bowie's relentless bulge—it was too much for my innocent eyes to take. Still, I knew deep down what I was watching was an extremely well-crafted film. If you haven't seen it since it came out in 1986, add it to your Netflix queue this instant. Jim Henson's wild, wicked fairy tale is still as impactful as ever. And so is David Bowie's bulge.