Friday, September 9, 2011

Dangerous Fairies to Know And Love


Blackwood's Guide to Dangerous Fairies is a novel by Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Golden that serves as a prequel to the recent remake of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.  What's most interesting (and most game-inspirational) about it is that Blackwood's tragic story is interspersed with an (un)natural history of malign fairies of the world, illustrated by Troy Nixey standing in the the fictional Mr. Blackwood.  Nixey's art reminds of Guy Davis or Duncan Fegredo--which means it really fits the material well, even if it doesn't exactly look like the work of a guy (Blackwood) who the movie tells us that some people thought was "better than Audobon."  Check these out:

Croque-Mitaine: Bogeyman en francais.

This is an Oakman.  It has a evil Swamp Thing sort of feel, I think.

When tooth fairies go bad--the toothbreakers.

Just flipping through the pictures ought to provide plenty of monster fodder for fantasy, urban fantasy, or horror games.

9 comments:

Styron said...

i just love del toro

The Angry Lurker said...

Those tooth fairies in Hellboy 2 were stunning and horrifying all at once.

Trey said...

@Reilly - Yeah, he's great. I wish he'd get to do "At the Mountains of MAdness."

@Angry Lurker - They were enough to make you almost wish for dentures. ;)

Unknown said...

I need this now for my current game. Heck, I needed it months ago. Knights of the Astral Sea is all about Faerie these days and even Buffy would benefit from new monsters of the week.

Chris Kutalik said...

Jesus that last one gives me the shivers. Whole new dimension to that reoccurring anxiety dream of losing your teeth.

Trey said...

@Tim - It'll be right up your alley then. It's only fault is its small size. Maybe it could even be sort of a prop though>

@Ckutalik - I think del Toro has a thing about teeth. He's had evil tooth fairies in two films now.

Needles said...

I personally loved the Goblin Market in Hellboy II. The post is inspired Trey!

Chris C. said...

Man, the toothbreakers are the ones that freak me the most. My teeth hurt just thinking about it.

Unknown said...

I like the old-style of the art work - it really sells the idea of the book being produced in the late 19th or early 20th century.