For this week’s Webtoon feature, we’re reading ‘Forever After‘. This recent series by Hannah Paten (art) and Violet Matter (story) takes into the storybook realm of Forever After. And unfortunately, it’s not the Disney versions.
The story
Robin always wanted a fairytale life. No, not the romance part. Just the being rich and living easy part of becoming a princess. While we can all agree that’s not quite the takeaway people are supposed to get from fairytales, here we are. Our materialistic and well, lazy, heroine decides to wish upon *what appears to be* a falling star on the eve of her 18th birthday.
Alas, she forgot the golden first rule of wishing. Be specific. Leave no room for interpretation. Vagueness is the enemy of a good wish. When the Fates heard her, they decided to pull her into the magical storybook realm of Forever After. Her task? To complete the fairy tales until their happy endings … or die trying, but they really skipped over that last bit. Once all the stories were finished, she could go back to normal. The icing on the cake? She would have to do this as ‘Prince Charming’, be the hero and go around saving lives and slaying dragons. So much for her dreams of idleness and comfort.
Stuck with all this responsibility, Robin begrudgingly embarks on a journey to solve the stories. But even armed with her massive in depth knowledge of classic fairy tales, she still has to deal with the Wicked Witch.
The verdict
‘Forever After’ will have you laughing out loud from chapter one. It’s comedy, it’s adventure, and, if you know your pre-Disney fairytale versions, it’s gonna get a bit dark as well.
Robin is a truly and standout and refreshing heroine. Yes, she’s materialistic and lazy, and frankly obnoxious, but she’s also completely self-aware, and conscious of her shortcomings – and she doesn’t care. When push comes to shove, she proves to be intelligent and steps up to be the hero, in her own way. She doesn’t magically get a personality facelift, but she shows actual emotional development as the story progresses.
All the characters, fairytale and other, we meet along the way have their own quirks and depth. I am always looking forward to seeing how Robin will tackle each story, and it’s never an obvious answer.
The artwork is gorgeous and appropriately fairytale-y, especially the beautiful character designs. I love how the dreamy bubbly pastels mix in with really intense colours in Forever After and set the atmosphere.
There’s just 30 episodes out for now, and it updates weekly. If you have a soft spot for fairy tales, but could do with less romance and more adventure and hilarity, this is the webtoon for you.
