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Snow White (ATU Index 709)

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"The Queen asks the magic mirror," Schneewittchen (1910), Franz Jüttner (German, 1865-1925), Scholz' Künstler-Bilderbücher, Mainz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Today's focus is Snow White  collected by the Brother's Grimm. Aarne-Thompson-Uther classifies this as  Type 709 (Snow White) . According to the  Thompson Motif , this has sub-types Z65.1. Red as blood, white as snow; D1323.1. Magic clairvoyant mirror; D1311.2. Mirror answers questions; L55. Stepdaughter heroine; M312.4. Prophecy: superb beauty for girl; S322.2. Jealous mother casts daughter forth; K512.2. Compassionate executioner: substituted heart; N831.1. Mysterious housekeeper; F451.5.1.2. Dwarfs adopt girl as sister; D1364.9. Comb causes magic sleep; D1364.16. Hairpin causes magic sleep; D1364.4.1. Apple causes magic sleep; S111.4. Murder with poisoned apple; S111.2. Murder with poisoned lace; F852.1. Glass coffin; E21.1. Resuscitation by removal of poisoned apple; Q414.4. Punishment: danc...
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Hades and Persephone

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The Fate of Persephone (1877), painted by Walter Crane, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The Greek myth of Hade's abduction of Persephone is briefly mentioned in Hesiod's Theogony and in more detail in the first  Homeric Hymn to Demeter ("Persephone,"  Wikipedia ). The Hymn to Demeter is 495 lines long and was written by an anonymous source. The term Homeric is only added to the hymns because they use the same dactylic hexameter and the same dialect as the Iliad and Odyssey ; however, they were not written during Homer's lifetime ("Homeric Hymns,"  Wikipedia ). Pinax of Persephone and Hades on the throne, holy shrine of Persephone, Locri, Italy, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Story Summary Hades, Lord of the Underworld, gets permission from his brother and her father, Zeus, to kidnap Persephone. When she bends over to pluck a Narcissus from the ground that was specifically put there to lure her in, Hades emerges from the ground on his char...
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Review - Snow White: A Graphic Novel by Matt Phelan

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Title Snow White: A Graphic Novel Author Matt Phelan Content Warning Death of a parent, murder, attempted murder, minor amounts of gore Goodreads Synopsis Award-winning graphic novelist Matt Phelan delivers a darkly stylized noir Snow White set against the backdrop of Depression-era Manhattan. The scene: New York City, 1928. The dazzling lights cast shadows that grow ever darker as the glitzy prosperity of the Roaring Twenties screeches to a halt. Enter a cast of familiar characters: a young girl, Samantha White, returning after being sent away by her cruel stepmother, the Queen of the Follies, years earlier; her father, the King of Wall Street, who survives the stock market crash only to suffer a strange and sudden death; seven street urchins, brave protectors for a girl as pure as snow; and a mysterious stock ticker that holds the stepmother in its thrall, churning out ticker tape imprinted with the wicked words "Another . . . More Beautiful . . . KILL." In a moody, cinemat...
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