Comic Book Princesses for Grown-Ups: Cinderella Meets the Pages of the Superhero

Comic book superheroes and fairy tale princesses are stalwarts of contemporary children’s culture. Yet, they epitomise an intensifying gender segregation that is manifested and negotiated even up to the representation of female fairy tale protagonists in adult comics. This article examines the appearances of the iconic fairy tale princess, Cinderella, in twenty-first century adult comics including Bill Willingham’s Fables and Joe Tyler and Ralph Tedesco’s Grimm Fairy Tales. The tales of Perrault, the Grimms and Disney have shaped the contemporary iconography of Cinderella, emphasising the heroine’s journey from ashes and housework to tiaras and handsome princes. These popular tales, problematised by easy misogyny and patriarchal expectations, have overshadowed earlier versions of the Cinderella story, in which the heroine attacks her despised stepmother and beheads ogresses. Rediscovering the earlier, cunning and feisty incarnations of Cinderella, including Basile’s “The Cinderella Cat” and d’Aulnoy’s “Finette Cendron,” it can be seen how fairy tales’ interests in costume, masquerade and cunning have been readily absorbed into the comic book medium.