I Hate Fairyland, also known as Fuck Fairyland, is a black comedy fantasy comic written and illustrated by Skottie Young, and published by Image Comics, which started publication in October 2015. The comic follows Gertrude "Gert", who was transported to a mystical world called Fairyland as a 10-year-old girl. Twenty-seven years later, Gert is an un-aging, violent misanthrope who, alongside her reluctant guide and friend Larry Wentsworth III, constantly tries and fails to return to Earth, across the storylines Madly Ever After, Fluff My Life, Good Girl, I Hate Image, Sadly Never After, Fluff This World, Gert's Inferno, Last Gert Standing, In the Mean Time, Happy End Game, Back On My Bull Ship, and Monsters Gonna Monster.
While the comic went on hiatus after the release of Issue #20 in July 2018, a revival series written by Young and illustrated by Brett Bean began in November 2022, still under the name I Hate Fairyland but starting with a new #1 issue. The series initially focuses on Gertrude, now an adult going back to Fairyland under William Wiggan's orders to turn it into an amusement park, before turning its focus back to the original Gert. A spin-off anthology series, The Unbelievable Unfortunately Mostly Unreadable and Nearly Unpublishable Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland!, with stories written and illustrated by an alternating lineup of creators, has also been published since 2021.
Publication history According to a Paste interview, Skottie Young first developed the concept while working on 2009's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz limited series at Marvel Comics, with the idea that Dorothy would eventually "be super annoyed by all these characters." Gertrude being an adult stuck in a child's body came from Young's experiences as a new father, finding himself repeatedly reading and watching the same picture books and preschool shows with his child. Young claims Mad Magazine, the DC Comics character Lobo and Tank Girl as other significant influences. The first issue was released on October 14, 2015. It sold an estimated 50,300 copies and was the 42nd best selling issue of the month by units.
The comic went on hiatus after the release of Issue #20 in July 2018, until Young announced in August 2021 that it would be returning. The revived series will still be published by Image Comics and written by Young, and was initially set to feature Brett Parson as the new primary artist. Since the announcement, short side stories illustrated by other artists, collected as The Unbelievable Unfortunately Mostly Unreadable and Nearly Unpublishable Untold Tales of I Hate Fairyland!, have been released as timed exclusives for subscribers of Young's Substack newsletter. These stories, which are separate from the main series, will later receive wider publication.
The first issue of the revival series, which restarted its numbering at #1 and started out by featuring Brett Bean as the primary artist, was released on November 16, 2022.
In June 2025, the series returned to legacy numbering, jumping from issue #20 of the revival series to issue #41 of the combined series as a whole, and featuring new artist Derek Laufman.
Characters
Gertrude: Also known as Gert, she is the main protagonist of the series. Larry (Larrigon Wentsworth III): A fly sidekick to Gert in the original series Queen Cloudia: The main villain of the original series Slug Lord: Ruler of Las Fungus Brudd the Brutal: A Huntsman that Cloudia hires to kill Gertrude Horribella: A witch that Cloudia hires to get rid of Gertrude Darketh Deaddeath: One of the dark lords in the farthest reaches of Fairyland Pervis Peddlesteal: A packrat that collects items from children that visit Fairyland Nickey Nines: The feline leader of the Tower of Battle Purty Pretty Princess: The champion fighter of the Tower of Battle Maddie: A follower of Gert Loveth Lovelord: Ruler of a maze that holds the Balls of Redemption "Bill", Devil of Fairyland: The Ruler of Fairyland's hell Fairyland Council: The ones who dictate the rules of the land and convene when any threat should befall it. Happy: Another human child invited to Fairyland by Cloudia Duncan: A boy in a dragon costume that somehow ended up accidentally transported to Fairyland after drinking up too much slushie during Halloween. William Wiggins: A tycoon in the revival series who is likely the main villain. Rotwald Rat: A talking Rat from the revival series who came into the real world by accident. Virgil: A demon who guides Rotwald and Gert into hell. Cutey Pukey: The original gertling was killed by Gert to stop the gertlings rampage but comes back to life.
Plot Original run Madly Ever After The plot starts with Gertrude "Gert" falling into Fairyland as a six-year-old. She spends 27 years looking for a key to escape with her assigned insect guide Larrigton Wentsworth III, or Larry for short, but never ages, resulting in her becoming a violent sociopath. After terrorizing Fairyland, Queen Cloudia, the secretly evil ruler of Fairyland, sends after Gert many 'villains', such as a witch named Horribella. With each attempt ending in failure, Queen Cloudia then decides to kill her personally. She consults the Fairyland Council and they devise a plan to rid of Gert. As the Queen cannot directly harm any guests, Cloudia invites another child, Happy, into Fairyland, to make Gert a citizen of Fairyland. Gert confronts Happy and shortly tries to kill her, but is easily defeated by Happy. After Gert recovers, she visits Queen Cloudia and asks her what is going on. Cloudia tells her she's too late, and admits she helped Happy on her quest to find the key. Sometime after, Happy does find the key. Annoyed by this, Gert finds Darketh Deaddeath, who she asks to help her defeat Happy. He agrees to help her, only if she proves herself. She survives his dungeon, and insults him. He then decides to help her and gives her his dark magic powers. Happy almost uses the key to exit Fairyland, but then a super-powered Gert stops her in her tracks. After a brief battle, Gert defeats Happy and then kills Cloudia. Before Gert can return home, Larry informs her that killing the Queen makes her the Queen herself, resulting in her unhappily taking the throne.
Fluff My Life After a disastrous year as Fairyland's "evil queen", Gert is impeached and resumes looking for a way home. While meeting with Pervis Peddlesteal, an anthropomorphic rat who collects artefacts from Earth, she encounters Duncan, a human boy dressed in a dragon Halloween costume recently arrived in Fairyland. Duncan joins Gert on her travels, however, she willingly abandons him in the Tower of Battle, a gigantic arcade machine populated by powerful fighters. One hundred years later, Duncan has become an actual giant dragon and lays waste to Fairyland, killing all but a small handful of survivors, including Gert and Larry. Using the last remaining magic in Fairyland, Larry transports Gertrude back in time to the present of the series to warn her younger self away from the decisions that lead to the destruction of Fairyland. The older Gert gives her younger self step-by-step instructions to avert the apocalypse, but wearily notes that she has not listened to any of them, fading from existence as her younger self rushes into the first of many disasters.
I Hate Image After beating up Kamau Kogo on Bitch Planet and learning how to traverse the Image Universe to return home, Gert kills versions of Rick Grimes and Coach Euless Boss before following the Paper Girls into Image City. After being led to the god-run nightclub Wic + Div by Tony Chu, Gert sets off a battle royale between the various superheroes and villains within, stealing their weaponry in the process, before seeking out the aid of Spawn to give her access to the Image Central building. After killing everyone in the building and confronting the founders of Image Comics, Gert demands to be allowed to go home, killing them all as a show of force before realising she needed one of them alive to return home. Dejected, Gert returns to Fairyland with Larry.
Good Girl Gert meets Maddie, a denizen of Fairyland and her self-proclaimed "biggest fan", who idolises Gert for the violence and death she has spread. Although initially happy to take Maddie on as a protege, Gert quickly becomes sick of her, and realizes that she does not like the person she has become. She murders Maddie and resolves to become a better person. Despite her best intentions, Gert repeatedly fails to do good, leaving just as much death and destruction in her wake. However, Larry tells her of a mysterious labyrinth which could hold the secret to helping her become good, and concedes that, as miserable as his life with Gert has been, it probably would have been even worse had they never met. When they reach the labyrinth, its master, Loveth Lovelord, makes Gert a deal; if she can reach the center of the labyrinth before the next "Lover's Moon" and find the "Balls of Redemption", all the evil will be purged from her being, if she fails, she must become his wife. Gert manages to find the centre of the labyrinth, and Loveth unleashes the beast that guards the Balls, which turns out to be Duncan. Despite Duncan demonstrating the newly acquired draconic powers of flight and fire breathing, Gertrude easily defeats him and touches the Balls of Redemption, becoming a perfectly good and sweet child similar to Happy. The newly good Gert makes quick progress in her quest, prompting Horribella to hire the deadliest assassins in Fairyland to stop her on behalf of an unseen "Ruler of All That is Dark". Gert finds her key and heads back to the centre of Fairyland to finally leave. Horribella's assassins attack her, but all inexplicably miss her when they throw their weapons. Gert picks up a lollipop and skips towards the door, but trips and falls at the last moment, causing the lollipop to penetrate her brain, killing her instantly. As Larry quietly mourns her death, Gert descends into Hell, with the effects of the Balls reversed. Upon arriving in Hell, she is met by the "Ruler of All That Is Dark" – Happy.
Sadly Never After