Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "What Happened at the Snow Queen's Palace and What Happened Afterwards"

It's all been leading up to this...

...the reunion of Gerda and Kay, the boy spirited away by the Snow Queen and taken to her icy palace in the Arctic!

Now, the conclusion...

THE END

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the wildly-popular Disney movie Frozen!

Adaptation writer Gaylord DuBois was one of the most prolfic (yet unknown) scribes in comics history with over 3,000 tales to his credit.

Artist Lea Bing was one of the few women working as a creative (instead of an editorial or production staffer) during the Golden Age.
From 1940 to 1954, she rendered several stories a year, usually adaptations of classic novels or fairy tales, with an occasional funny animal story.
Regrettably, nothing is known of her pre or post-comics career.

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Lapp Woman and the Finn Woman"

When Last We Left Our Heroine...

Kay, an innocent little boy, was affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad tormened his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loved Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay was swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who took him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decided to go in search of Kay, and, after various perils, nears her destination...

Tomorrow, the Conclusion:

What Happened at the Snow Queen's Palace and What Happened Afterwards

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

In December 2011, following the success of Tangled, Disney announced a revival of the Snow Queen project with both a new title, Frozen, and new creative team.
The film would be computer-animated in stereoscopic 3D, with Chris Buck (Tarzan) directing and John Lasseter (Toy Story and Monsters, Inc) producing.
The main problem confronting the creatives was the character of the Snow Queen, which in the earlier version of the film, was an out-and-out villain.
The team decided to reconceive the film's protagonist, Anna (based on Gerda), as the younger sibling of the now-misunderstood Elsa (based on the Snow Queen), effectively establishing a family dynamic.

The results can currently be seen on tv screens all over the planet...

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Little Robber Girl"

What Has Gone Before...

Kay, an innocent little boy, was affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad tormented his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loved Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay was swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who took him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decided to go in search of Kay, and, after meeting an old witch and young prince & princess, she encounters even more danger...

Tomorrow:

The Lapp Woman and the Finn Woman

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

In the late 1990s, buoyed by the incredible success of their adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid, Disney started work on an adaptation of Snow Queen, but the project was scrapped completely in late 2002, despite the fact it was headed by Glen Keane, who had directed Little Mermaid!

The project was revived again around 2008 under the title of Anna and the Snow Queen, and was planned to be traditional cel animation.

Less than two years later, the project was abandoned when the writers and artists failed to find a way to make the story and the Snow Queen character "work" for a modern audience.

More tomorrow...

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Prince and the Princess"

We Have Already Seen...

Kay, an innocent little boy, is affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad torments his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loves Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay is swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who takes him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decides to go in search of Kay, and encounters a witch who wants to keep the girl in her enchanted garden, forever.

But, the resourceful child escapes and encounters a talking crow who knows of a little boy who sounds like Gerda's missing friend...

Tomorrow:

The Little Robber Girl

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!

In fact, you may be wondering what the heck is going on since none of this plotline is in Frozen!

In 1943, Walt Disney and Samuel Goldwyn had considered the possibility of collaborating on a film biography of Hans Christian Andersen, wherein Goldwyn's studio would shoot the live-action sequences of Andersen's life and Disney would create the animated sequences.
But, due to creative differences, the project was cancelled.

Goldwyn went on to produce his own live-action film version in 1952, entitled Hans Christian Andersen, with Danny Kaye as Andersen.

But, the Disney studio didn't give up on adapting Andersen's stories into animation, as we will see tomorrow...

Holiday Reading Room: SNOW QUEEN "Flower Garden of the Woman Who Knew Magic"

We Have Already Seen...

Kay, an innocent little boy, is affected by tiny shards of an evil mirror accidentally imbedded in his skin.

Now cruel and mean, the lad torments his playmates, including his best friend Gerda, who, though confused by his actions, still loves Kay.

While involved in a snowball fight, Kay is swept away by the immortal Snow Queen, who takes him to her ice palace.

Gerda, worried and despondent, decides to go in search of Kay...

Tomorrow:

The Prince and the Princess

Written by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Lea Bing, this never-reprinted tale from Dell's Fairy Tale Parade #9 (1943) is the only comic book adaptation of the Hand Christian Andersen fairy tale that serves as the (very loose) basis of the current Disney movie Frozen!