Erstwhile

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Erstwhile is a collaborative comic project from Strawberry Comics publishing. The comic focuses on classic fairy tales that may be less well known in modern times, or no longer in their original version in modern tellings. These are all derived from The Brothers Grimm thus far, and are faithful to the versions published by them.

Strawberry Comic members Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy, and Elle Skinner are the current collaborators. Several stories are available online here.

Stories Include:

• All Fur
• The Bird, The Mouse, and the Sausage
• Brother and Sister
• Choosing a Bride
• The Farmer's Clever Daughter
• Iron Hans
• The Little Shroud
• Maid Maleen
• The Old Man and his Grandson
• Snow White and Rose Red
• A Tale with a Riddle
• The Wolf and the Man

Tropes used in Erstwhile include:

• Arranged Marriage: The prince in "Maid Maleen"
• Art Shift: The opening of "Maid Maleen" is told with pictures she drew herself.
• Badass Damsel: Maid Maleen gets herself out of the tower.
• Bag of Holding: A nutshell, to be specific.
• Baleful Polymorph: The heroine of "A Tale With A Riddle"
• Bride and Switch: Maid Maleen
• Celestial Deadline: The heroine of "A Tale With A Riddle" is set free for only a night.
• Cue the Sun: Maid Maleen's description of her happy ending
• Curse Escape Clause: The husband of the woman in "A Tale With A Riddle" can save her from being a flower by picking her.
• Damsel in Distress: The wife in "A Tale With A Riddle"
• Dances and Balls: In "All Fur"
• Deliberately Monochrome:
  • The night scene in "The Farmer's Clever Daughter" is done in blues
  • "The Old Man and his Grandson" is done in beiges.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The bride in "Maid Maleen" rejects this as causing future problems.
• Engagement Challenge: Gender Flipped in "The Farmer's Clever Daughter".
• Exact Words: How the daughter won out in the end.
• First Kiss
• First-Name Basis: The king tells the farmer's clever daughter his name when she calls him "sire" just before the wedding.
• Framing Device: "A Tale With a Riddle" is told to her daughter
• Girl in the Tower: Maid Maleen
• Good Parents: the mother in "The Little Shroud"
• Guile Hero: The eponymous character of "The Farmer's Clever Daughter".
• How Do You Like Them Apples?: The king in "The Farmer's Clever Daughter"
• Identical Daughter: In "All Fur"
• Impossible Task: Paradox version.

King: Come to me, not dressed, not naked, not on a horse, not by carriage, not on the road, not off the road, and if you do, I'll marry you.

• Incurable Cough of Death: In "The Little Shroud"
• It Was a Gift: The prince gives Maid Maleen a necklace.
• Last Request: The queen in "All-Fur"
• The Lost Woods
• Make-up Is Evil: The bride in "Maid Maleen" tries to hide herself with this.
• Man in White: Little boy in white in "The Little Shroud"
• The Mourning After: The first king engages in this for a long time "All-Furs"
• Murder the Hypotenuse: The bride's last attempt in "Maid Maleen"
• Needle in a Stack of Needles: In "A Tale With A Riddle," the husband must choose one flower among three
• Nice to the Waiter: The bride in "Maid Maleen" examplifies the "not" type.
• Nursery Rhyme: At the end of "Maid Maleen".
• Odd-Shaped Panel: Circles in "Maid Maleen".
• Off with His Head: In "Maid Maleen".
• Only the Knowledgable May Pass: The bride betrays herself by ignorance of the ceremony in "Maid Maleen"
• Our Ghosts Are Different: In "The Little Shroud"
• Parental Abandonment: All-Fur describes her plight as this
• Parental Incest: threatened.
• Parental Marriage Veto: Maid Maleen
• The Promise: All-Furs's mother extracts one while dying
• Rags to Royalty: The farmer's clever daughter, Maid Maleen, All-Fur
• Rule of Seven: How many years Maid Maleen was to be locked up.
• Scullery Maid
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Here.
• Slipping a Mickey: the farmer's clever daughter to the king
• Sweat Drop: You'd sweat too, if your bride talked about your true love on your wedding day.
• Tender Tears: The boy, in "The Little Shroud"
• They Do: Maid Maleen and the prince
• Through His Stomach: The second king is much taken with All Fur's soup.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The bride in "Maid Maleen"
• You Have Waited Long Enough: The prince's father to the prince in "Maid Maleen"