GFT Retrospective #51: Godfather Death
GFT #46: Godfather Death
Each of the original stories involves a farmer or some other destitute character with a ridiculous number of children (the Brothers’ Grimm were fond of using the number twelve in such stories) who searches for a rich godparent to care for his thirteenth child. In some versions, importance is placed on the reader learning the piety of God, the treacherous nature of the Devil, and the impartial certainty of Death. In others, the man simply decides to ask the first person he meets, which happens to be Death. Death gives the thirteenth child a vial of herbs or a potion that he claims will cure any illness, instructing that the boy become a doctor, and that if Death appears at his patient’s feet that the child should not use his medicine and thus let Death claim them. This magical quick-fix cure draws the attention of a local ailing king (because in fairy tales, kings always get greedy and concerned about their own mortality when they hear about impossible, magical things happening). Feeling sympathy for the king and his daughter, Death’s godson uses logic from old Bugs & Daffy cartoons to make Death stand at the king’s head--and later, at the princess’s head--infuriating Death so much with his disloyalty that Death snuffs out his life-candle. And I thought tribal council on Survivor was intense…. Other versions have the godson visiting Death’s house and discovering that it is haunted and that Death is the Devil in disguise.
The Grimm Fairy Tales version has Fenton visiting a young boy at his parents’ funeral and relating a tale very similar to the original Godfather Death, with the godson, Christian, rendered an only child who is believed by his family and some locals to be cursed (a clever adaptation of his original status as the farmer’s thirteenth son), as people seem to die suspicious deaths around him. Death’s potion and the “heads, you live, feet, you die” mechanic are reimagined here as a “magic” ring that shows a black skull in its gemstone when someone is meant to die. Christian uses Death’s ring to revive his brother, Brand, and the story progresses pretty much the same as originally told. Christian betrays Death, saves the king’s life, and falls in love with the princess. When Death (presumably the Reaper figure from the Titanic Annual and minor appearances in the Wonderland trilogy and several other GFT titles) hires his future shipmate Belinda to poison the princess, Christian again defies his godfather, saving his love at the cost of his own life. The twist to the tale is one we’ve seen before in the Vegas Annual’s "Jack Be Nimble" story, and leads into the “this puppet is dead, let’s find another” plot device used at the end of many villain-focused GFT issues up to this point, with Fenton passing on the ring to the boy who had been listening to the Godfather Death story. While formulaic in its structure, Joe Brusha’s writing successfully eliminates much of the chance and campy idiocy that were present in its source material, providing an engaging story accompanied by the rough, but dramatic and intense art style of John Toledo and Jason Embury. I don’t recall anything important coming out of this issue, other than establishing a connection between Fenton and Death, but it was still a good read. Next time, Pinocchio hype! And sarcasm!
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