Grimm Tales From The Cave: The Girl With Dirty Hands

The Girl With Dirty Hands, an adaptation of perhaps one of the lesser known Grimm’s tales, tells a story of a young girl, Emily, who is sold to the devil, her Uncle Freddy, by her father. Freddy despises her for ‘keeping her hands clean’ and so chops them off, leaving her to face the cruelty of the world on her own. 

I am not quite sure how I feel about this one. While I understand the message Deschain was going for, to highlight perseverance and the discovery of one’s self, something just did not click for me. It felt like there was a disconnect between the author and the reader, and I do not really get to see how exactly Emily ‘refused to dirty her hands’. Was it by refusing to participate in Freddy’s business or refusing to partake in illegal activities? Being kind in a cruel world? We simply do not know, and so I could not form an attachment with her, or fully sympathize with her suffering. In the original Grimm tale, we are shown a lot more of her suffering, her ordeal, and her endurance, and I believe that the comic would have benefitted from the same, from expanding or lingering on that for a few more pages.

I did however appreciate the narrative focus on Emily as she came to accept the person she was outside the men around her. As this comic showcases a question we must all find the answer to, that of who we are outside of our relationships (not only the romantic ones), and what makes us us. 

On the art front, Hui did a fantastic job of keeping the work clean and simple, and created some really striking panels that your mind can’t help but going back to.