Once Upon A Time: Out Of The Past

I know it seems strange I'm reviewing a book, but it is a Once Upon a Time blog & the moment I heard it'd be released, I just had to get it! Look out for my Shadow of the Queen, Rewakened & Behind The Magic book reviews coming out soon! I know, they've already done things like the Reawakened book (which is pretty much one big season 1 recap), a Behind the Magic book (which is 2 magazines which were released combined) & the Shadow of the Queen graphic novel, but I thought I'd go with this first since there's much more to talk about!

Written by one of the writers of the show, Kalinda Vazquez (responsible for writing episodes such as Quiet Minds, Breaking Glass & co-wrote Best Laid Plans) this shows 4 never before seen stories from the show centring on different characters, so I'll be going over them individually.

Chapter 1-Dead in the Water
Centring on Hook, this one reveals that the events of his origin story in Good Form were retconned, as it turns out his brother Liam survived the Dreamshade poison from Neverland and ended up on a remote island, managing to get on the last vessel to get to his brother. And they have to defeat a Kraken while Lewis (this story's equivalent to Smee since this is before The Crocodile) questions if Liam is who he says he is. Honestly, while the retcon was pretty annoying, it kind of felt nice to see another one of Hook's adventures during his pirating days, given that we haven't seen much of them in the show other than during the missing year in The Jolly Roger and in Poor Unfortunate Soul. The illustrations in this one go for a more stylized look with a more solid colour pallette while resembling their actors and it's pretty good, especially when it comes to the bits with the Leviathan which Hook & his crew have to go against. It's a pretty fun one admittedly, but I don't think it's the best one in this novel.

Chapter 2-Truth and Daggers
Centring on Belle & Rumple in their Dark Castle days (bit weird the cover shows Mr Gold), this one reveals Belle had a childhood friend who was injured from the ogre war, but it turns out he was really after a way to get to Rumple's castle as he wanted his dagger so he could pillage the Enchanted Forest. This also reveals the origins of how Rumple got Pandora's Box thanks to Belle (even though she said in 3x07 she didn't know he had it) & he learns to trust her word that she'd stay with him! As always, it's so adorable! Given the recent things that have been happening with them in season 4, it feels pretty refreshing to see something going back to their roots when they were in that stage of hiding their feelings for each other despite it being pretty obvious they like one another. The banter between them was a mix of funny and adorable and it was interesting to know a bit more about Belle's past with her friend Samuel. But easily the best thing about it is Belle being the smart & brave character we know and love. Even the illustrations are beautiful to look at with the watercolours and more realistic look to them along with being really colourful. With nice character growth, a sweet story and beautiful illustrations, this story is easily my favourite!

Chapter 3-Ghosts
Centring on Regina, still out for revenge on Snow for causing her love Daniel to die, this chapter reveals that Daniel had a brother, William, who blames Regina for his death for loving him in the first place, where she ends up accidentally injuring William while trying to reason with him. Honestly, out of all of them, this is definitely the weakest! We learn absolutely nothing new about Regina as a character, William's never mentioned again, the pacing is off, it's literally only for one scene & setting and the tone is way too dark. It feels like a season 2 episode where it had no purpose along with the whole 'Regina trying to kill Snow' formula returning when it's obvious she doesn't! Even the illustrations looked too gritty & rough in comparison to the others with the colour pallette mostly consisting of gret and Regina doesn't really look like her live action counterpart all that much! With pointless story, no character development & the tone being too dark, this really a disappointment!

Chapter 4-Tea Party in March
Centring on Jefferson (never thought we'd see him again!), this one is my second favourite as we get to see his past with what happened to his wife/Grace's mother, Priscilla, along with the details on how they met in Camelot, fell in love, got married and had Grace, also retiring from stealing across realms with his infamous hat. This also reveals the origins of Jefferson's hatred for Wonderland, and honestly, I can understand why! It feels so nice to have a question I have always had finally answered as to what happened to Priscilla, and the love story between them was so sweet! I also really enjoyed seeing more characters from Wonderland from the original book, with the Dodo making a cameo, the Red Queen (yep, Anastasia) being mentioned, and their take on the March Hare (in this an insane man with the ears of the hares he kills on his hat) was genuinely creepy! With high emotional stakes, great development and a heartbreaking story, I am so so happy that this shows more of Jefferson's intriguing past!


There's also some bonus material on the back, which is pretty much concept art from the show and scans of costume designs for each character who's featured in this novel, which was rather cool, but it didn't really have as much as their previous graphic novel Shadow of the Queen. It's not bad at all, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more with the concept art for the novel itself i.e character models/sketches.

Overall, this graphic novel is a must-have for any Once Upon A Time fan! With interesting stories, beautiful illustrations & showing more information on some beloved characters, despite Regina's not quite living up to expectations, I'm so so glad that I finally got this! Catch up soon for my other OUAT book reviews of Shadow of the Queen, Reawakened and Behind the Magic!
Rating: ****