4. Fables 1: Legends in Exile5. Fables 2: Animal Farm
6. Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
By Bill Willingham
These three graphic novels include the first two in the "Fables" series, and the "Special Edition" graphic novel. As a begining series, Fables isn't bad, but its not great. Theres a little too much reliance on the clever references and so far, the characters remain shallow. Its as if Willingham is willing to give them a new life with new personality traits which are the result of living for a few hundred years, but they basically remain simplistic and two-dimensional. The murder-mystery plot of Fables 1 gets the story started, but isn't very engaging. The ironic thing is that the most interesting thing about the story are the veiled references to "The Advesary" - the mythical evil force that conquered the fantasy lands drove the Fable characters into the "real world". The few clues we get about this story are enough to continue on with the series.
Fables 2 picks up where the first left off, and is marginally better. The momentum of the series begins in this one when the non-human fables begin a rebellion against the humans who keep them tucked away on a farm. Again, the characters aren't very complex, - it would be more interesting, I think, to have seen these characters in a more human light- a difficult task though, to create a complex 'real' character out of an archetype from a kid's story.
Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall is a different story. This is a beautifully illustrated series of short stories, each one with a different guest artist, including Jill Thomposon and Esao Andrews, who is one of my favorite illustrators. Willingham uses the Sheherezad template to tell the 'inbetween' stories of his fable characters (what happened to them between the fables we know and the comic series). Some of these stories are interesting and fun (like Snow White's Revenge story), some are creepy and uncomfortable (The Frog Prince's family meets an unpleasant end), and some are silly and fun.
The results of the collaboration between Willingham and all of these artists succeeds exactly where Flight 3 failed- the book is a compalation of stories from multiple talents, woven into a single theme. Granted, this book has the advantage of a single author's vision.
1001 Nights is a good read, even if you haven't read the rest of the Fables comcis (or if you only read the first two). The series itself gets off to a mediocre start. I will pick up the next few on my next trip back to the states - it looks like it has potential.
2 comments:
Bill Willingham was one of the original D&D artists. I can't remember if I have read any of his comics before. I find that lack of depth is a recurring problem with some of the more arty comics. It's a tough medium because you read it so fast and the U.S. comic format is so short. When they are deep, they are awesome, but I find there is a large second tier of quite beautiful comics, with interesting premises that never really achieve the depths of, say, Alan Moore.
...or Neil Gaiman. Its inspiring to read Scott McCloud's books, especially when he talks about the obvious potential of comics - and difficult to find actual comics that reach the levels that he suggests.
I forgot that Willingham was a D&D artist, but that sounds very familiar. Thanks for reminding me of that!
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