Yet again, from the late and sorely missed Epinions.
Volume 7 of the collected issues of Bill Willingham's Fables, Arabian Nights (and Days), introduces the Arabian Fables, in the person of Sinbad, who heads a delegation from Baghdad -- but it's the Baghdad of the Homelands, not of this world. The Adversary hasn't penetrated that far yet, and the Arabian Fables are taking care to insure that their flight is not the helter-skelter thing that the Western Fables were forced to suffer. There are negotiations to be undertaken, a task for which Prince Charming, the Mayor, is not particularly well suited; he's forced to call on King Cole, the former Mayor, to take over as chief diplomat. However, there's perfidy afoot that may bring the whole thing to ruin -- but you've got to be really sneaky to get past Frau Totenkinder.
While the dialogue and personalities in this one have most of the sparkle of the earlier volumes, there's a lot of this segment that's plainly expository -- we learn about djinni, for example, from two different sources. And some of the characters -- particularly Sinbad's vizier, Yusuf -- seem to occupy a ground somewhere between stereotype and caricature. The most refreshing parts of the action take place at the Farm -- Boy Blue's sentence for making off with magical artifacts has been commuted to two years' hard labor -- but again, there's a lot of exposition.
There are a couple of subplots that are fairly entertaining, but one is left with the inescapable conclusion that the story's a little thin.
There is, in fact, a side story involving two of Gepetto's wooden puppets, Rodney and June, who fall in love and beg Gepetto to give them real flesh. He agrees, but there's a price to be paid.
The drawing style in the main story is fully consistent with the rest of the series -- no surprise, it's still being penciled by Mark Buckingham. The story of Rodney and June, penciled by Jim Fern, shows a noticeable shift -- it's somewhat more abstract, but still very clean and clear.
All told, I can't really summon up a great deal of enthusiasm for this one; what there is is mostly on the strength of the subplots. The main story just doesn't have that much going for it.
(Vertigo, 2006) Collects Fables #42-47.
While the dialogue and personalities in this one have most of the sparkle of the earlier volumes, there's a lot of this segment that's plainly expository -- we learn about djinni, for example, from two different sources. And some of the characters -- particularly Sinbad's vizier, Yusuf -- seem to occupy a ground somewhere between stereotype and caricature. The most refreshing parts of the action take place at the Farm -- Boy Blue's sentence for making off with magical artifacts has been commuted to two years' hard labor -- but again, there's a lot of exposition.
There are a couple of subplots that are fairly entertaining, but one is left with the inescapable conclusion that the story's a little thin.
There is, in fact, a side story involving two of Gepetto's wooden puppets, Rodney and June, who fall in love and beg Gepetto to give them real flesh. He agrees, but there's a price to be paid.
The drawing style in the main story is fully consistent with the rest of the series -- no surprise, it's still being penciled by Mark Buckingham. The story of Rodney and June, penciled by Jim Fern, shows a noticeable shift -- it's somewhat more abstract, but still very clean and clear.
All told, I can't really summon up a great deal of enthusiasm for this one; what there is is mostly on the strength of the subplots. The main story just doesn't have that much going for it.
(Vertigo, 2006) Collects Fables #42-47.
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