Fables

[subplotkudzu]

I have now read volumes 1-8 of what will likely be Willingham's best known work, covering issues 1-51. I have to say, it's pretty damn good. I do have some concerns, however, and they have more to do with the nature of comics than of this comic in particular. Specifically, at the end of issue 50 they ask the readers to come back for the next 50 issues. Unfortunately, I don't think there's 50 issues left to tell in this story, which makes me worry about them going too long and tainting their previous success.

For those familiar with the book, issue 50 has the wedding of Snow and Bigby, a plot point that has been building since issue 4. This puts them right on par with the New Teen Titans where Donna Troy got married - a plot development that had been building for years. In both books the events directly around the wedding covered major turning points for the book in terms of the opposition (The Titans' destruction of HIVE; Fabletown's adopting a 'hurt us and we'll hurt you back worse' strategy with the Adversary) that change the nature of the conflicts. In the Teen Titans the change indicated a functional end to the book within 25 issues. Sandman did something very similar (no wedding, of course), as did Starman (but by hat point Robinson's inability to confine plot threads led to an orgy of subplot kudzu that crippled the latter half of the book, even with the decision to end it while it was still selling).

75 issues seems to be about the right length of a closed continuity: six years of continual output, 10-12 major story arcs and enough time to introduce the characters, add some complications, resolve some things, add more complications and then begin closing things off. Wolfman & Perez introduced the Trigon plot in issue 1 and closed it roughly 75 issues later, after having opened multiple other threads (HIVE, The terminator, The Fearsome Five, Donna's search for identity and family, Starfire's family conflicts, etc.) and that they whittled closed one at a time until they ended the big one. At that point DC should have ended the book, but the graphic novel market didn't exist and there was no precedent for going out on top. So they pushed for more plots and kept things going, ultimately tainting the previous work.

In Fables Willingham introduced the central threat - the Adversary - very early on, and has taken steps to push our heroes into conflict with him ever since. The march of the wooden soldiers marked the turn from the first to the second acts of the series not just in the Adversary's attack but in replacing the complacent King Cole with the forward leaning Prince Charming. As of that moment, the Fables that we had come to know stopped hiding and hoping and started acting (Willingham also removed the all but unstoppable Bigby from the stage for a bit so we could see the other actors spread their wings and prepare for war, and pushed Jack into his own book to remove some of the goofiness).

Now with Bigby's return and a direct Fabletown assault on the enemy we move to Act 3. It is my most sincere hope that Willingham has an act III plotted that will bring this to a good conclusion. Is there an endless array of stories that can be told in this world? Sure. But as Sandman showed there's no shortage of room for spin off books after the main story is done. He can always come back, or tell more Jack stories in his own book. But give us a good ending to the war that you've started, Mr. Willingham - don't decide to spin out the Brother Blood story forever and include the Wildebeest society. Yes, I know those were from the crappy issues of Teen Titans. That's exactly where I don't want you to end up.

 

Comments

[chadu.livejournal.com]

Nice analysis.

I suspect the end of the war may involve Ambrose Wolf.

CU

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

I've been giving the timing issue some more thought, and I think he's usng a 5 act rather than a 3 act structure. That doesn't buy him any time, however. To wit:

Issues 1-17: Act 1. Introduction and Alteration
* Who Killed Rose Red, in whch he introduces the community of Fabletown in a fashion that restores everything to the original order at the end. An introduction that conveys how nothing much has changed for centuries.

* Animal Farm, in which he introduces the other half of the Fable Community but, since they're generally less impportant, immediately intorduces changes in the structure.

* Storybook Love, in which he the disrupts the order. The villans of the first act - Bluebeard and Goldilocks - are killed, the nature of Snow and Bigby's relationship is irrevicably changed, Price Charming develops the plan to run for mayor.

Issues 18-34: Act II, The Adversary Appears
* March of the Wooden Soldiers: the appearance of the enemy changes everything. We see more of the secondary characters while Snow & Bigby still dominate the stage.

* The Mean Seasons: The settling out from the changes - Bigby and Snow are marginalized, Charming, Beast & Beauty take center stage.

* Dog Soliders and Jack be Nimble: Some backstory justify what's going to happen, and removing the somewhat goofy and erratic Jack from the stage.

Issues 35-51 Act III: fight to the foe
* Homelands: revealing the Adversary's identity (saw that one coming!), the introduction of the next, er, Big Bag in the Snow Queen, the plot & counter plot of the Great Game. We are now in the main body of the story.

* Arabian Nights (and days): Fabletown gathers allies in the fight against the Adversary. The battle is not with armies but through individual efforts and clever ideas - hence cunning defeating the nigh omnipotent Djinn.

* Wolves: Now that everyone elses badassossity is established Bigby can come back. Bigby and Snow have ther romance plot resolved. Ride's romantic status resolved with Blue and the Frog Prince. The last remnants of the Animal Farm plot are closed off (assuming he doesn't bring Goldilocks back, which I hope he doesn't). Every lesser plot raised in issues 1-34 is now resolved, and the nature of the fight agaist the Adversary changes to one of retribution if attacked rather than pure defense.

That's three clear changes in the books direction, each fitting nicely into 17 issues. That likely means 52-68 being act IV and 69-85 being act V. Looking at it this way buys Bill another 10 issues.

[evynrude.livejournal.com]

But give us a good ending to the war that you've started, Mr. Willingham

Amen!

[(Anonymous)]

I haven't done a lot of thinking about this book, but your remarks inspired me. So these thoughts aren't particularly organized.

I'm not convinced Willingham _has_ a definite end in mind. What seem to us to be major "acts" may simply reflect the author's attention wandering from one set of characters to others.

Why do I say this? Because of Snow & Wolf's children. They _should_ be important to the Big Story, but Willingham hasn't bothered to give them much attention. Only the seventh child even has much individual identity -- the one with no physical form is the most solid. The others are just a quasi-anonymous group, flying around in formation. Does anyone even remember their names?

I'm willing to be proved wrong, but I think we'll get 45 more issues of Willingham noodling around and having fun with the playground he's created, and then 5 issues of what looks like a climax to wind things up. Said climaxoid will probably involve some sort of sidestepping the main conflict -- the Fables decide they prefer staying in this world after all, some kind of bogus "balance" is established and everyone cheerfully goes home, or the viewpoint pulls back to show Bill Willingham at his drawing table with a faux-profound blurring of the distinction between story and storyteller.

Cambias

[brianrogers.livejournal.com]

I did frame all of this as concerns. Not so much because of Snow & Wolf's children (though you do have a point), but because the conclusion of plot threads was so great in issue 50.

When I'm producing serial fiction (go gaming!) I notice that I'll have a few rough ideas that slowly flesh themsleves out as the game goes on, with new threads cropping up as the game continues. Unfortunately, once I hit the end point to the original ideas the game is more or less over - I'm left floundering with the threads rather than the frame, and that's a recipe for disaster. (c.f. New Teen Titans) All of this assumes I can keep the threads in check to stop them from overrunning the frame (c.f. Starman).

Issue 50 brought all of the initial concepts to some form of resolution: Snow, Bigby, Charming, Cole, Beauty, Beast and even Flycatcher (and to an extent Blue) all have some form of happily ever after - they are all in better and more interesting places than where they started. The identity and nature of the adversary has been revealed, and they might have come to an agreement with him that will defend their new home, even if they don't get their old one back. Willingham might not have any major plot points left up his sleeve, and the decision to continue the book is therefore a mistake - noodling around until everyone gets bored with it is a sure way to kill the success of the early stuff. (OK, he could go crazy and then keep going after everyone is bored, which is what killed Cerebus, but I don't wish that on Mr. Willingham).

I'm really afraid this might be the case, and if he tries to push it past issue 75-85 it almost certainly will be. It might already be too late.

the Fables decide they prefer staying in this world after all, some kind of bogus "balance" is established and everyone cheerfully goes home,

I fully expect that they will stay in this world - on a certain level DC might not allow that to change. The cachet of the book comes from the fables living in the real world. There's no room for spin offs if they don't stay here, even though their return to the homelands would make a great happily ever after. (Notice how the end of Sandman left the dreaming perfectly intact for spin off series? Expect something similar.)

Alas, for all that Willinghamn has described himself as rabidly pro Israel, the Fables are more like the Palestinians in refugee camps - 50 years on and they refuse to integrate with the rest of the world, clustering together and dreaming of how they're going to move right back onto the lands that have already been changed beyond all recognition. I suspect the best they can hope for is the death of the Adversary and an end to the aggression against them, with some of them going back to try to rebuild their destroyed estates. For all that this is a fairy tale, that's a more realistic outcome.

[mneme]

Given the nature of the Empire (in short, rule of an inestimably large empire by a small, privileged group of sorcerers, supported by a large group of monsters and a small group of wooden men, largely, though not entirely, by stealth and inertia), I think the destruction of the Empire As We Know It is certainly possible -- remove Gepetto and the White Queen, and things start falling apart, especially given the natural tension between the Wooden Men and everyone else involved (the Men think they're superior and have no respect for "meat". They're wrong; they just have a privileged place in the Empire because the true Emperor trusts them implicitly).

But that doesn't mean the Fables would return home -- they're presumably fairly comfortable, many of them, in the Mundy World (less true for those trapped on the Farm). They'd like to remove the ever-present threat of the Adversary -- and over the next few dozen issues, I think we'll see the threat from the Empire rising, interspersed with character development and historical exposition.

How well it works is something we'll have to see, I suppose.