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

[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.