By: Mike Carey & Bill Willingham (writers), Peter Gross & Mark Buckingham (art), Russ Braun (finishes here and there), Chris Chuckry & Lee Loughridge (colors) and Todd Klein (letters)
The Story: The Fables – Unwritten crossover continues.
The Review (with SPOILERS): I wasn’t very keen on the first issue of this Fable/Unwritten crossover and judging from the comments on that review, nobody else seemed to love it either. The main problems were (a) that Vertigo is a publisher that readers choose when they are sick of the crossovers that plague superhero comics and (b) that the story was more of an alt-Fables story than anything remotely connected to the ongoing story of The Unwritten.
As I read this issue, I kept hoping or thinking that we might see some little glimmer of The Unwritten lurking in the story. Something like Pullman showing up in the background or some discussion by the Fables characters of a whale-like creature that feeds on stories (i.e. Leviathan) or even some sense that stories have been damaged and that is what allowed this alt-version of Fables to come to pass……. Alas, this was not to be. Our beloved Unwritten seems to be totally buried under the weight of Fables to the extent that you can’t see much trace of The Unwritten. The only remnants of The Unwritten are the Harry Potteresque Tommy Taylor & Friends and the vampire, Savoy. I’m not sure that any reader of The Unwritten has been champing at the bit to get a real story about Tommy Taylor (Anyone? Anyone?) and of all the characters to carry over, why Savoy?
It really is much more of a Fables story, so why not do it as a Fables miniseries? Vertigo has done a number of Fables spin-offs and miniseries in the past. I’m just unclear why this story needs to come right in the middle of The Unwritten’s ongoing story (that was just about to get good, btw). So…..the publication decisions around this whole storyline still stink; it might get better, but I kinda doubt it.
Putting all that aside, the story within the pages of the issue is entertaining enough. We basically see that Mr. Dark has killed most of the Fables characters and that the survivors have chosen to call Tommy Taylor & Friends as a last ditch attempt to turn the tide of battle. You know…..all that “He isn’t familiar with you, so he won’t know what to expect! That gives us THE ADVANTAGE!” It’s a nice little, cliched story and it looks pretty, but that’s it. There’s certainly nothing meaty in this story. Unwritten readers are used to reading/thinking about big ideas like the meaning of religion and the power of stories. This issue and storyline have none of that.
Conclusion: A light and enjoyable little comic. Maybe “cute” is the word? Unfortunately, the ongoing Unwritten story has been completely derailed by this crossover and replaced with a story that belongs more in the pages of Fables. This story has zero of the maturity and heft that we are used to from The Unwritten.
Grade: C-
– Dean Stell