By: Mark Buckingham (story), Russ Braun (art), Andrew Dalhouse & Guy Major (colors)
The Story: Those who steal money must prepare for the sting.
The Review: I don’t know whether Buckingham only had a basic idea for his story arc or if Bill Willingham saddled him with a plotline he didn’t plan to deal with, but he’s clearly running out of ideas. This may explain why he chose to pair Reynard’s solo adventure with the discontent of the non-human Fables, which skews less toward the individual-centered Fairest and more towards a typical Fables story. It definitely explains why your enjoyment sinks a little lower with each issue.
The previous features on Mr. Webb, Owl, and Pussycat worked because they had an emotional component to them, however thin, and because they related directly to the overarching conflict of the arc. For these characters, their inhumanity is an obstacle (to a happy marriage, to wanderlust), which drives their need for the glamours. The mystery of who destroyed the bees’ hive has no such relevance, so who gives a crap who did it?
For the record, the suspects are Snapdragon, Old Maid Hollyhock, the Dormouse Juggler, Alderman Poppy, and Mr. Sunflower. None of them are particularly worthwhile characters, with the possible exception of Sunflower. Buckingham just barely manages to devise a possible motivation for each of them, a pointless endeavor since the only one worth exposing as the culprit is the one you know best. Even the exposure doesn’t have much excitement going for it. For all their interviewing, Clara and Sergeant Wilfred identify Sunflower as the criminal on the basis of one piece of circumstantial evidence: “And who do we know among those gathered who has recently taken to washing himself in the trough?” How should we know? At no point do we see anyone, much less Sunflower, washing him/her/itself in the trough. It’d be easier to finger him just because he’s the loudest and most obvious suspect, as the detectives point out early on.
All this just to find a hiding place for one of the glamours, which Sunflower also stole. The point of all this is to ensure you recognize the talking plant’s a bad seed, but why? I’m guessing, with Sunflower growing increasingly bitter every second (especially now that he’s imprisoned), that he’ll eventually stop caring about who gets a glamour if he can’t get one for himself and just destroy them all. Maybe then everyone will finally return to the Homeland they came from and save themselves a lot of grief.
Perhaps if we didn’t have all these distractions, Buckingham can focus on Reynard and Meghan, a storyline that’s also fraying apart. On the run after Reynard burned down her house, at one point she demands, “What the hell are we doing?” Good question! It’s not clear why, since they both realize Reynard’s mistake, they don’t just go back and deal with what’s left. Perhaps Meghan misunderstands the newspaper scrap reporting on the fire, thinking her uncle and cousin are dead, although this makes her decision to live on the road with their apparent murderer even more baffling. That said, maybe it’s best she doesn’t go home, not when she discovers that her night of clearly unprotected sex with Reynard left a rapidly growing surprise for them both.*
With the script this problematic, the art can only do so much, and Braun’s art is not at the level where it can elevate the story even when it’s good. He’s very capable, and you have little to complain about where his product is concerned, but it can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Anyway, this issue doesn’t play to his strengths; its humor is infrequent and weak, which no funny face can cover.
Conclusion: At this point, it’s a bit too late to back out of the arc, although it gives you little reason to stay.
Grade: C-
– Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * So in a way, Meghan is the Snow White to Reynard’s Bigby. Let’s hope the fates of their litter are a little more low-key.
Grade
Conclusion