A review by kandicez
Fables, Vol. 3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
3.0
Jack of the Tales is my least favorite character and the first part of this book is all about him. He's a jerk and an ass and I just don't like him! I was always surprised that the 'ghams decided to do a series about him.
Something else about this volume I didn't care for was the randomness. There is a bit of a plot line that propels the overall arc forward, but much of it is just random "love" stories strung together. One of my favorite things about this series is how everything is so connected. The fact that the fables are basically immortal gives the writers a ton of backstory to work with. Backstory they get to write, of course, but that's the real gem of these tales.
One more thing. The illustrators in this volume left a lot to be desired. The last tale especially was just... not to my taste at all! They were Archie-like drawings, which are great. For Archie. Not for this. This is a comic series, sure, but a serious comic series and that kind of penciling undermines the underpinnings. I can't take it seriously. It can be done, much like Smith did with his Bone series. Simplicity in that case added to the story, but it was the same simplicity, beginning to end. With these, we were given the good stuff and then hand fed the equivalent of pencil pablum and I just didn't like it.
Something else about this volume I didn't care for was the randomness. There is a bit of a plot line that propels the overall arc forward, but much of it is just random "love" stories strung together. One of my favorite things about this series is how everything is so connected. The fact that the fables are basically immortal gives the writers a ton of backstory to work with. Backstory they get to write, of course, but that's the real gem of these tales.
One more thing. The illustrators in this volume left a lot to be desired. The last tale especially was just... not to my taste at all! They were Archie-like drawings, which are great. For Archie. Not for this. This is a comic series, sure, but a serious comic series and that kind of penciling undermines the underpinnings. I can't take it seriously. It can be done, much like Smith did with his Bone series. Simplicity in that case added to the story, but it was the same simplicity, beginning to end. With these, we were given the good stuff and then hand fed the equivalent of pencil pablum and I just didn't like it.