Fairest #1
Vertigo
Written by Bill Willingham; Pencilled by Phil Jimenez; Inked by Andy Lanning & Jimenez; Colors by Andrew Dalhouse; Lettered by Todd Klein; Cover by Adam Hughes
Mar 12, 2012
Web Exclusive
Talk about false advertising! Bill Willingham’s latest Fables spinoff series, Fairest, purports to center on the misadventures of female characters such as Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina, and Briar Rose. Adam Hughes’ (Batgirl, Wonder Woman) beautifully painted wraparound cover suggests the issue will focus on the later heroine. Unfortunately, Willingham starts us off with a fairly lackluster, albeit joke-riddled, first meeting between Ali Baba (Prince of Theives) and his non-genie of the lamp, Jonah. A female character doesn’t show up until page 13!
Jonah’s jokes about Firefly and his frustration towards Baba are nice enough, but nothing truly grabs your attention until Rose shows up. (Fables fans will recall that Rose was kidnapped by the goblin army in issue #107 and this issue finds her sleeping next to Lumi, The Snow Queen, for some strange reason.) You can probably guess what happens after that. At the end of the book you’re left with a feeling that Jack of Fables pulled this off much better in its first issue.
The plotting of the book might be sloppy, but the artwork is solid. Phil Jimenez (The Invisibles, Wonder Woman) is adept with his lines. They can be rough and elegant at the same time. Also, Andrew Dalhouse’s colors depict the environments and characters with a great sense of detail and vibrancy. Blues and reds are prominent in this first issue. Each character, even a useless plot device such as the wooden solider, has plenty of facial detail and fluidity within each panel.
In short, Fairest doesn’t put its best foot forward. Future story arcs will hopefully shake up the formula; 2011 Arthur C. Clarke winner Lauren Beukes will work with artist Inaki Miranda, and iZombie writer Chris Roberson will team up with artist Shawn McManus. (www.billwillingham.com/contents.html / www.vertigocomics.com)
Author rating: 6/10
Average reader rating: 6/10
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Comments
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March 15th 2012
7:03pm
Just finished reading it, and in full agreement with what you’ve written here. As far as the storyline so far goes, I feel like I’ve been phished. But the artwork IS gorgeous.
March 16th 2012
6:56pm
Thanks for the kind words, Jennie. Check out Saucer Country. It’s much better. You’ll love it if you’re a fan of The X-Files.
March 17th 2012
1:06am
That’s on my list. As is New Deadwardians. I’ll give Fairest a couple more issues before I decide on it, though.
I’m in the UK, so I get them a bit after USians. I have to wait for my US comics to be imported and then I get a parcel from a dealer once a month, so I can be up to 7 weeks behind - but it’s cheaper to do it this way than get transport to my nearest comic shop and then pay more for them anyway.
May 1st 2012
11:53am
By NDcivil03 June 14, 2007 - 7:27 pmCharlie may be able to get recruits to the NFL, but with Ty you have a shot at panyilg one of those Celebrity Pro-Am Golf things, and possibly getting paired with some dude from Days Of Our Lives, or Kenny G. Mold Me.Thumbs Up/Down: 0 0