This Week's Comics: Fables, Batman

[sdelmonte]

Two comics, but both pretty good (if very different ways)

Fables 64 - Mark Buckingham takes a month off, and we step away from the tale of Flycatcher to check in again on Bigby, Snow and the kids. Guest artist Aaron Alexovich is a bit too cartoony for my tastes, but he is still a good choice to give us a peek at the pack. There are some small advances to the bigger plot, it's always good to see Bigby, and the script is quite strong as the cubs learn about their wind-borne brother. But it's a bit lightweight. So fun, but not memorable.

Batman 667 - Batman and Robin accept an invitation to a reunion of a group of dilettante heroes from around the world, a group that Batman was part of briefly in his early days. But what sinister plot lurks behind this meeting? Only Grant Morrison would take the lost-forgotten "Batmen of Other Nations" story from the 50s and make it part of modern continuity. And only Morrison could make it entertaining. Each of the heroes is broadly but intriguingly written, and he somehow manages to make the contemporary Batman, dark as he is, fit. This is the first time since the first issue of the Morrison run that I am seeing what I hopes to see from the master of strange super-heroes. Also, JH Williams' art is amazing, and the Batplane he uses is the one from the 1989 film. (Or was, as it suffers the fate of all Batplanes.) Fun stuff.

Comments

[aisforamy]

Yeah, I HATE the art in the Fables issue. The story was kind of just a transition type story, and while I loved the very last panel (hehehe), the artwork was really distracting for me. It reminded me of a cross between Calivn and Hobbes, and those creepy kitsch figurines that were poplar in the 70's.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the art in Fables is cartoony, but they usually pick a story for which that works (like the tale of Johnny Barleycorn). In this case, it didn't work for me.

(I went back to the first trade and was surprised to discover that Buckingham wasn't the artist at first. I've gotten so used to thinking of Fables as a Willingham/Buckingham collaboration.)