Fairest #3

Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Phil Jimenez and Andy Lanning

I think that I'm getting closer and closer to being done with Fables and its spin-off title Fairest.  The parent book has moved from being an edgy 'mature readers' comic into being a drawn-out kids comic about kingdoms of lost toys and children being trained to take on 'important roles', with none of the dread or forward planning that used to make the book such a good read.  Fine, I thought, at least Willingham is going to use this new series, which is to spotlight the female characters of his gigantic cast, to tell the types of stories that he used to use the main title for.

Instead, we get a lengthy adaptation of the Disney Snow White movie, with a few bare breasts tossed in to keep things 'edgy' (because as we all know, breast are evil).  For a book that should be about the empowerment of female women, from a writer who has written a number of strong female characters over the last ten years of playing in this sandbox, this is a big disappointment.  The first issue was all about Ali Baba and his bottle imp.  The second was about Ali Baba trying to woo Briar Rose, and failing.  Now, this issue is mostly about the bottle imp working his powers of seduction - of a literary kind - on the Snow Queen.  None of these women appear particularly empowered; they are all acting in response to the two male figures in this comic.  Normally, I wouldn't even notice something like that, but seeing as this title is supposed to come with a bit of a mission statement attached, I come to it with more sensitivity to things like that.

I'm definitely not disappointed in the art in this book though - Jimenez is killing it, if perhaps overdoing it a little on some of the ice constructs the Queen creates (kind of like Chris Bachalo drawing Iceman, only more delicate).

I'm going to stick out this arc, and from that point, I'll read Fairest on an arc-by-arc basis, depending on who the creators will be.  I guess we won't be seeing the next Chris Roberson Cinderella story anytime soon, after he so publicly resigned from DC the other week, which is too bad.  I hope they know better than to try to rush something through in order to meet publication dates; you never know with DC these days...