2011 Hugo Nominees: Graphic - Fables: Witches, Bill Willingham/Mark Buckingham; The Unwritten, Volume 2: Inside Man, Mike Carey/Peter Gross (Vertigo)

Unwritten is the one nominee in this category that I was really rooting to get nominated, though I worry that now that nominators have noticed it, it will just become another perennial. Mike Carey’s Vertigo (an imprint of the more famous DC Comics) series has a great hook: A man named William Taylor wrote a series of very successful Harry Potter-like novels starring a fictional version of his real-life son Tommy Taylor. William disappears before the last novel is published, and Tommy is left with the burden of having an obsessed fanbase. Then, one day, elements from the novels begin to interrupt his life as he discovers that magic is real. By this volume (slight **spoilers** here) we know that the real magic is in words and stories, and that there is a conspiracy that has shaped human history through managing narratives, both big and small. William was a part of this conspiracy, and he’s using Tommy as a weapon to unravel it. Most of this volume, “Inside Man,” involves Tommy escaping from prison following the events of the previous volume. A real high point is a chapter about Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, who appreciated as much as anyone the magic of controlling narratives. I think this is the weakest of the three volumes released so far (volume three has a “choose your own adventure” issue!), but it’s still a very strong series. Peter Gross’s art is quite good.

Grade: B+

Speaking of Verigo and perennial nominees. Fables again! This is one of the three titles to be nominated for this award all three years of its existence. It is widely beloved though, and probably the strongest of the three.

Everything I said for last year's volume still pertains to this one. The book is lacking a little direction due to the resolution of it's overall story arc around issue 75, but the character work and magical world-building remain strong. Buckingham's a great artist. All that said, I don't find this book as unmissable as most comics aficianados seem to.

I will say I liked this one better than last year's though. We're a bit more focused on a few magic-oriented plotlines, though there are plenty of sub-plots running in the background...maybe a few too many. What really made this volume for me though was the character of Bufkin, a bibliophile flying monkey who has to fight Russian folklore's Baba Yaga mostly with his wits. He's great fun.

Grade: B

2010 Hugo nominee, graphic fiction: Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages Written by Bill Willingham; Pencilled by Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)

Fables has been the hot comic out of DC’s Vertigo press for the past ten years. It is to the 00s what Sandman was to the 90s in many ways. Still, I got kind of sick of it and dropped it around issue #40. It’s still going though; it’s nearing issue #100, and this volume collects #76-82.

The basic concept of Fables is that all of the characters from various literary/folklore traditions are real: Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Sinbad, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad, Boy Blue, etc. They once lived in different fairy tale worlds, but they were pushed out by a massive invasion by a force they call The Adversary. For most of the twentieth century they’ve lived incognito as refugees in Manhattan. Writer Bill Willingham comes up with some fun twists here: Prince Charming is a bit of a philanderer (having had relationships with Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty). Non-human characters have to be kept on a special farm. The Big Bad Wolf is trying to reform. etc. The set-up really is great, and I was quite taken with it at first. However, I dropped the series as it became more and more involved in the over-arching story of war with the Adversary (I also found the reveal of the Adversary’s identity, which I won’t spoil here, rather disappointing). This volume takes place in the aftermath of said war, but things haven’t changed all that much from when I dropped off.

The central focus in this volume is on the instability caused by the removal of the Adversary from power, and there are several parallel plotlines that deal with the war’s aftermath. There are threats of new warlords arising and a new powerful enemy appears from the Adversary’s former dominion, the amnesty of a former enemy is becoming a hot issue in Fabletown, and the fables must bury their war heroes while the war wounded are still struggling to survive (there are some major character deaths here and in the previous story). I saw some clear parallels to the aftermath of the Iraq War, though Willingham (a vocal conservative) avoids anything too pointed. There’s also a reference to our old friend Fritz Leiber in the form of Freddy and Mouse, analogues of his fantasy anti-heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

The art is fantastic here. Regular series artist Mark Buckingham is excellent. He works in the fairly straightforward Vertigo house style, but there’s just a touch of cartoonish whimsy in his characters, maybe even a bit of Disney. Indie legend Mike Allred also does a fine issue at the beginning of this collection. There’s a lot to like here, and I’d highly recommend this series to fantasy fans looking to dip their toes into a mature, but fun, urban fantasy comic. I don’t think I’ll be jumping back on; for me, the idea wore out its freshness for me long ago. But it wouldn’t surprise me to see this as a perennial nominee in this category.