This is what happens when you argue with a duellist, P-Cow.

Well, fuck.

victor's got my back.

But the actual execution I find just unreadable. And I've tried. Repeatedly. I have half-finished issues on the floorboards of my car.

Really? I've loved every single issue.

Really?

Truly. And it nags at me, because I keep thinking "this is just the kind of thing a person like me would really like" -- and then I pick it up to give it another chance and it just. drags. And the characters feel incredibly flat, and the concept never rises above "I had this cool idea" and I don't want to bother going on past the first few pages. (Except for the one at the beginning of the third tpb with the Southern dialect so bad I threw it across the room.)

Very much an individual taste thing, obviously. But yeah. Hate the fucker.

I've now read both Fables TPBs, and ...

...

I'm kinda 'meh' on them. Great idea, I love the idea. But something about the execution leaves me feeling like more could have been done with the concept and that Willingham wasn't making enough of an effort. And while I'm going to feel really bad for admitting this, I kept thinking "Huh. Neil Gaiman or Alan Moore would have done this better".

I am going to re-read them in a few weeks to see if I change my mind, because it's entirely possible I was just cranky when I read them.

And the characters feel incredibly flat, and the concept never rises above "I had this cool idea"

What she said. Yep, yep, yep.

I feel the characters are not only vibrant but very consistently characterized, and Willingham has done a great job of world-building over the course of his run, expanding the history of the fleeing from the Homeland and the mystery of the Adversary. In addition, I think he really has explored the ramifications of his concept, how Fabletown really would function among the Mundies, and he's gotten in a lot of nice political satire. March of the Wooden Soldiers showed he wasn't afraid to pull any punches when it came to offing characters. That was one brutal battle, and I loved how our heroes made reasonable mistakes and weren't able to entirely overcome them.

I don't think I can convince you otherwise, and I don't really know how to argue. I just think you're both wrong.

I like Fables, quite a lot, but I'm not prepared to worship at his altar, since there were issues that fell resoundingly flat to me. More often than not, I do enjoy it, and will be pimping it to a co-worker in about ten minutes.

P-C, have you read any of the Sandman collections? I'm curious to know what you think of it vs. Fables in terms of writing and world-building.

Jilli, I haven't set aside the time to do Sandman yet. I want to do it when I can read all ten volumes in succession.