The Great Fables Crossover Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Mark Buckingham and various. DC/Vertigo, $17.99 paper (244p) ISBN 978-1-4012-2572-8
The appeal of Fables has always been the reimagining of fairy tale characters as if they were as messy and screwed up as real people; the characters are divorcées, drunks, womanizers, and overall flawed beings. In this crossover of all the Fables characters from various spinoff books, Kevin Thorn, the creator of the world and its stories, is angry such liberties were taken with his characters and is determined to destroy the Fablesverse and start over. The regular Fables cast, Snow White, Bigby Wolf, and Jack (the one with the beanstalk)—with a few additions such as gun-toting embodiments of the library sciences and Thorn’s son, Mister Revise—try to stop Thorn before he writes them and the rest of the world out of existence. Unfortunately, most of what could be good ideas becomes burdensome, with zigzagging plot twists that bog down the pace. There are a lot of “meanwhiles,” and interesting side points and characters, but the overall plot is lacking. (Feb.)
The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, Vol. 1: Microeconomics Grady Klein and Yoram Bauman. Hill and Wang, $17.95 paper (212p) ISBN 978-0-8090-9481-3
As a study aide, if you can get past—or roll with—the often-precious humor presented by humorist/Ph.D. Bauman, this book is well organized and direct, using its overviews to deflate some of the pomposity that surrounds economic theory. While pro—free trade, the book regards the theories it presents with a slight grain of salt, giving the reader an even broader view of economic history, with the trends that worked short- and long-term. Often, though, this is almost as tedious as an economics textbook—only those who are assigned a class in microeconomics might find some enjoyment in this book, a potential respite from their dry assignments. Also on the negative side, the drawings seem to be flat blobs. For those required to study the subject or already familiar with it, this has some value as a colorful brush up, but the merely curious may struggle. (Jan.)
Like a Dog Zak Sally. Fantagraphics, $22.99 (144p) ISBN 978-1-60699-165-7
In the afterword to this shaggy-haired collection of 15 years’ worth of artful zines and comics, Sally notes that he had always assumed all his favorites artists had never dealt with moments “of paralytic, debilitating doubt and fear.” Those insecurities and worries are deeply threaded throughout this book, which reads at times like a history of psychological warfare. Sally (more known for his work with the droning lo-fi Minnesota rock band Low) tends toward richly dark, semiautobiographical, and tightly etched tales of tension and self-recrimination. Creepy dreams and images of anatomical self-analysis are recurring themes, along with the general sense of transience that marked Sally’s life while relentlessly touring with Low (he quit the band in 2005 and now operates his own publishing house). At times the book—which collects his self-published zines Recidivist 1 and 2, plus sundry other material—breaks out of that shell to address topics that are usually no lighter in tone though, as with of his excellent retelling of Dostoyevski’s imprisonment, they benefit from the change in perspective. The art is equally claustrophobic when not downright disturbing. Revealing and witty, even when mired in darkness. (Nov.)
The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 2: Dallas Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. Dark Horse, $17.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-59582-345-8
The second installment in this Eisner-winning series, Dallas is even more surreal and darkly quirky than its predecessor. The Umbrella Academy is a group of superheroes who were mysteriously born at the same time, adopted and raised together as a family and a team. Now adults, their heroic and family dynamics are traumatized and dysfunctional, despite their love for one another. In this volume, the bizarrely childlike time-traveling team member Number Five recruits his siblings to right a wrong—to save President Kennedy before he is assassinated, possibly saving the world in the bargain. But in the tradition of dysfunctional families, they overshoot the mark by three years and end up in Vietnam in the middle of the war and opposed by a Machiavellian super-intelligent goldfish. Way’s nuanced, complex writing and Bá’s magnetic, lush art continue to click together like a finely tuned machine. Dallas hits a sweet spot, appealing to mainstream audiences and hardcore comics fans alike, not to mention a legion of teenagers drawn by Way’s other role as lead singer of the popular band My Chemical Romance. (Oct.)
