A few thoughts on some of what I read so far:
Batwing: I was a little disappointed that the Bat-family seemed to take over half the book. The story was a combination of extended Kingdom flashback and Bat-investigation. It could really have used an action sequence for Batwing somewhere in there, I thought; the character himself had very little active to do. But I liked the flashback, and am looking forward to the wrap-up. And it's always a treat to see more Nguyen art!
Swamp Thing: The art was spectacular, and I was glad Alec made the obvious argument to the Parliament that if he could resist them, then Abby could resist the rot. And that throne of bent flesh! Brrr... As for flying, I don't think we ever saw Swamp Thing do that before.... but what we used to see him do all the time was to find new ways to use his elemental powers. So I think that last page fits into that tradition. I can't wait until we get the full-page shot of Swampy next issue!
Green Arrow: This was a high-energy introduction to the character, and I enjoyed the Skylarks, too. (I can't help thinking there might be a connection to Triplicate Girl's homeworld of Carggg somewhere in the mix that we haven't been told about, but that's mostly just a fannish tendency of seeing a connection that's not really there.) Nocenti seems to have extricated Green Arrow for Q-Core, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this story goes. Also: Twelve of WHAT?
Night Force: Nice and creepy, as always. Merits a reread; I'm not entirely sure I have a handle on everything that happened.
Action Comics: I'm so glad to get back to the main story; I liked the Legion issues, but their timing sucked. I'm much more interested in this early Superman than the modern Superman at the moment, and it's great to see him in action. His insistence that he wasn't willing to sacrifice any life forms, no matter which planet they came from, was really inspiring. It's a moment that modern Superman stories would take as rote, but here, it's a great, early declaration of his ethics... and his backbone. Gonna miss the jeans and teeshirt, though.
Men of War: This is probably my favorite issue so far. No superhumans, and two excellent war stories. I loved Robinson & Winslade's George Saint, SAS character, and hope to see him again soon. JT Krul and Scott Kollins' story of a soldier home from Iraq was touching and poignant. The way they conveyed that frustration during that job interview was masterful. This is a terrific one-shot war comic, with no need to buy anything before or after. Well worth your $3.99, I think.
OMAC and Fatale are still waiting in the wings.
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OMAC: Starts out with a Superman battle, and ends up with a tragic moment for one of Kamandi's animal friends. Didio & Giffen pull from every drawer from the Kirby toobox here! And only one more issue... (sniff!)
Fatale: The book is split between the present and the past, as we see more of the threads come together. Really nice, creepy scene with that tattooed guy. This is about the time when I need to start rereading the whole thing to keep things straight in my head. Best to have a solid foundation, as things will undoubtedly get weirder and more complex.
Did it seem weird to anyone else that Fairest #1 lacked, um...female characters who were awake?
Seemed very weird to me, too.
I wish the book somehow moved the kiss and the awakening forward, so we could spend a little time with Briar Rose. For a book purporting to spend time with the women in the Fables cast, the first issue was kind of a sausage-fest. (Vienna, in the case of the bottle imp.) I enjoyed it, but it feels like this first issues wasn't really what I was sold (however the story ultimately turns out).
Ali Baba and the imp are fun characters, though, and Jiminez's art was wonderful. But yeah, that was really odd, considering how they're marketing the book.
The DC Women Kicking Ass crowd is not pleased by this or the Amy Reeder firing today. Is the GOP in charge over there?
Yeah, Reeder's said on Facebook that she left because of "creative differences" -- with whom, she didn't say. I think Trevor McCarthy will be a fairly jarring replacement for her, but then again, her taking over for Williams wasn't quite as smooth as I'd hoped, either.
I hope she lands on another title, soon. I like her style, and would like to see it somewhere. I think she'd be a great fit for Blue Beetle, rather than the superhero steroid art that book had last time I looked.
As for Fairest, I haven't seen anyone say a peep about it, other than you and me, to be honest. But I suspect it's just an unwise decision in story structure, more than any sinister agenda.
Between you and me...I've never really liked Bill Willingham's writing for his female characters and was a little sad that this first storyarc would be written by him. This seemed like the perfect book to give to someone like G. Willow Wilson as her Vertigo graphic novel, Cairo, was amazing.
Well, there's certainly solid marketing reasons for giving Willingham the first arc... and chances are, Briar Rose will be folding back into regular Fables continuity. As I understand it, subsequent arcs about other characters will be by other writers, so you may be in luck.
I haven't read Cairo, but what I read of Air I really liked. I should reread the first couple trades and then catch up with the conclusion one of these days.
Addressing your main point, though, I can't say I've noticed any disparity in the way Willingham treats his female characters to how he treats the male ones, though. But until now I hadn't given it any thought at all.
Willingham's mini-series about the powerful witch from Gaiman's Sandman series - Thessaly - showed her being put in her place by a man, who was the main star of the book. That got up quite a few noses.
Maybe if I gave a little thought to Willingham's treatment of the women in Fables, some dodgy stuff would emerge.
Snow White finds that being in charge of the destiny of her people doesn't quite give her the same satisfaction as being a stay-at-home wife and mother. Rose Red is shown to quasi-deliberately break Boy Blue's heart, and only plays with the affections of men who excite her. The LIbrarians in Jack of Fables were just geekish fantasy objects rather than characters ...mmmm per se.
Everyone says that CInderella is a kick-ass femme fatale spy, but she was introduced as someone who had to prostitute herself as part of Wolf's dirty entrapment schemes - that's actually have sex with a decrepit old duffer 'for Fabletown'.
Probably worth a little more thought.
I finished reading the comics I bought on Friday. Last Friday.
Oh, man, Chris, if you think that's a big deal, my reading habits would make you throw up. I'm backlogged for months on several of my books.
Chris Fluit said:
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