Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Life is but a tale in which we are the masters of our own sharpened pencil and in which higher powers will always have an eraser, a bottle of correction fluid and a redaction machine handily placed in which to make us disappear if need be, or at the very least make our lives seem worthless and out of control. It is in this action that words and deeds become heroic or they become creatures in which the under fire find a kindred spirit; either way words are power, in whichever hands they are handled.
For Bill Willingham’s generous and giving creation of Fables, the pressure is on to find the one person more powerful than the dreaded Adversary that blighted the existence of the people from Bullfinch Street for so long and in The Great Fables Crossover that fight for existence takes a very poignant turn but also one in which the writer’s free hand and incredible use of imagination comes screaming to the fore and in which delivers a graphic novel of true worth and picturesque cool.
The Fables are under attack by a man who can rewrite everything, who can use the power of his own substantial, if as yet undiscovered talent, to destroy lives, destroy the very fabric of reality in one simple sentence, one stroke of his pen. It is a measured attack that builds up with vehemence and cruelty but one on which Bill Willingham uses his wonderful sense of humour to portray the sincerity of the abiding message, the implication that as readers, as human beings, we must not allow anyone to write our own story, it is up to us be the hero or villain in which we crave top billing.
The significance of the humour is not lost throughout the novel and the imagery of Bigby Wolf being abused by the thoughts of the creator in waiting is off the scale as he is turned from butch hero to ape, to donkey, to pink elephant and to finally a young girl. It is in such transformations that psychoanalysits dreams of and the final resolution in which the battle is joined against all the muses and genres at the disposal of the writer comes as the perfect solution to those who place great stock in the power of words and actions.
The Great Fables Crossover might have been a one-off in terms of what it brings to the overall arc of the Fables world but it is a tremendous graphic novel in which possibilities become endless and acts as a preserver of truth in such a mundane world.
Impossible to hate, difficult to live without once read, The Great Fables Crossover is a delight that sits comfortably amongst the true greats of graphic novels.
Fables: The Great Fables Crossover is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall