Told you I had lots of comics to talk about, but only two for this week:

Fables #87
Bill Willingham has the entirety of fiction to use in Fables, so it should be no surprise that he has plenty of stories to tell after his long-form narrative of The Great Adversary. However, it’s still rather pleasant to see he can keep coming up with stories that are interesting to read. This is the first long storyline after The Great Fables Crossover – this is a five-issue arc called Witches – and it’s good. After the great unbinding of Fabletown in Manhattan, the Business Office is missing; the door that connected it is missing within the office and Bufkin (and Frankenstein’s monster’s head) need answers from The Mirror, who tells him that, in addition to huge numbers of ghosts, imps, sprites, fairies, changelings and more, there is a powerful genii and Baba Yaga are free in the Business Office. Willingham also takes time to catch up with Frau Totenkinder (and the group of Fables witches), Bigby and Snow, their kids (who’ve learned a thing or two from their ‘cool uncle Jack’) and those in charge on the Farm. This is a great issue (especially after the ‘Please Read Jack of Fables’ story). And Mark Buckingham keeps up his good work on art (I’ve only just noticed that the two mainstays of Fables are ‘ingham’s – is that weird or is it just me?)

The Unwritten #4
The first arc of The Unwritten comes to a finish – it even has the word ‘Conclusion’ at the end of the story – but that is such false advertising, there are grounds for litigation. It is definitely just the first chapter in a bigger story. However, that doesn’t stop it from being really good – clues to Tommy Taylor’s past, clues to what his story is about, a villain (with a working wooden hand) killing the genre authors, the head of the former housekeeper turning into word-liquid, and a cat with wings arriving on a tree as Tommy is arrested for the murders. There is a lot going on in this book, rich with detail and possibility, and definitely no end in sight. It is a really interesting book, with an interesting idea at its heart. Mike Carey is doing great stuff, Peter Gross is producing some lovely art, including different styles – I hope that this becomes the next Fables for Vertigo, if only so that we get to see how this turns out. An aside: is this the reason why The Unwritten comes out in the same week as Fables? To create a link between people who buy the books? Or am I clutching at straws? Whatever – it’s a good book and you should be buying it.