Saturday, May 01, 2010

The Great Fables Crossover: Fables 13

Clever and engaging. Willingham and Sturges deliver a postmodernist literary criticism graduate course camouflaged as a graphic novel. The characters willfully, gleefully, recognize the audience, the writers, and the editors. (Perhaps most engaging is Blue Ox's discomfort at being the focus of more than a single page.)

Again, Willingham and Sturges reflect on the nature of writing, narrative structure, and the relationship between audience and writer. Even if the narrative suggests that the writer brings the text to the reader, Willingham and Sturges create and rely on a reader who must bring a meaning that is not defined by traditional notions of textuality. Their readers must redefine their relationships with the characters. (The writers have been reading too much Prince and Iser.)

More importantly, their critical agenda never disrupts the tale. Goofy, clever, moving, Fables is a fun read. It's a good story.
As I have said elsewhere, this stuff is ripe for the academic publishing machine. Read it despite that. And the next time you are in the comicbook store, ask the clerk if the latest installment continues to privilege Frye's notion of audience over Iser's. When he answers, hesitate as if it really matters. Then pre-order it. You know the truth.
Bayard

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