Comic Info
Comic Name: Fairest
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo
Writer: Mark Buckingham/Bill Willingham
Artist: Russ Braun/Meghan Hetrick/Andrew Pepoy
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2015
Fairest #28
Reprints Fairest #27-33 (September 2014-March 2015). The Fables at the Farm are angry. Prince Charming was elected under the guise that they would all be granted Glamours which would allow them to leave the confines of the Farm…but that promise hasn’t happened and the only Fable there that seems to have benefited is Reynard the Fox. Glamour making isn’t easy and the Fables learn that Prince Charming’s promise might not be possible for everyone. Reynard finds himself tossed out and on his own adventure…where his new love Meghan might find loving a Fable could be costly.
Written by Mark Buckingham and Bill Willingham, Fairest Volume 5: The Clamour for Glamour is a DC Comics fantasy series printed under the Vertigo imprint. Following Fairest Volume 4: Of Men and Mice, the collection features art by Russ Braun, Meghan Hetrick, and Andrew Pepoy.
While I do love Fables, Fairest always struggled. The idea was right…many fairytales and fables have female leads and this series was meant to explore those women and give them their own stories (separate from Fables). It feels like Fairest rarely lived up to this concept, and this volume might be the worst in that sense.
The story isn’t very female focused. You could argue Reynard’s girlfriend is maybe the focus, but it really just feels like a Reynard story and it could have easily been shoehorned into Fables. The adventures of Reynard is kind of like Bigby and Snow’s relationship (under different circumstances). Reynard is also kind of like Prince Charming, but in general, it feels like this story has been told before.
Fairest #33
The secondary storyline about the Farm and the Glamours is definitely a Fables story. The election of Prince Charming and the story of the Farm has been a continuing theme in Fables and it feels like the fallout of this story should have been in Fables more than in this series. It is a decent story, but it isn’t a main storyline (which is why it halfway works as the backup story in this volume.
The story also features a back-up story involving Goldilocks which ties into events of Fables. Goldilocks (who is a villain in the series) is narrating her adventures. It is a rather weak issue that leads into the stand-alone graphic novel Fairest: In All the Land. It feels like a bit of a whimper to end the series, and much of the series never really blossomed.
With Fairest 5: The Clamour for Glamours a rather lifeless series ends. It is a shame because Fables is a fun series and there is so much potential for all the characters in Fables since many are literally over a hundred years old. Fairest often misses the point of its origin and really doesn’t enjoy itself. It could have been a great showcase for female writers telling stories in the Fables world…something that is always welcomed.
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