Artist: Marley Zarcone | 6' 7" & Green Comics

Erica Gives This Comic Four Stars Fairest: In All the Land by Bill Willingham
Art: Chrissie Zullo, Karl Kerschl, Renae de Liz, Fiona Meng, Mark Buckingham, Phil Noto, Meghan Hetrick, Russ Braun, Tony Akins, Gene Ha, Tula Lotay, Marley Zarcone, Ming Doyle, Chris Sprouse, Nimit Malavia, Dean Ormston, Kurt Huggins, Adam Hughes, Al Davison, Shawn McManus, Inaki Miranda, and Kevin Maguire

This was perhaps one of the best Fables stories that I’ve read in a long time. It wasn’t interrupted by one of Willingham’s favorite characters that didn’t make sense. Cinderella had the whole narrative from beginning to end, and while she certainly had the help of others, she was the one who figured out the mystery and came up with a solution to the problem.

As much as I was excited to see that many of my favorite artists were working on this book, having the tale jump from artist to artist was a bit distracting. I really loved de Liz’s Cinderella and Hetrick’s Snow White. I was also surprised just how much I enjoyed Doyle’s art, which particularly worked with the ’60s flashback to Briar Rose’s all-girl band.

All that said, I did have a hard time getting into this book. Continue reading “Fairest: In All the Land Graphic Novel Review”

Madame Xanadu (Vol 4): Extra-Sensory Erica gives this comic five stars Madame Xanadu (Vol 4): Extra-Sensory by Matt Wagner
Art: Marley Zarcone, Laurenn McCubbin, Chrissie Zullo, Celia Calle, Marian Churchland, Amy Reeder, Richard Friend, and Guy Major

I appreciated this as the long form of saying goodbye to the Madame Xanadu comic book and Wagner’s time with her. And I can say that I greatly miss his take on her character, especially given how horrible the reboot has been with the magical characters. (It’s not their powers, but their back-stories that make them interesting.)

I enjoyed that the stories varied in how Madame Xanadu could really help these characters. Some needed her to calm their powers. Others needed her to stop the evil around them. Some accepted her guidance and others rejected her or were forces of evil she needed to banish.

Each story really reflected 1963-1966 and the different facets of culture from that time, depending on who you were or where you were. The variety of art was just gorgeous. In a lot of other stories, I might’ve been throw off by the switching artists. But the choices here just enhanced the book. Continue reading “Madame Xanadu (Vol 4): Extra-Sensory Graphic Novel Review”