Fairest #17 – Review

By: Sean E. Williams (story), Stephen Sadowski (pencils), Phil Jimenez, Andrew Pepoy, Dan Green (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: Nalayani and Charming get the sinking feeling that someone is out to get them.

The Review: Longtime readers of this site—specifically, longtime readers of me—probably have noticed that I have a fairly unusual (some might argue unpredictable) grading style.  You can check out this article for some comprehensive explanation behind that, but I can tell you right now what falls under C-material in my mind.  It’s the same things I used to comment on my C students’ work: passing effort, messy, lacks originality, barely functional.

I bring all this up now because this issue of Fairest and this whole arc in general seem to hit all those qualities.  If some find this assessment harsh, I offer as proof Williams’ explanation of Prince Charming’s return from the apparent dead.  It basically boils down to the fact that he’s too popular to die, even after getting blasted apart by an explosion which shattered the gateways to other worlds.  But this is simply the physics of the Fables universe.  What’s really problematic is the unaffected, nonchalant, even dull manner in which this story is recollected.