Brian Level

Bill Willingham’s Batman vs. Bigby!: A Wolf in Gotham collects issues #1-6 of the limited series with pencils by Brian Levell, inks by Jay Leisten and Anthony Fowler Jr., colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Steve Wands, and cover art by Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbairn. Bigby and the world of Fables appeared in comics published by Vertigo, a DC imprint, but traditionally existed apart from the larger DC Universe – unlike other Vertigo titles such as The Sandman and Hellblazer. Following the end of Vertigo and the creation of DC’s Black Label, this story affords the opportunity for a limited crossover. This is also Willingham’s return to the franchise since Fables concluded with issue #150 in 2015 and the first Fables series since the short-lived spin-off, Everafter.

The story begins with Batman and the Robins tracking a series of killings suggestive of a giant wolf. Meanwhile, Bigby traverses Gotham looking for information and the Bookworm leads his band of literature-themed criminals in a plot targeting the sources of rare and valuable books. Though events initially set Batman and Bigby at odds, they form an unlikely partnership to track Bookworm and his gang in order to retrieve a magical book that ended up in Gotham after an explosion in the Fables’ realm. Willingham has fun playing with the Batman mythos, especially as Batman’s contingency plans and collection of Robins resemble a fable in their own right. He has the freedom to play with Batman in a way that both honors the essential truth of the character while making him and his world work for this crossover. It is particularly nice to see Bigby, Cinderella, and other Fables characters come to life in Willingham’s prose. The success of this series lead to a new Fables storyline titled “The Black Forest” with the series’ relaunch in issues #151-162.… (altro)

I was a big fan of Fables back in the day, so I was looking forward to the chance to revisit some of the characters, but boy did this crossover with Batman miss the mark.

First up, I was confused where this was set in continuity because Dick Grayson is Robin again and training an army of Robins for Batman. I guess its an Elseworlds thing, because I don't think that was the plot of the We Are Robin series that I dropped after the first volume.

But I didn't dwell on that long because my mind quickly became numbed by the silly fights and long droning scenes of talking heads. The main villains were visually boring and had an overcomplicated and stupid plot to find a single book. The injured Batman fighting on despite the pain trope was taken to satirical levels and yet seemed to be played straight. The majority of the book felt like filler, and the big reveals in the end just left me thinking, Who cares?

A big waste of time.… (altro)