Should Willingham just release a Graphic Novel with everyone's Last Stories in???
Like what he did with 1001 Nights Of Snowfall; excpet have Bigby's son Ambrose (when he's an adult) write the Last Stories of all of the main Fables that have appeared throughout the series into a book.
We have Last Stories already with issue 141 onwards; but I feel that everyone deserves a proper Last Story, like Hansel and Gretel, Pinnochio, Jack Horner (in spite of the ending to Jack of Fables), the 13th Floor Witches, Lumi etc.
I will always mention in posts like these that Willingham has stated in some interviews (when asked) that he MAY return to Fables in the future and that his editor Shelly Bond might continue writing Graphic Novels for the series even after Issue 150 is released...
It seems that Willingham has too much story left for just 3 issues (even if the last one will be roughly 5 issues in length at 150 pages) so should he just save the final send-off's for a standalone Graphic Novel?
What do we think ppl?
Comments
Yeah, it probably would have been a better idea to just have them release the last stories as a single (big) volume rather than trying to cram the select-few characters stories into the few chapters in the final arc.
While I did like reading the last stories, I did feel they kinda interrupted the flow of the main story a little bit, and with exception of Cindy's last story (who's last story is closely tied to main story, and her last story part 2 will conclude in the main story anyway), none of the characters last story seem tied to main storyline anyway (though, personally, I wouldn't mind even if Jack Horner was not in the last story. since I found his personality to be so grating).
Regarding Willingham getting back to Fables, well, he already has his next project lined up (can't remember the title though.....), so it may be several years (if his new series is long-running like Fables), or even couple of years (if it doesn't last at long as Fables) until we can see Fables again (though it is also possible if he thinks #150 was a proper ending to Fables, he may not revisit the Fables Universe again, at least as a writer).
There is an option of Willingham doing dual-duties: being writer for the sequel as well as Fables, but I personally don't want that. I would like all his attention focused on Fables or none at all (i.e. all or nothing). It's not the case with all writers, but when writers take multiple projects, their work's quality does tend to drop since their focus is divided (Even a little bit).
I believe his next project is called Restoration; before Fables, Willingham's other projects all ended fairly early on in their series, Fables was the first series he did that got off it's feet and emerged into something wonderful...
Willingham has also stated that if he can't continue writing the series himself then Mark Buckingham will take over the writing duties, but apparently his Fairest issues on Clamour for Glamour haven't been that great (some reviews call it the worst story arc of the series) I feel that Willingham should be the consultant for Fables if it is taken up by another writer that isn't Buckingham or editor Shelly Bond.
(Mark) Buckingham's favourite place to draw (and write about) has always been the farm. Animal Farm (the second arc of series) was his first work on Fables, and he even admitted he loves drawing animals more than humans/buildings etc. So like you've said, Clamour for Glamour is the weakest arc out of all Fairest Volumes (my favourites are Rapunzel's Hidden Kingdom arc, or Cindy's Of Men and Mice arc), so Buckingham wouldn't be a very good candidate, especially in the writing department.
I do love his art though (his art style being my favourite out of all artists who have worked on Fables). His Big Bad Wolf Bigby Designs are the best
Mark should remain the artist; does anyone know why Lan Medina quit as the artist after Volume 1?
Bill should remain the consultant as well, keep those two on board and you can give the job to any half-decent writer.
And Bill should have more hands-on approach as consultant, so they don't make any continuity mistakes like they did in "Of men and mice" with Beast's transformation)
Yeah I STILL haven't read Fairest so I don't know which stories/Volumes are any good; but honestly it would be great if Fables got continued in the future. Kinda like what they did with Hellblazer, that series ran for 23 years and had 300 issues!!!
Then Vertigo restarted the series not that long ago (as a prequel series I believe)