The Books of Faerie by
Bronwyn Carlton
hbk out August 98
THE BOOKS OF FAERIE is not especially thoughtful, either, though
it's a generally entertaining slice of fantasy storytelling. Spun-off
from and serving as something of a prequel to the monthly series THE
BOOKS OF MAGIC, this three-part comic tells the tale of the coming of
age of Queen Titania of Faerie. The whole scenario stems from some
earlier work by Neil Gaiman, though it's nowhere near as good as his
material. The writing by Carlton and Reiber is adequate, certainly
on a par with the kind of prose in your basic fat, fantasy novel. The
artwork by Gross is lovely in bits, though too many panels look
dashed-off, especially in the rendering of facial expressions. The
collection has been padded out with a reprinting of ARCANA, the first
chapter of "The Children's Crusade," a related, much longer saga
published a few years back. It's not bad, but less than satisfying
to those who'd like to know how the story resolves.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
