Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm

Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm
Bill Willingham, author
Mark Buckingham, illustrator
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Vertigo (August 1, 2003)
3/5 stars

Animal Farm picks up right where left off. Snow goes to upstate New York to visit The Farm (where the Fables that can't blend in with humans live) and takes Red with her to work off community service hours.

They arrive at The Farm earlier than is normal for Snow's biannual visit, and find the Farm Fables in the midst of revolutionary unrest. Rose joins with the revolutionists and Snow is left scrambling to find allies.

This story line wasn't nearly as interesting to me as the first Fables volume, despite there being more serious elements. I think this is due, in part, to much of the action being told after the fact. All the real action was over in the first four issues (chapters) and the fifth felt contrived and filled out to make a full issue. Again, there were some memorable lines, and the characters are memorable as well.

Again, I was disappointed in the art. There was nothing original or unusual, or even particularly memorable, to the illustrations. It merely illustrates the story and doesn't seem to give any extra dimension to the story at all. The art is certainly not used as a vehicle to further the story, as it is in other, finer graphic novels.

Despite my interest in the characters, despite the huge following this series has, despite reading that it gets better as it goes on, I'm not sure I'm willing to read a third volume.

~~Read for the Graphic Novels Challenge~~

Note: This is just my opinion;  on Amazon, 61%  of the reviews were 5 stars.