Reviews: "Pantheon: the complete scriptbook" and "Pantheon: welcome to the machine" by Bill Willingham

Most folks who know Bill Willingham know him through Fables, his fantastically popular Vertigo graphic novels. Fewer readers know of The Elementals, his first series, a superhero comic (albeit a quirky and rules-breaking one at that.) Connecting those two is Pantheon. What is it? Would I like it? Who should read it? Is it any good? I'll attempt to answer all that in a roundabout way.

First, let me say that everyone who like Fables should have the opportunity to read The Elementals. Even though this is Bill's (can I call you Bill?) earliest writing, and he's working in a genre chock-full of tropes and conventions, and pile on the fact that the kernel of Elementals comes from his days playing Villains & Vigilantes, one of the first (perhaps THE first) roleplaying games about capes and masks, Elementals was still ground-breaking, witty, with great twists and plot turns.

Alas, note that I said "should have the opportunity." Unfortunately, only a few of the very earliest issues are available in "The Natural Order" graphic novel. The series itself went under when its parent company, Comico, was sold off to an unreliable investor. Worse still, the story of The Elementals ended right before the big climax of a multi-issue plotline. Years of stories building up to...cancellation.

So, fans of Fables should read The Elementals. But you can't. Mostly. What happened next?

Bill moved on to other projects, and just before DC comics found him, a small independent publisher from Texas hired him to do another superhero series. This is Pantheon-on the surface, it's about a superhero group called Freedom Machine, but really it's an exploration of and deconstruction of superheroes, along the lines of Watchmen. Pantheon also attempts to show how Elementals' big plotline might have wrapped up, told through the lens of Pantheon's pantheon of characters.

So, if you're one of the few who *did* read Elementals back in the day, *you* should definitely read Pantheon.

And, if you're a thorough fan of Willingham's writing, you will want to read Pantheon: the Complete Scriptbook (and the graphic novel, although it--like Elementals--is only a few, early issues.)

Now, Pantheon wasn't a huge commercial success. And, I'd argue that--stacked up against Willingham's other works--Pantheon is a mixed bag, critically. Certainly, if you like action, Pantheon's got a ton of action. Eye-lasers and fists flying, and things disintegrating. If you like Willingham's plots and stories--you'll get some of that here, along with a great plot-twist ending. If you like his characters...ah...here's where the ice gets thin.

Perhaps it's because Pantheon was born on the heels of a cancelled series that Bill felt compelled to push the action button so hard over character, plot or story-telling. Certainly, he wanted to show the ending to Elementals that he'd planned, but never got a chance to show-I get that. Thank you, Bill, for thinking of the readers. But the characters in Pantheon are, without a doubt, the slightest to ever grace a Willingham comic. Deathboy? Commander Cross? Kid Kong?

Hey, I'm  no fan of "origin stories," but there's nothing to connect with here, no back story at all.* Worse yet, some of these heroes are simply knock-of
fs of (no kidding) the Fantastic Four, Johnny Quest, Batman, Superman, who are joined by characters who are little more than a name, a costume and a set of powers. (While it's true that Watchmen did the same thing, somehow it doesn't feel as much like a shortcut when DC recycled their own characters. Also, Watchmen is just...Watchmen, y'know?)

When contrasted with what Willingham accomplished with supers in the pages of Elementals--each of whose characters I can *still recall vividly and go on about idiosyncratic details...but I can tell you next to nothing about Pantheon's cast of characters. It's a bit of a letdown.

So, Pantheon's got great action, good plot, but slight characters. Still, is it worth a read?

Yes, there are some real gems here that any reader would enjoy (Blackheart's backstory, the twist ending to the series. Dynasty.) A Fables fan will get a kick out of seeing an early incarnation of Bigby Wolf (I shit you not.) And a completist like me...I don't have to sell you. Go get it.


Bonus question: should Willingham do supers again? Yes. Obviously, I'm an Elementals fan. If the rights to it could be pried out of the hands of the nutjob investor who bought it, Elementals could get an awesome reboot. Some of the issues it tackled back in the 80's are ever-more-relevant today. I'd even be happy to see more Pantheon. Just with more attention to character, please.


*Actually, we do get a smidgen of backstory on two of its main characters, but both were saved for the end of the series. Too little, too late.

Short Story Review: "Some Desperado" by Joe Abercrombie

It's gonna be hard for me to look at this story objectively (you'll see why in a moment,) and I almost feel like Joe Abercrombie is going to be owed an apology when I'm done. Because, as you might expect from the title of the story, this is a Western. A straight-up, sixgun, real-life American Western. As a lad I hated westerns, preferring instead monsters, spaceships and little green men.

"Wagon train to the stars?" Yes.

"Actual Wagon Train?" No.

But that isn't my problem with this story.

No, my tastes in genres has (like my waistline) broadened with age, and now some good ol' fashioned "High Noon" fun--such as is presented in "Some Desperado"--is a welcome change of pace. The characters are both quirky and memorable. The plot is slight, but in the vein of a Coen brothers flick, or the board-game Fiasco, where characters with big plans watch them unravel before their eyes and we delight as they get put through the wringer. In summation, a thoroughly enjoyable read, "Some Desperado" is told mainly through crisp action, with Tarrentino-esque fight scenes containing unexpected twists and turns.

So where's the problem? It's a Western. A good and entertaining Western. What's wrong with that?

The problem, my friends is that this is the very first story in the Anthology "The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Eight" edited by Jonathan Strahan. Nothing in the story qualifies it as either Science Fiction OR Fantasy. It's not set in an alternate universe and there's not a single supernatural element present in the story. Nada, zip, bupkiss.

And to say that it's fantasy because of the cinematic nature of the action would be a far stretch. None of the stunts in "Some Desperado" reach the level of, say, either the "Indiana Jones" or the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchises (both clearly fantasy.)

If it was hidden in the middle of the lineup, it might have slipped by unnoticed, but it's the first batter up to the plate. Strahan picks this for his lead-off hitter? Worse still, the first page of the story faces the last page of the introduction which bemoans, "Were there stories that I'd like to have included that aren't here? Certainly..."

Uh, Jon, what if you left out this one?

Sorry Joe, though I did like your story an awful lot. (See, I knew there was going to be an apology.)