Both are well drawn by Shawn McManus in slightly different styles.Ī character Willingham latched onto early was Merv Pumpkinhead, janitor in The Dreaming, whose name is also his description. By her second outing as ‘ Witch for Hire‘ things have clicked into place. ‘ The Thessaliad’ looks up the world’s most powerful witch and her ghostly companion, but the shaggy dog story never convinces. Most of the art is supplied by Paul Guinan whose pages have an appealing gloss, but are posed and static. It’s funny in places, but was planned as ongoing series, so unfolds in an extremely leisurely manner, before a rushed conclusion when cancellation beckoned. Proposition Player concerns a gambler who comes into some human souls, valuable currency in the mystical world. Two of three longer stories have also been previously issued as paperback editions. Willingham hasn’t quite learned pacing, and where to drop his bombs, which is odd as he’d long mastered it for his earlier superhero projects.

There’s definite progression throughout, but for roughly two-thirds of the material, unless he’s in deliberately whimsical mode, there’s not much worth reading a second time. The work is presented chronologically, and Willingham supplies introductory comments, providing largely fair judgements on his own w riting. Then, though, Fables, prominently cover-mentioned here, hadn’t acquired its current status.

I n 2011 Vertigo issued this collection of Bill Willingham’s previous work for the imprint, a fair proportion already collected previously in the 2003 paperback Sandman Presents: Taller Tales.

The Thessaliad by Bill Willingham