3 out of 5

Everything I’ve read by Willingham has an easy charm to it that makes you laugh, that pushes you along the comedic, fantasy-infused slick his spread on top of a thin plot, until you get to a stop sign in the form of a conclusion, generally abrupt, where the slick ends and you can look back and see it as the coating it was.  In his minis or prestiges – Proposition Player, Thessaly, Merv Pumpkinhead – this tends to work just long enough to keep you entertained and not questioning, but it matches the formula all the same.

In “Agent of Dream,” Bill gives his typical whimsy to The Dream’s janitor Merv Pumpkinhead, who may or may not be a secret agent trying to track down some missing sleep-dust and stop a nefarious plot to take over the world… solidifying (along with the punned out chapter headings, and the collection’s cover) the Bond joke.  And it is funny, and drawn by Mark Buckingham, who perfectly matches Bill’s breezy writing style, it looks great – the visual gags wrapped up perfectly with the script.  If you are still reading Fables, or any of the various related properties with which Willingham’s been involved, you’ll enjoy this tale – and it gets a slight positive kick in the pants because he’s playing in someone else’s waters and thus doesn’t really have to make any point with the writing via character development or whatnot, he can just tell a funny tale and leave it at that.  As with most of his plotting, and matching what I say above, at some point, normally near the climax of the story, you’ll start to question if the various plot divergences have really had anything to do with the story and the answer is no, they don’t.  Most of Willingham’s writing is distraction, and his “twists” or subplots fall into the same category, generally adding up to a punchline.

It’s obviously worked for a huge readership that’s kept Fables alive for 100+ issues, and there’s no denying the appeal of well-written, well-drawn fantasy that makes you laugh.  But it’s a read once and no need to return affair.