Title: Bad Doings and Big Ideas

Author: Bill Willingham

Publisher: Vertigo 2011

Genre: Graphic Novel; Fantasy

Pages: 512

Rating:   5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mixing It Up - Graphic Novel and Comic; Support Your Local Library; A to Z - B

How I Got It: Library Loan

Collecting dark tales of the fantastic by FABLES creator Bill Willingham!  She’s one of the Sandman’s former lovers and a woman feared by gods. She is Thessaly, the fan-favorite character from THE SANDMAN: A GAME OF YOU, and the last of the deadly Thessalian witches. Now, Thessaly is on the run from a creature called Fetch, who might be composed of different beings killed across the eons by Thessaly herself.Then, in PROPOSITION PLAYER, a professional Vegas poker player collects vouchers for the souls of a roomful of people as a bar prank, not realizing that he’s just anted up for a game he never imagined. Joey is suddenly caught in the middle of a battle between heaven and hell. Can he bluff his way out of it?

This title also features numerous short stories starring members of The Sandman’s cast, as well as dark fantasy tales from HOUSE OF MYSTERY and more.

I fell into this volume with wild abandon today.  I absolutely adore Willingham's Fables series, but confess that I never read any of his other work.  This volume offered me a great opportunity to expand my Willingham.  I loved that he does a short introduction to each piece.  These gave me an idea of his professional growth and how see save each work.

I think my favorite story was Thessaly.  At initial glance, she's just an ancient witch living her quiet life.  But the series delves into the much darker workings of the universe and other worlds.  We get to see the big bads and bigger bads out there.  Thessaly's quiet, but she makes up for talking with her actions.  I especially loved the inclusion of various gods of the dead.  Nice touch!

My second favorite had to be the short House of Mystery tales thrown in the back.  Willingham goes from the funny horror story to the truly bizarre and disconcerting.  Hats off to you!  Now I really need to read The Sandman series.