I am no real fan of folk music, and my interest in fantasy as a genre is pretty picky. However, Charles Vess is a masterful illustrator, and his Ballads and Songs had earned nothing but praise from anyone I'd listened to, so when a chance came to review the hardcover of the Book of Ballads, I jumped at it. I'm glad I did, and I can see why the judges this year felt this book to be Eisner-worthy. I'll be honest, not all of it appeals to me, and the flowery language of these ballads sometimes is a bit off-putting, but Vess and his collaborators have in general managed to transform these older ballads into compelling comic book short stories, with beautiful artwork in every one of them.
The Book of Ballads is at its best when it is a mixture between the ballad form and the comic book. That is to say, there are one or two stories here which are basically illustrated fiction, basically reproducing the ballad they are derived from with illustrations to accenturate key scenes. These stories stopped me dead, being a little impenetrable in their language and nowhere near as engaging or as clear as the comic book tales. I was notably disappointed in Elaine Lee's translation of "Tam-Lin," a story which sounded intriguing from Terri Windling's introduction but which in this form reads more like an illustrated comic book script than a comic, and not a very compelling one at that.
Fortunately, most of Book of Ballads does stick to more of a comic book style, blending the poetry of the language and timeless ideas and themes to new characters that the reader can relate to or framing sequences that put the whole thing in perspective. Sometimes, the writer gives the folk tale a less tragic end, such as Jane Yolen's addition to the end of "King Henry" or the relatively happy end that Vess himself gives "Alison Gross," but sometimes, it's just a matter of context. Emma Bull does a terrific job of adding memorable characters to the tale of a hunt for a mysterious Black Fox, and her mixture of American folklore in the form of Miss Parris's fibs about American hunting are very funny and perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the book. Charles De Lint casts the story of "Two Corbies" in a modern day city, as a tale witnessed by a pair of women, one older and one younger, and in so doing really hits upon what Windling talks about in the introduction, making these timeless stories relevant to the modern age as well. Jane Yolen isn't just someone given to happy endings, either, as she adds mostly depth to the front end of "The Great Selchie of Sule Skerry," delivering its tragic ending pretty much as written in the original ballad.
Then there are the stories that really are basically unchanged, but are presented in a very enjoyable comic book format. Sharyn McCrumb's "Thomas the Rhymer," Midori Snyder's "Barbara Allen," Lee Smith's "The Three Lovers," Delia Sherman's "The Daemon Lover" and Charles De Lint's "Sovay" are all perfect examples of how to turn a ballad into a back and forth of dialogue and action in comic book format, with little to no changes made from the original tale. The two biggest comic book names of the piece, aside from Vess of course, are Jeff Smith and Neil Gaiman, and their contributions are indeed some of my favorites in the volume. "The Galtic Farmer" is a funny little piece about an easily befuddled farmer that sees Jeff Smith and Charles Vess in true collaboration, such that I'm unsure who did what on the story and art chores, but it has a playful quality in story and art that makes it one of the bright spots of the collection. Gaiman's "The False Knight on the Road" is a fairly faithful translation of the ballad its based upon, played out in a clever four-panel structure that reinforces the give and take confrontation between the boy and the false knight nicely.
While the range of authors here is impressive, a litany of fantasy writer big guns, it is the artwork of Vess that is the main draw, and he doesn't disappoint. Vess's intricate, delicate beauty is perfectly apt for the often Victorian settings of these tales and the people in them, and he does an especially good job on the beautiful young men and women who are often at the heart of the stories. However, he is equally adept when it comes to displaying the monsters (the witch in "King Henry" is particularly creepy and powerful) and the dank castles or the overgrown forests in which these tales take place. In addition, Vess also varies his storytelling approach to fit the writers, and whether it was in the script or not, Vess deserves credit for executing these stylistic tweaks. Especially memorable is the play structure of "The Three Lovers" and the mixture of illustrated text and panel-to-panel storytelling of "Alison Gross."
The Book of Ballads is a fine package, whether you're a casual fan of fantasy artwork or a diehard follower of folk music and stories dealing with the realm of faerie. Terri Windling's introduction straddles the line nicely between appealing to both of these groups, and while I personally am not inspired to seek out these ballads or folk music given my general antipathy for the form, I must admit that the discography and musician overview in the back of the book is an equally nice extra to round out the collection. 8/10
