In its first two issues, Cullen Bunn and Christopher Mitten’s dark fantasy The Autumn Kingdom managed a rather exciting and effective trick of laying the foundation of the story without getting tripped up by excessive exposition, meandering establishing scenes, or lulls in its compelling coming-of-age-by-way-of-goblins style of storytelling. They were finely tuned issues, impressively paced and endearing.
The book’s primary narrative trick – a bloody fairy tale playing over top the story of two preteen sisters on the worst vacation ever – also happens to be its most troubled storytelling stumbling point. The dual narratives have a trouble finding balance, a coherence we have to assume will land only in the book’s final issue.
This trouble hits its most clunky in the book’s third issue, which foregoes the more subtle interplay between the “real-world” sisters (which drove the endearment of the story) for a lot of disconnected, somewhat weightless, but excitingly brutal action. Our two stories begin to mirror one another more directly, which attempts to keep the previous pacing in tact. There seems to be a growing conflict with our Earth-bound sisters, while our fairy-tale queens finally cross swords.
Oni Press
The issue jumps forward; where the second issue ended with some lost-in-the-woods can-do-ism, this issue is full, able-bodied carnage; our sisters are now vastly adept at murder, and completely unafraid. The hard-ass turn is compelling but feels distinctly unearned as if we’ve missed the issue wherein bloodshed has begrudgingly been accepted.
The book ends with a massive monster, a disgraced baddie, and a promising down-the-rabbit-hole. On the whole, The Autumn Kingdom #3 feels like a necessary issue tailored to the trade that collects the series, and not for month-to-month consumption.
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