Fables #121 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: A dream come true for the lazy cook.

The Review: If I could sum up the message of Fables, given what I’ve read and what I know, it’s this: there is no “happily ever after.”  For us Mundys, our mortal lives give us the chance to end on a happy note, but for the Fables, living indefinitely means that inevitably, every happy moment will give way to tragedy.  The only thing that keeps this series from being a complete downer, then, is the flipside: even the lowest points will turn around to happiness again.

This constant cycle of joy and grief has the side-effect of giving our Fables wisdom and sense beyond the average Mundy, given enough reflection.  Therese goes through such a process here, dwelling on her misdeeds and its consequences, beating herself up for the way things ended up for her and Darien.  At the end of it, she does manage to achieve a kind of redemption, but the taint of the past lingers on, and she knows it: “Murderers don’t get forgiven just because we promise to be good from now on.”

Fables #120 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Evidently, no one ever told Dare about the downsides of heroism.

The Review: I have to confess that when I first picked up this series, I almost regretted it shortly afterward.  The story arc running at that time involved the Fables anxiously awaiting their doom by Mister Dark, only to have the North Wind step in and save them all at the last minute.  This development was deeply disappointing as it just sucked away all the tension Willingham built up over this impossible foe, basically concluding with two godlike immortals fading out quietly.

I figured if this was the kind of finish I could expect on a storyline with stakes this big, what could I expect with later arcs that had less scale?  Anyway, I stayed on; it would’ve felt a little silly dropping the title when after only three issues.  Since then, we’ve had quite a bit of soft material (the entire contest for the new North Wind was pretty much just for fun), and only now have we reached a point in Fables where you feel you have something to lose.

Fables #119 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: The therapist who works with these kids stands to make a fortune.

The Review: I mentioned a bit about my summer internship in my review of DC Universe #11, and as it happens, that experience has some relevance here as well.  Another thing I’ve learned is there is no age floor for when someone begins to internalize the pain around them.  Kids pick up all the worst things in their life long before they even learn to express it in words, and the damage is frequently irreparable; it never totally goes away, even if they manage to recover.

And the stuff Therese and Darien have to go through is quite a bit more serious than the usual set of childhood trauma.  If they ever manage to get back to their home and family, they will never forget this harrowing experience in Madland.  How can you expect them to when they’ve had their innocence crushed by choices that would defeat most grown-ups?

Fables #118 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Peopy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: And now we know why we make kids wait until they’re 18 before setting them free.

The Review: In one of my favorite episodes of 30 Rock, harassed writer Liz Lemon snaps at melodrama queen Jenna Maroney, “…you’re so insecure you get jealous at babies for their soft skin!”  “And for all the attention they get!” adds Jenna.  Setting aside the ludicrousness of the scene, Jenna alludes to a well-trodden observation about children: no matter the context, they instantly and always get all our focus.

And deservedly so; being more vulnerable to everything dangerous or malevolent, kids really do need our extra attention.  Maybe that’s why the moment you have a child in a threatening situation, the tension suddenly becomes a lot heavier than you’d even notice with adults.  In this arc, we have not just one, but two children at risk.  One endures grievous injury and the other goes through a psychological wringer while physically wasting away.

Fables #117 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: On the bright side, Therese, pretend cake is less fattening than actual cake.

The Review: I have to say, it’s a nice change of pace that Willingham has scaled back his multiple storyline format for a more focused, and thus more driven, plot.  In some issues the constant gear-shifts from one Fable’s story to another could get frustrating, especially when they had no connection to each other.  Besides, when you only have so many pages to tell three stories at once, you can’t help feeling each one gets shortchanged a little to make room for the others.

So it’s been a real luxury to spend so much time on just two central characters whose respective plotlines are bound to each other anyway.  Aside from a one-page excursion to the returning citizens to Fabletown (who play right into Spratt’s hands by moving onto her home turf), and your usual dose of Bufkin & Co. (whose tale of revolution grows less captivating every issue, despite Shawn McManus’ charming art), the issue keeps the spotlight on the boldest of Snow White and Bigby’s children.

Fables #116 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, Dan Green (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors), Shawn McManus (feature art)

The Story: If your own family can’t rescue you from the clutches of maniacal toys, who can?

The Review: When Ozma delivered her prophecy regarding the fate of the Cubs, it was natural to assume that however dire the foretelling, we could rest on the Cubs getting to grow up a bit before such anxious events come to pass.  Upon reflection, this is a very naïve belief.  When it comes to Fables, disaster tends to strike sooner rather than later, and the more unprepared the characters are, the better.

Although the prophecy’s temporal context is so loose that you can’t really trust that any particular event is actually fulfilling it, we might as well take a good stab at it.  Willingham wouldn’t give us the thing if he hadn’t meant for us to do some wild speculating.  Winter, by succeeding her grandfather as the North Wind, has become a king, so that’s one down.

Fables #115 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha (inker), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Shawn McManus (feature artist)

The Story: On the bright side, Therese, at least you’re not being made queen of Haiti.

The Review: Even though “happily ever after” doesn’t apply equally to all ye olde fairy tales, that’s generally the feeling such stories evoke.  The brilliance of Willingham’s Fables is for them, there is no “happily ever after.”  One day, perhaps, when we reach the end of this series, we’ll discover all the conflict and horror these characters have suffered through are just a heightened extension of what they must necessarily go through to earn their happy ending.

Till that day, most of the Fables have to take their joys in measured doses.  For Snow White, Bigby Wolf, and the Cubs, that means cherishing their family life, something hardly any other Fable has.  We begin with Snow looking lovingly on her kids, and singing—actually singing (“…best part of the day… / …when monsters, trolls and grumpkins are locked away.”).  Snow probably hasn’t engaged in such stereotypical fairy-tale princess behavior since the innocent days of her youth, so that should indicate the gladness coursing through her in that moment.

It all falls apart, of course, once Therese’s disappearance is finally noted (frankly surprising me no one notices sooner—didn’t anyone wonder at her absence during dinnertime?).  And where is she now?  Well might you ask, for the place she’s landed upon has many names, including Magical Land, Madland, Far Mattagonia, Discardia, but the one we’ll inevitably remember most is Toyland.  Unlike the realm you imagined in childhood, this Toyland seems quite sinister.  It’s only because broken toys which talk tend to have that effect, but it’s also because they play so perceptively on Therese’s desire to be queen of her own kingdom, like homelier sister Winter.