Fables #91 – Review

by Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Daniel Green (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Geppetto makes a bid for power while Bufkin wages his final battle with Baba Yaga.

What’s Good: This was just an absolutely fantastic issue that shows that all those readers who claim that the series lost its heart after “War & Pieces” simply have no idea what they’re talking about.  This was engaging, intelligent, humorous, action-packed, fun, and generally everything you expect out of a quality comic.

Seeing Geppetto back in action and the closest we’ve ever seen him to his old posture was great.  The guy’s got charisma that leaps off of the page.  Willingham’s play on history was also quite good: Geppetto sounded like more or less every dictator in modern history to make a bid for power.  His call for unity, his protests against the inefficacy and corruption of the current regime, and his promises of security all felt very real.  It’s weird to see a comic so rooted in fancy give such an honest and close approximation to actual political history.

Geppetto’s rise also causes Ozma to step-up in a big way, and finally, Willingham has sold me on the character.  I’ve been on the fence about her, but this month, Willingham finally gives her the necessary appeal.

Then there’s Bufkin.  From his innocent bumbling, to his quoting of obscure passages, the character is simply adorable.  If you dislike Bufkin, you have no soul.  The fact that his one, and only, hand to hand combat technique is basically derived from his own penchant for clumsiness and pratfalls was simply golden, as was the unfolding of his manifold trap, which basically felt like a kid’s board game gone horribly wrong.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Picks Of The Week

Ray’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: Invincible Iron Man #21 – Although this issue wasn’t anything special, Fraction delivers a consistent and entertaining Tony Stark. Props to Larroca for the gorgeous art.

Most Anticipated: Green Lantern Corps #43 – The cover says it all… Guy Gardner! Rage! Hate! Blood! It might be interesting to see another Lantern, other than Hal Jordan, dawn another color.

Other Picks: Green Lantern Corps #43, Captain America: Reborn #5, Daredevil #503, Ex Machina #47

Alex’s Top Picks

Pick of the Week: The Unwritten #8 – Another fantastic issue in this awesome serious, always both intelligent and entertaining.  I loved it’s depiction of childhood and its Romantic opposition of the child’s imagination with adult materialism and empiricism.  Just great, great stuff that shows that this book’s text awareness goes beyond direct quotes and mentions.

Most Anticipated: Invincible #69 – Both Invincible and Captain America: Reborn have left us with MASSIVE cliffhangers.  Invincible ultimately gets the nod though if only due to Reborn’s scheduling bungles and its being spoiled (sort of) by other, more punctual series.

Other Picks: Captain America: Reborn #5, Daredevil #503, Ex Machina #47, Fables #91, Spider-Woman #4, Dark Avengers #12, Green Lantern Corps #43, Justice League of America #40

DS’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: Batgirl #5 – This book gets the nod, hands down. Miller, having established Batgirl as Oracle’s Padawan learner, is now knitting her story into the larger Bat-family of Gotham and her first meeting with the new bat-patriarch doesn’t go so well. I’m loving this series!

Most Anticipated: Captain America Reborn #5/ Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #3 – It’s a slow DC week for me, so I have to call a tie between Captain America: Reborn #5 and Doctor Voodoo: Avenger of the Supernatural #3! Brubaker’s Steve Rogers story has been riveting, but I can’t say no to Rick Remender’s Sorcerer Supreme, especially one outgunned and outmaneuvered.

Other Top Picks: Batman #694, Amazing Spider-Man #615, Power Girl #7, Brave and the Bold #30, Brave and the Bold #30, Ms. Marvel #48, Thunderbolts #139