Fables #77 – Review

By Bill Willingham (Writer), Mark Buckingham (Penciller), Andrew Pepoy (Inker), and Lee Loughbridge (Colors)

The Story: Two new characters, mercenaries Freddy and Mouse, scrounge through the ruins of the defeated empire looking for loot, and come across a big, heavily chained casket that may contain more than treasure. Boy Blue is still suffering from the magical arrow he was shot with during the war. Sinbad relates to Rose the last heroic moments of Prince Charming. The second generation fables try to determine if they can or will have any place in the newly liberated homelands. And Bigby Wolf sends Mowgli and his wolf brothers up the beanstalk to explore the situation in the Jungle Book world.

What’s Good: Willingham is clearly in this book for the long haul. He gives every single character time to express themselves, to breath, to become real. And the quiet moments, like the ones in this issue, give them weight when things become sticky later on. And, of course, Buckingham’s art is consistently wonderful, unrolling in Fable’s patented horizontal scroll, like the Bayaux tapestry.

What’s Not So Good: “Freddy and Mouse” are obviously Fritz Lieber’s classic heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I don’t think much of Willingham expanding from fables and children’s stories into the realm of adult fantasy, especially as these two are still under copyright and can’t be addressed by their proper names.

Conclusion: As a single issue, there’s practically nothing to this book. But Willingham clearly has plans for the future of the Fable universe. Think of the collapse of the Empire as analogous to the tearing down of Saddam’s statue; chaotic elements hidden by fascistic suppression are beginning to stir. Regular readers will know that Willingham has proven that these interlude issues are an integral part of the larger epic. And of course it’s always nice to see Bigby Wolf with his wife and children, as if Wolverine finally decided to stop working so hard at being a bad-ass and just allow himself to settle down.

Grade: B

– Andrew C. Murphy