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 #102 – Review

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

The Story: Ozma begins to assemble a super team under the guidance of Pinocchio as the Dark Man threatens Haven.

The Review: As weird as it seems at first, and as dubious the reasoning is behind it, this whole Super Team thing is really, really enjoyable.  It feels new and fresh for Fables and makes for some smart reading as well.  It allows Fables to discuss superhero comics and, by extension, comics as a medium.  The end result is an intelligent comic that almost feels self-conscious of its own medium.  It allows Willingham to think over some of the tropes and absurdities of superhero comics by bringing it into a comic that is anything but.

The whole superhero element also allows for a good deal of comedy as well, much of it thanks to that absurdity.  There’s also a good deal of hilarity in seeing Willingham’s piss-takes here and there, for instance, with Pinocchio’s dressing up as Professor X/Chief.  As you might suspect, it also leads to Mark Buckingham’s getting to do some really cool stuff.  His costume for Ozma is both gorgeous and humorous and quite honestly, even seeing the always-serious Ozma dressed up in such a get-up is all kinds of awesome.

As I mentioned, however, the reasoning for this whole Super Team is a bit questionable.  I can see where Willingham’s going with his reasoning, but it seems like a sort of ad-hoc explanation, as though Willingham just really, really wanted a superhero team in his comic and tried to come up with the reasons afterwards.  Furthermore, it’s a bit of a strain seeing someone like Ozma buy into the whole thing and dive in so completely.  That said, the visual and intellectual places that the comic is allowed to go as a result makes all of this fairly forgivable.

Fables #94 – Review

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

The Story: Beast makes a deal with the Blue Fairy, while Rose Red reunites with an old friend.  And no, it’s not Boy Blue.

What’s Good: Continuing its recovery, Fables offers up another solid outing that asks questions and opens doors.  As the first issue of a new arc, this does its job.

What will no doubt catch eyes are the very intriguing developments regarding the ghost of Colin the Pig.  We get strong suggestions that Colin may not really be Colin at all.  Rather, he seems to be some sort of shapeshifter.  The identity of this figure has already gotten me incredibly interested, and it’s only been one issue.  It really is quite the mystery and I hope that it ultimately pays off.

However, I’m sure most Fables readers are curious about how the Blue Fairy is handled after the cliffhanger that the “Witches” arc ended on.  While I wasn’t a fan of how the situation was resolved, the character herself was well done.  Her claiming to be Pinocchio’s mother was certainly a nice little twist; it was unexpected, but it made perfect sense.  Then there’s the fact that Pinocchio actually physically attacks her.  Yes, it looks as funny as it sounds.  The image of Pinocchio repeatedly punting her in the gut was something I felt that I shouldn’t find funny, but just couldn’t help smiling at.

This is also a strong outing for Mister Dark, as Willingham reveals a new level of evil and magical deviance in the character.  Apparently, the villain’s has powers we didn’t know about which are much more subtle, and malevolent, than what we’ve seen before.  The scene is very well-executed and very creepy, essentially acting as a slice of horror comic in this otherwise standard issue of Fables.

Oh, and Mark Buckingham is back.  I liked David Lapham’s work, but this is Buckingham’s book, and he asserts that here.  His depictions of the Blue Fairy’s powers in particular were pleasing, and the ridiculous brawl between her and her “son” was done with enough slapstick and mischief to steer it away from poor taste.

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.