Fables #143 – Review

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

The Story: Bigby threatens to bring down Fabletown, with neither huffing nor puffing.

The Review: One of the many ways I’m a little off in the head is the way I treat stories like people. On first acquaintance, I’m open-minded, relatively forgiving of small quirks and flaws, and cautious to make any hasty conclusions. If it rubs me the wrong way, my judgment can become scathing, and it can be quite difficult to return to my good graces. If I really take to one, my loyalty is steadfast; even if things don’t go well for a while, I’ll still be by its side.

To me, Fables is a bit like my clique of coworkers at a transition job after grad school. We met somewhat late in life and I’ll always remain a bit of an outsider, but we get along well and make each other’s lives that much more pleasant. When we part, it’ll be with regret and hugs, but not tears. This is all a roundabout way of saying that even though I haven’t known the Fables that long, I’m fond enough of them to be really grieved when bad things happen to them. And Willingham seems set to unleash quite a lot of bad things on many of them, even the most beloved.

Fairest #28 – Review

By: Mark Buckingham (story), Russ Braun (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Has Reynard found his rebound girl?

The Review: In what has to be a burst of psychological insight—or stating the obvious, you decide—I’ve realized why Reynard is so determined to make it with this human thing. The fact is he never needed a human body to succeed in anything; he was doing quite well without before he got his glamour. Being a handsome man is really only necessary for one thing: attracting the ladies. Small wonder that he thinks finding a woman to love is key to unlocking his potential as a man.

You might say it’s his final challenge, the last thing he needs to stand aside the likes of, say, Prince Charming. There’s really just one thing getting in his way: he’s not Prince Charming, which is to say that he doesn’t have Charming’s shameless addiction to conquest. His audacious move on Snow is driven by ignorance of human mores rather than lust, which makes his poor reception that much more pathetic. Reynard likes to be of service, but he won’t get that chance chasing after strong, independent women.

Fables #142 – Review

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

The Story: Sisters, sisters, never where there such destructive sisters.

The Review: Last issue, when Maddy came around Wolf Manor declaring that war between Snow and Rose was practically inevitable, I wondered idly how Maddy expected Snow to fight a war all by herself when Rose had an entire kingdom at her back. I had forgotten about Winter’s preparations for this very possibility back in #137, which goes to show just how involved and sprawling and foresighted Fables can be. [It also goes to show my memory is shot since bar prep began, but I digress.]

But what are Winter’s plans, anyway? There must be something more delicate going on than a meet-force-with-force strategy, otherwise she wouldn’t be so threatened by Maddy’s interference. Then again, considering the forces she’s gathered (which now includes all her wolfish uncles), the outcome can go either way: mutually assured destruction or stalemate by threat of the same.

Fables #141 – Review

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

The Story: No need for minutes—this is a witches’ meeting!

The Review: As a lover of most things magical, some of my favorite Fables by default are the Thirteenth Floor witches. In most respects, they live up to the typical spellcaster mold: distant and a little bit distracted, always with an air like they’re seeing something you’re not, which they probably are. But they also have an unquestioned loyalty to Fabletown that’s somewhat surprising for such powerful characters. Mages are not well known for their charity.

It made sense for the witches to ally with Fabletown when they had Gepetto as a common enemy, but that’s all over now. Not only has the war been fought and won, the need for Fabletown itself is fading, as even the witches recognize. Yet they continue to stick to their customary meetings, discussing various Fabletown concerns, and even going so far as to consider prospective replacements for their dead/missing/departed peers. With one exception, none of these topics of conversation hold as much weight as their passing remarks.

Fairest #21 – Review

By: Marc Andreyko (story), Shawn McManus (art), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: Cinderella discovers a love-hate relationship with mice.

The Review: When I finished reading this issue, I immediately went back and flipped through it again—not because it was so great that I had to experience it again, but because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing pages.  Without a doubt, this is the thinnest issue, plot-wise, that I’ve ever read.  I’ve done some short reviews in my time, but I think this will have to be the shortest because there simply enough material to review.

I want to make it clear from the outset that this doesn’t mean the issue was bad, necessarily, only that it’s grossly inefficient.  The first three pages, for example, are a complete waste, a partial retelling of Cinderella’s original origin story that’s charming, but far less so than what you’ve seen from Disney pictures.  Why Andreyko decided to start here and not with the invigorating sequence of Snow White fending off an assassination attempt by a band of ninja mouse-men is baffling, to say the least.

Fables #135 – Review

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

The Story: Rose realizes that castles don’t just grow on trees.

The Review: It doesn’t take too long in life before you run into that one person who teaches you about the danger of forgiveness, the one who makes you doubt the human capacity for redemption.  That’s the thing about second chances; not everyone makes good on them.  With some people, even third, fourth, fifth, a whole plethora of chances won’t do the trick.  And all the time, the people giving those chances are draining their lives to maintain their faith.

This is the risk of second chances that Rose doesn’t seem to have much appreciation for, which is surprising, considering how long it took and how many disappointments she caused before she finally got her act together.  Perhaps this lack of reflection is caused in part by the people she repeatedly disappointed.  Despite the current acrimony between her and Snow, she says confidently, “…Snow will forgive me eventually.  It’s what she does.”

Fables #133 – Review

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

The Story: Lord help the sister who gets between her and her man.

The Review: The fact that we almost all love a good redemption story attests to our belief in the essential goodness of human beings.  But make no mistake that it is mostly faith that spurs on that belief, and much less in the way of evidence.  Your views on the merits of punishment and rehabilitation often turn on how changeable you feel people can be.  Before one ever get to the redemption stage, one often requires a lot of forgiveness and trust first.

You can see this conflict play out between Rose Red and Snow White as they bicker on the fate of Brandish, someone who both needs serious redemption and for whom redemption seems impossibly out of reach.  Rose is correct in saying that if Brandish can be reformed, then that is incontrovertible proof of the power of second chances.  But can a man who seems to have been a bad egg since childhood (see #132’s matricide), who’s allied with the most purely evil forces in history, who literally has no heart—can such a man even live with himself if he actually develops a conscience?

Fables #132 – Review

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

The Story: Joining the Round Table is a bit like trying out for Glee Club, except less singing.

The Review: I took an Arthurian legend class once, and the one thing I took away from it was how grim most of the stories ended up.  In every version of the Arthurian tales,* Camelot, which stands as a shining city of ideals against the Dark Ages, ultimately falls to mankind’s baser instincts.  The chivalric code and the Round Table are undermined by the fatal flaws of the knights, the court, and Arthur himself.  Virtue crumples in the face of human weakness.

So how shall we take Rose’s big idea to bring back the Round Table and to establish “a new order of knighthood, here at the Farm, dedicated to the ancient ideals of chivalry”?  Given how well that turned out last time, can we possible expect Rose to succeed where King Arthur failed?  Erratic at the best of times, it’s clear she’s working out this plan on the fly, though hopefully inspired by, well, hope.  If Rose has one advantage over the legendary king, it’s a sense of realistic expectations.  Her first table looks more like a setting for an AA meeting than a future Camelot, but, as she points out, “This is a start.”

Fables #129 – Review

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

The Story: With that, Snow officially has the worst love life of all the Fables.

The Review: I find it quite interesting that for this arc, Willingham has chosen Ambrose to narrate the last few issues.  I don’t know if this will be a permanent thing, seeing how his destined role is to judge the past through his journalistic histories, but I do wonder why now, for this particular story?  In some ways, his hindsight vision ends up stealing some of the suspense from the plot, as he hints at the chain of events to come.

Perhaps allowing Ambrose to serve as narrator is an act of compassion on Willingham’s part for a character doomed to be sidelined.  In Ozma’s prophecy, all the Cubs are fated to do great things (and some already have), all but one, who is merely to judge the actions of the rest.  He promise of survival is his doom; he exists to observe, rather than participate, in Fables’ great events.  “My life in a nutshell,” he muses, with no small hint of ruefulness, “insignificant bits and pieces of other stories.”

Fables #128 – Review

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

The Story: It’s sad a woman can’t even depend on her husband to slay her ex-lover anymore.

The Review: What makes a good throwdown?  Two opponents of equal measure, because a one-sided fight just bores everyone.  Some real stakes in the fight, attached to something internal for the characters: pride, honor, vengeance, justice, etc.  Most of all, you want unpredictability.  You want to be shocked and surprised by a turn of events.  You want the things you least expect to happen to actually happen.  If you have all that, it hardly matters who wins or loses.

That doesn’t stop you rooting for one person or another, however.  In the matchup between Bigby and Brandish, I’m sure most of us would place our bets on our favorite big, bad wolf—or at least, we’d like to bet against the fastidious prince.  But I think going into this fight, we know that on a narrative level, the odds are against Bigby.  With an arc centered on Snow, it wouldn’t be right for her husband to swoop in and end the matter, rendering her no more than your typical damsel in distress.  Willingham would never let that happen.

Fables #127 – Review

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

The Story: Just as one marriage is in the works, another begins to show the signs of strain.

The Review: With a run spanning over ten years, Fables has had a lot of time to develop its community dynamic.  The bonds among the various characters have changed since they first began (some multiple times), but by and large, they’ve all grown more intimate and affectionate.  They’ve weathered several wars and quite a few lean years together; that kind of communal suffering breeds familiarity and smooth tensions that make for enduring relationships.

So it’s rather nice to see that with Snow White essentially taken hostage by Prince Brandish (and I’ve decided, for the sake of convenience, to use his true name from now on), all of Fabletown rallies to support her.  Unfortunately, they encounter some unexpectedly strong resistance from Brandish himself, who confounds them on both a legal and magical level.  Far from the demurring fencer he started out as, this Brandish is incredibly cunning—and cruel.

Fables #126 – Review

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

The Story: On the bright side, Snow has a husband willing to wait centuries to get to third base.

The Review: Although soap operas rightfully deserve all the jokes about their various and sundry clichés now, there’s a reason why they continue to have a place in our world, whether you’re talking about our American offerings, your Mexican telenovelas, or Asian dramas.  It’s all about their total fearlessness (or utter lack of taste—call it what you will) when it comes to throwing in plot twists that can upend the entire storyline up to that point.

Such was the case with the last-page revelation we got last issue.  Discovering heretofore unknown spouses is basically the bread and butter of your average soap, no?  Here, however, the nature of Snow’s “marriage” to Holt (or Brandish) is a little more questionable than we were initially led to believe, though Holt takes a rather stunted view of things: “[A] ceremony is meaningless in the high law of our land.  The promise is all that matters.”

Fables #125 – Review

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

The Story: Lord help the pedestrian in the way when Bigby learns to drive stick-shift.

The Review: Being a latecomer to the Fables mythos, I probably don’t have as profound an appreciation for its characters and continuity as I should.  It’s hard to get the real flavor of anything from Wiki summaries alone.  Bu that doesn’t make me any less interested in an arc focused on Snow White.  Given Bigby’s more active personality, Snow can get a little sidelined, so it’s good to shift the focus on the only real contender for Fables’ female lead.

At first, you might be misled into thinking that Bigby’s search for their children will take center stage in this arc.  That kind of quest does seem like the more exciting kind of stuff, after all, and once you add Stinky the Badger for a road trip buddy and the promise of Bigby learning to drive a car (a “terrible day,” Ambrose recalls in his future writings), well—that’s about all you can ask for, right?  Besides, we know from #121 that Bigby’s quest will prove fruitless, so actually finding his kids won’t be the outcome of his story.

Fairest #8 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: And here you thought the most dangerous thing about origami was the paper cuts.

The Review: I consider myself a cautious optimist by nature and practice.  I don’t blind myself to risks, but I tend to bet on the best possible outcome.  With showcase titles, I always look on the next feature with the hope that it’ll be better than the last.  Fairest has so far produced only one complete arc, a harmless but not outstanding affair whose art far surpassed the story.  The standalone that came after, well—I still waver between calling it bad or just mediocre.

But when every new storyline comes attached with a whole new creative team, there’s always a chance a pleasant surprise lies in wait.  Beukes gets your attention right away by setting a trend of defeating expectations.  At first, Rapunzel’s morose opening monologue leads you to believe you’re in for a sizable set-up to a simmering drama, but then the windows burst, showering her and her loyal haircutter Joel with a thousand origami cranes and shards of glass, and you know you’re in for a different kind of treat.

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 #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.

Fables #114 – Review

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

The Story: Now’s the perfect time to say, “Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.”

The Review: Fables has such a huge, sprawling universe, populated with so many prominent characters, even prominent feature characters, that when Willingham chooses to check in with even a handful of them at once, an issue feels more like a series of vignettes than a cohesive story.  This definitely applies when none of the running plotlines seem to mesh together, making you feel more than ever like you’re reading a triple-feature.

For a while now, the title has been simultaneously following the Wolf family as they deal with their inheritance from the North Wind; Bufkin and friends and their revolution in Oz; and the rest of the Fables cleaning up after Mr. Dark’s defeat.  No matter how well Willingham paces himself, he can’t do much to prevent the pace from feeling choppy and sluggish with this kind of format.  This time around, however, he hones in on the Wolf family, with only brief departures, letting your attention stay on one track with few derailments, which is a nice feeling, after all.

As it stands, the Wolfs must face two perils.  The first, more personal and immediate, but of lesser scope, involves Therese and the toy boat she received for Christmas in #112.  At the time, the boat seemed like a cute gag Willingham threw in for fun, but here it seems more malevolent than its primary-colored appearance would have you believe.  Aside from Toy Story characters, most talking inanimate objects bode very badly for their owners.  I must say, too, that for a personification of a fictional concept, Snow White’s a little too dismissive of the idea that a toys can have feelings.

The second peril feels more like a long-term complication, as it has bearing on Winter’s ongoing training to become the new North Wind.  On the one hand, she risks turning into a tyrant and fearmonger like her predecessor (who, despite his redeeming qualities, was a crusty old despot at bottom).  Yet if she manages to avoid that destiny, as Bigby insists she can, she opens herself up to the “ascendancy” of her fellow Cardinal Winds, whatever that entails.  What this means for the balance of power, we can only guess.

Fables #112 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, Dan Green (inkers), Lee Loughridge (colorist)

The Story: Santa, that toy boat better not have my name on it.

The Review: I have quite a few friends of diverse religion and some of no religion at all.  While most of them find the materialistic and holly-jolly parts of Christmas annoying cloying, none of them are untouched by a sincerely given gift, happy holiday wishes, or a good rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  I suspect this holds true for most people; whatever your feelings of the holiday, it’s the time of year when you take comfort in the simple things in life.

So it goes for the exiles of Fabletown, who after a couple years of anxiety and persecution can finally return home and celebrate.  No matter how cynical you may be, I’m sure you can’t begrudge the sweet sight of this motley crew of talking animals and certified weirdos exchanging presents, making merry, and simply enjoying each other’s company.  Seeing them come together like one massive, oddball family reminds you how much they’ve grown over the years.

And speaking of growth, Rose Red does some of that in this issue as she is dragged by a cricket (who remains nameless, so hard to say if he’s the one and only Jiminy) to meet Hope’s other paladins, or at least, the ones who survived.  Seeing the paladins, the hopes they represent, and what they do to enforce them, offers plenty of the clever and compelling interpretations Willingham so excels at.  Santa Claus as the hope for justice?  Brilliant, as is his reasoning: “I reward those who do good punish those who do bad.  That’s the story of justice in a nutshell.”

Not all is fun and games in this Christmas Carol-like journey, however, as you discover that hope isn’t always strictly a positive emotion.  The meeting with the False Bride proves quite grim, a bitter antidote to the silly, even saccharine portions of the issue (including a pretty funny bit where Santa’s reindeer gossip about his having a fling with Rose Red).  Ultimately, the Bride has the most practical advice for Rose’s future career as a paladin, but she also makes it clear that sometimes the most sinister hopes are the ones that have the greatest chance of fulfillment.

Fables #111 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller) Steve Leialoha & Shawn McManus (inkers), Lee Loughridge (colorist)

The Story: Get ready to see who’ll be the new North Wind—he (or she) will blow you away!

The Review: Reading this series occasionally reminds me of something I often wondered when reading Harry Potter: for all the drama going on in the magical world, all the normals just went on their merry way, eating McDonalds and drinking Starbucks without ever becoming aware of the disaster on the verge of crossing over into their lives.  The same goes with the Fables; for all their perils, we really have no idea what tangible effect it’ll have upon the non-fictional world.

Take this choosing of a new North Wind.  The late Mr. North’s servant can talk all he wants about how “Entire worlds can live or die” depending on the choice of successor, but we don’t really know what he means by that.  “Worlds” as in other planets or fictional realms?  Why would the North Wind have such a critical effect on other worlds?  Without that information, it just seems he’s trying to play up the drama since the action is rather clearly lacking here.

At least we have assurance of real drama to come.  Spoiler alert—Winter, by reaching the Homeland of the North, reveals herself as its new “king.”  In some ways, we could have foreseen this; she bears the name of Boreas’ former wife, after all.  But as the most childlike and innocent of the Cubs, she seems totally unfit for the role.  Besides that, there’s the anxious question of how this will affect the family dynamic (aside from Darren’s obvious outrage losing kingship).

Winter’s age and personality also make her peril in her new status all the greater, as the other three cardinal winds don’t look all too enthused about the development either.  Though the East Wind seems conciliatory enough at the event, telling his fellow winds to “Mind the occasion,” don’t forget his earlier remark about the Cubs possibly killing themselves off during the testing: “[T]hat’s fewer we’ll have to winnow out when we’re compelled to step in.”  The West Wind seems determined to step in regardless, saying, “In the end we’ll still have to finish things.”

Fables #110 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha & Shawn McManus (inkers), Lee Loughridge (colorist)

The Story: If you’re an enemy of the state, prepare to be pooped by the Yoop.

The Review: Having multiple running plots can be a handy way to keep your story from stalling in one place too long, but it has its downsides too.  Split them up too much and you have the reader not only regrouping to keep track of them all, but you also risk shortchanging each plotline to the point they only inch forward with each episode.  Even worse is when they all hit that big, fat middle of exposition, which can be deadly in the best circumstances.

That is pretty much the situation Willingham brings upon himself here.  He essentially has four stories going on at once, each pretty much its own thing and not obviously related to the others.  The real problem is they all tend to hit the rises and falls of their action at the same time.  When they reach major turning points, the whole thing sings; when they reach the talky portions of the story, suddenly the whole issue becomes an endless cascade of text.

Fables #109 – Review

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

The Story: Heavy is the crown the king must wear on his noggin—or whatever.

The Review: The last couple arcs spent a lot of time building up the tension for when Mr. Dark would rain down his nightmarish power over all the Fables and destroy them all, or at least most of them.  Since all that anxious anticipation pretty much came to nothing, both for them and for us, it now just seems like the title has been spinning its wheels for a while.  While all their current antics offer the usual good times, you also wonder where the next baddie will come from.

As much as Willingham wants to direct our attention to Nurse Spratt—I mean, Leigh Duglas—the idea of her as the Fables’ newest nemesis seems a major step down from the embodiment of bogey-men everywhere.  It’s obvious she’s determined to improve herself in the art of dastardly dealings (familiarizing herself with poisons and the like), and she briefly mentions that “others” will soon join her in an ostensibly spooky way, but it all seems very mundane and unthreatening.

Also somewhat disappointingly, Rose Red and her scouting team find nothing out of sorts on the Farm.  You’d think they’d run into at least one obligatory mystical trap worthy of a panther, crow, tomcat, and redhead armed with a dagger, but no.  In short, things seem to be going swell for all our Fables at home—meaning some horrible disaster must lurk right around the corner, just out of sight, but that doesn’t really do anything for our suspense in the herenow.

Most of the action comes courtesy of Bufkin et al, still getting up to no good in land formerly known as Oz.  We know they plan to start a revolution and to do it they need to sneak out some of the goodies from a bunker full of the most powerful magical weaponry in the Homelands, but everything in between remains a mystery.  The odds certainly are stacked against them, as before they even take their first step, they run into “the Yoop!  And ravening monkey-eating kalidahs!”

Fables #108 – Review

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

The Story: Oh, they just can’t wait to be king!

The Review: If you have a series that reaches a hundred issues, and haven’t accumulated a whole slew of engaging, enjoyable characters by then, you’ve done something wrong.  Not so for Willingham, whose epic title has a cast to beat the band.  With such a huge stable to choose from, yielding an endless combination of backgrounds and personalities, it’s quite possible that Fables will never run out of stories to tell.

Of course, the emotional center of all these characters is Bigby Wolf and Snow White, who, after a close save from the armies of Mr. Dark in the previous story arc, now have to face something of a family crisis.  The loss of Bigby’s dad left a major vacancy in the hierarchy of winds, and unless someone fills it soon, things are liable to get ugly, fast.  And so the servants of the late North Wind turn to the Cubs, young and unspoiled enough to take the position with honor.

Thankfully, Willingham doesn’t give too much focus to this question of succession, allowing the family some time to express their mix of emotions at the North Wind’s passing.  Among the Cubs, Darien is unsurprisingly more fixated on the idea of becoming king, much to the chagrin of his siblings, while Ambrose mournfully reminisces on all the good times they had with their “Grampaw.”  Sweetly sincere, these scenes offer an important glimpse into Mr. North’s soft side.

Cinderella: Fables Are Forever #4 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Shawn McManus (artist), Lee Loughridge (colors)

The Story: This time, Cinderella’s taking the catfight straight to Dorothy’s face.

The Review: Fables has sprung off a lot of quality spin-offs since its conception, but none have quite the pure, unadulterated fun of the mash-up between Cinderella and James Bond.  Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love had such a strong execution of the idea that it was a pity it existed only as a limited series.  How great it is then to get another glimpse into the covert operations of Cindy—and with an even more apt title.

By now, every Fables writer has gotten to be an expert at taking our friendly, familiar fairy tales and turning them on their heads.  Roberson’s portrayal of Dorothy Gale as a professional hit woman works not only because of its twistedness, but also because of how much sense it makes when you consider the implications of her background.  After all, she was pretty much hired to assassinate the Wicked Witch; that she grew to love it shouldn’t be too implausible.

Cindy’s longstanding rivalry of sorts with Dorothy also gives us a welcome look into the former soot-covered girl’s history beyond her sordid affair with Prince Charming.  Whether she’s acting the bimbo in Fabletown or showing her real steel, Cindy’s kind of an oddball among the Fables. so it’s nice to see that in her world of allegorical espionage, she has a few counterparts—though lacking her fair appearance and disposition.

Fables #104 – Review

By: Bill Willingham (writer), Mark Buckingham (penciller), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inkers), Lee Loughridge (colorist)

The Story: It’s up to one team of super Fables to defeat the dastardly Mister Dark—provided Boy Blue doesn’t come back to life and do it himself.

The Review: Jumping onto an ongoing title can be quite daunting, especially with one such an immensely packed history and cast as Fables.  The best way to handle the plunge is simply to roll with whatever the jump-on issue gives you, use a liberal amount of Wikipedia, and try to absorb as much as possible the most important points of the current running plot.  As an English major, I always wanted to give Fables a read, and this issue just happened to be my pick to start.

Of course, a strong, careful writer like Willingham can make things easier simply by delivering the story and characters as clearly as possible, which he does very well.  The first few pages quickly introduce you to the heroes of the moment, the band of warrior Fables known as the F-Men, and their foe in question, the formidable—scratch that—all-powerful Mister Dark.

This issue emphasizes just how dire the situation is for the fairy tale citizens, as every one of them works with the expectation that failure is the likeliest outcome.  Willingham underscores this point with both the F-Men, who become increasingly portrayed like the Fables’ Suicide Squad, and Brock Blueheart’s insistent preaching of Boy Blue’s resurrection as their savior in need.  These are characters that are facing their doom the only way we know how: struggling to the last for survival, and praying for miracles.