Fables, Vol. 6: Homelands
Writer: Bill Willingham
Penciler: David Hahn, Mark Buckingham, and Lan Medina
Inkers: David Hahn, Steve Leiahola, Dan Green
Colorist: Dan Vozzo
Letterer: Todd Klein
Cover: James Jean
Issues: 34-41
Price: $14.99
This trade, again, covers multiple stories, though in a slightly different way. The first story is on its own, then there is the titular story which is interrupted by an interlude done in one. I will cover the interlude a little in the “Homelands” discussion and more in its own section.
“Jack be Nimble”
This is an interesting two part arc focusing on Jack after he leaves Fabletown. Remember, he left at the same time as Snow and Bigby. It serves three purposes. The first is to set up his spin off series that is still a couple trades of at this point. The second is to give small ideas as to the future of Fabletown. The last is to explore the popularity equals immortality idea again.
Basically, Jack steals a portion of the Bluebeard fortune and goes to Hollywood to found his own production company. The sole purpose of the company is to create three films about his exploits which will result in increased popularity and, thus, increased strength.
This creates the surface level immortality idea. These three films are designed as blockbusters. They are supposed to rival Lord of the Rings for popularity. Ultimately, they succeed. And Jack shows himself to be clever in the way in which he creates them. He takes no visible role in them. He is the mysterious Jack Trick who nobody sees. This gives a certain amount of mystery to his movies while also making sure that he is not potentially revealing the existence of the Fables. He also realizes that these movies have to be about his concept more than him. This is why he casts a big name in the role. This is why he makes them more epic than his actual story (see the description of the third movie). It serves to bolster his idea and not draw fame to him. It, of course, also serves to make him a lot of money.
The future of Fabletown is seen when he is caught. This story takes a couple of years. When Jack is caught, Beast shows up. He is more confident and has learned how to intimidate. He is still the sheriff. We now know that he, at least, stays in his position for the next two or three years. This also means he doesn’t get permanently killed in this amount of time. Two other characters get the same treatment. Fly and Grimble are both seen at the end, as are the Fabletown apartments. These characters survive and keep their jobs. If the adversary attacks in this in-between time, it is not as devastating as the last one. Also, we see an answer to how Fabletown can continue with a limited, albeit large, bank account after these years. Beast secures interest in Jack’s company as he kicks Jack out.
The final frames of Jack, with him on the road, is the set up for his new series. Anything can happen as he sets out into the world.
One last thing to note is the introduction of another character, Jill. She is one of the smalltown Fables confined to the Farm and wanted to escape and see the world. She winds up trapped with Jack because she cannot risk revealing the existence of the Fables and, more importantly, because she would probably die upon setting out into the dangers of the mundane world. Ultimately she betrays Jack, the one part of his scheme that failed. I don’t know if she pops up again, but I could see her taking a roll in Beast’s espionage forces, in the same way that the Mouse Police worked for Prince Charming. As a side note, I did like the idea of her multiple mansions that Jack bought for her.
“Homelands”
This is the main story. We saw Boy Blue steal the Witching Cloak and the Vorpal Blade in the last arc, now we see why. He has left to save Pinnochio, Red Riding Hood (the real one), and Gepetto while killing the Adversary. This arc serves to catapult the story foreword by showing us who the adversary is and what his plans are. It also serves to explain the Fable worlds and how they work and to throw in some major character twists.
First off, here we see a new side of Boy Blue. We’ve seen him as a soldier before, but never in extended combat. Here, we see his training come out. We also see his determined nature and his resourcefulness. He will not give up his objectives, even after getting captured. Also, he takes every advantage he can find on his journey to the Adversary’s palace. The way he kills the dragon is an impressive bit of ingenuity. We also see his faith in his friends. He trusts Pinnochio enough to leave him behind when he could have scooped him up and teleported him back to Fabletown with he and Red. The other nice moment in here is his explanation to Red of why she has to come with him. The last two times he has met her, she has not actually been herself and he did not know that. Now, whether she likes it or not, she is involved in the mess that he has made and will be killed if left behind. So he takes her back to an incredibly awkward situation. And it is shown to pay off in the end.
What I find most interesting, though, is the revelation that the Adversary is Gepetto. For one, we were led to believe the Adversary was his own Fable. For another, Gepetto does not seem to be the conquering type. But it had to be a popular Fable, in retrospect, because of his longevity. It becomes even more interesting when we see the conspiracy he was caught up in and the fact that he continued the charade not just to save his skin, but to help people. His vision just got warped and out of hand. It is a nice, logical explanation for a character who was built up to be the ultimate evil. I also like his characterization, he is this sweet old man that has gotten used to being mostly in control.
The other major character in the Empire that we are introduced to is the Snow Queen. She is the second in command, the analogue to Snow White’s old position. We don’t get a lot at this point, she seems to be the intelligent evil, and that is about it. I do like the scene with her walking down the road, it is a nice reflection of her primal power.
The other revelation in the book is a smaller one. We see that Boy Blue didn’t betray Fabletown. He instead acted in conjunction with Prince Charming to find out more about the Adversary. He was agreeing to this as means to his own ends, but he wasn’t betraying the trust of Fabletown. This is eluded to in the interlude and confirmed later on. It is interesting that Prince Charming is the only one to know of the mission. This sets up a dynamic in the office in which he has his own secrets and espionage and Beast has his and they both share some. At some point, I see this all collapsing.
And we get an interesting display of Frau Totenkinder’s power. She has contacts within the Homelands. This has several interesting implications. After all, she needs to be able to communicate with them to find out about Blue’s capture. This would imply gateway access or incredibly powerful magics.
Pinnochio’s character arc is made more interesting by this arc. He is suddenly loyal to his father. Part of it is the newly modified Blue Fairy juices. Part of it is the loss he experienced. But he is conflicted. He is still loyal to his friends after all. It will be interesting to see how this continues.
The last major thing is the makeup of the worlds. We see that they are not all joined as one world, but rather several connected to each other and ours with portals. The method of passage is finally cleared up. It does raise a question, however: why do Mundies never find the gates? This will probably be explained at some point, but it makes our world an equal to each of there’s and yet we power them. It is an interesting start to defining the cosmology.
“Interlude: Meanwhile”
This one shot does several things. First off, it anchors “Homelands” in time, so that we don’t need another arc to show how time was spent while Blue was away. Beyond that it gives two vital plots and some interesting new characterization for Prince Charming.
The self contained plot deals with finding a traitor in Fabletown. It turns out Trusty John, the doorman, has been informing on Fabletown since his master recontacted him. He is compelled to do so by his very nature, literally unable to do otherwise because his first oath to his master takes precedence over later oaths. It creates a sad end for one of the series’ background characters. The story serves to introduce us to Kay now with eyes. Beast knew that he could find traitors with a simple walk this way. It will be interesting to see this used in the future. Especially when Bigby returns.
The plot that will be continuing after this deals with Mowgli, one of Bigby’s tourists. The most interesting characterization we see for him is his relationship with Baghera and Baloo. They are his family and he would do anything for them. It is this that Prince Charming exploits. He needs Mowgli, one of the best trackers in the world, to find Bigby. In return, Prince Charming will pardon Baghehra for the part he played in the Farm rebellion. This gives a way for Bigby to reenter the fold without violently storming the Farm.
We see more of Prince Charming. He is crippled by doubt. He is having nightmares. At the same time, he is playing at being a spymaster and plotting an invasion of the Homelands. He is being shown to be a good planner, but a very poor manager. I am wondering what he is up to. It seems like ever since arriving in the first arc he has had a plan that is more than just getting money.
Thats al until next time.
]]>Fables: Vol 5, The Mean Seasons
Writer: Bill Willingham
Pencillers: Mark Buckingham and Tony Akins
Inkers: Steve Leialoha and Jimmy Palmiotti
Colorist: Daniel Vozzo
Letterer: Todd Klein
Covers: James Jean
Issues: 22, 28-23
Price: $14.99
This volume constitutes three arcs, so they will be discussed individually.
“Cinderella Libertine”
This one-shot finally gives us a good look at the last of Prince Charming’s wives: Cinderella. It does a good job of summing up the character in two actions. The first is the meeting of her, Briar, and Snow. This shows the differences in each one, both by social circle and by general attitude. Cinderella is the more uncouth of the three. She curses a lot, talks sex in a blunt manner, and exaggerates her position in life. However, her deception of Ichabod Crane shows her guile and inteligence. It also finally introduces us to the first of Bigby’s tourists.
Ichabod’s death does raise a question, however. With the corpses that were dumped into the well, we knew they were contained if the got better. With Ichabod, he was left for the mundy’s. He could very well survive because of his popularity, if the fable theory on that is right. While he is still alive, his talk of ealy life in Fabletown gives an interesting history to it. I like that the politics have not been static, they have evolved gradually with certain people coming and going.
The art is a good choice for the issue. It’s light style compliments Cinderella’s personality nicely. The only issue I have with it is the way Bigby is drawn. There is something odd about his face.
Other than that, the only issue I had with the story is its inclusion in this collection. It takes place before the battle with the wooden soldiers and would have served as a good introduction to the concept of traitor fables (as it did in single issues). This would have made the threat of Pinocchio changing sides a little more present. And it is jarring when considering the end of the last trade. Bigby and Snow White are talking and Snow’s water breaks an then… Bigby’s in France?
“War Stories”
This has the same effect for me, timing wise. Snow is in labor and Bigby is talking to a war buddy. It works in the timeline, so it isn’t as much of an issue.
Anyway, tis two issue arc serves to fill in the story of Bigby in WWII. In it, we find out that Bigby lied about revealing himself and we get introduced to Frankenstein’s monster.
This is a fairly simple war/ espionage story. What it does best is add to Bigby as a character and explain how he could be involved in the war. After all, he couldn’t have really signed up with the Army. Medical tests would have probably shown him to be odd even if he had a valid American identity. It is nice to see that the Sheriff will break the rules of Fabletown for the good of a few Mundy’s. The soldiers he saved are not people he necessarily got to know well, but they needed help and he broke the rules to give it to them. It will be interesting to see if the book that his friend wrote will come to light down the line. Or if some old German will have told tales of that battle.
The arc also makes me wonder if Frankenstein and his Monster are Fables or if they are Mundy’s. It would make sense that the Monster would live while Frankenstein would die. The Monster’s popularity is, after all, stronger.
It is interesting to note the storage method for the Monster. His head is detached and he lives in the office. It is an interesting parallel to the wooden soldiers. At the same time, it shows the dangers of Fables being involved in Mundy conflicts. They can be caught on different sides of the battle and inadvertently reveal the existence of the community. After all, the German’s knew of Frankenstein and there were whispers of the American Wolf Man.
“The Mean Seasons”
This four part arc is our fast forward. Each issue is a season. In it, we see the birth of the six(seven) cubs and the results of the election. We also get introduced to Bigby’s father. The arc’s story centers around Prince Charming’s team struggling to run Fabletown and Snow dealing with kids. It also sees both Snow and Bigby leave Fabletown.
Bigby takes off into the unknown. However, he does so with a warning. Eventually, he will want to see his children and once he decides to come see them, nothing will stop him. The children have to live on the farm, as they do not look human and Bigby is not allowed there. Of course, an out is given at the end of the arc. Bigby’s father will teach the children to shapeshift. Bugby never learned in order to spite his father. This advancement of Bigby’s character is interesting. We’ve seen that he will break the rules for the good of others. Now we see that he will also break them for his family.
Snow, meanwhile, goes to the farm. She raises the kids and the most defining moment for her comes in the final two scenes. Throughout the ac something has been killing Fables by suffocating them. Bigby’s father says it is a zephyr. It turns out that it is Snow’s seventh child. There is a powerful moment when she sends it away, telling it to find Bigby. It is made all the more touching when she sets out an extra cake for it on the children’s birthday. The fact that she is willing to break the rules of punishment as well as not disclosing what she knows says a lot about her.
King Cole gets a lot of characterization as he leaves office. He is struck dumb by the fact that he lost. After all, he wasn’t a bad leader. Throughout the rest of the arc, he is in a state of shock. He had believed himself to be running things smoothly, even though it was his staff taking care of things.
Prince Charming takes a different approach. He wants to be more active in government. He realizes, quickly, that the job is more than he thought it would be. As does the rest of his staff. The crowning moment for this being Frau Totenkinder telling him that she could not keep his promise. However, Beast seems to be coming into his own as sheriff. He makes his mistakes, but he is starting to ease into the job a bit more than Beauty or Prince by the end.
One of the most interesting developments is learning about FLycatcher. He is duty-bound to be the janitor in Fabletown for minor infractions. When he is let go, he is duty bound to go find his wife and child. This adds to the dynamic of the group of three that had formed (Him, Blue, and Pinocchio). They all have a deep sorrow that they hide, it is an interesting bond in the way they hide it.
This arc sets up quite a few later arcs. Prince Charming starts contemplating war. Bigby has to return at some point. Boy Blue leaves with the Witching Cloak and Pinocchio’s body. Fly has his duty. Somebody has stolen a bunch of money from Bluebeard’s stores. This arc effectively sets a new status quo and seeds future arcs.
I have to make a comment on one area of artwork. When the children start floating, it seems as though Buckingham is channeling Terry Moore in the way he draws Snow. It is a beautiful page.
Thats all for now.
]]>Fables: Vol 4, March of the Wooden Soldiers
Writer: Bill Willingham
Penciler: Mark Buckingham
Inks: Steve Leialoha and Mark Buckingham
Covers: James Jean
Issues: 19-21 and Last Castle (reread elsewhere)
Price: $17.95
This arc starts with Red Riding Hood returning from the Homelands and ends with the beginnings of the Adversary’s invasion of the Fabletown. It is the first battle in the war to come and it is very nicely executed.
First off, our character arcs continue to develop. Bigby and Snow’s relationship is on the rocks at the beginning, but that sorts itself out in the end, when Bigby returns from closing the open gate to the Homelands. In his return, we also continue to see why he is intimidating, as he destroys the last remaining wooden soldiers. Also, the revelations of his view on defending the US are an interesting idea that goes well with the wars he fought in. We also get the mysterious hints of a darker past. Snow’s strength is seen in her ability to strategize, and to do so without the aide of Bigby.
Prince Charming is shown to be the leech that he has been all along. I enjoyed his statement about how politics is just a romance with a lot of people. When paired with his comment from the last trade about how he is not good at maintaining a relationship, it makes me wonder how long his term as mayor could last. At the same time, we see again that the Mayor is not a terribly effective leader and that Snow should be in charge. It would probably be harder to get the signatures if that were the case.
Boy Blue’s tragedy from Last Castle continues as Riding Hood turns out to be Baba Yagga. His hands are destroyed by her interrogations, leading him to wonder if he will ever play again. At the same time, we see the slight conflict in his character as his friends try to console him. He has been a childlike character since leaving the homelands, effectively burying this past that has com back to haunt him. In the same way, Pinnochio’s character has deepened. He wants to find his father and protect Fabletown. The wooden soldiers offer the ability to do both. His ‘death’ is an interesting turn. The developments of these two characters leads me to wonder what will happen with Flycatcher, the last of the trio.
We also get a new character in play. Frau Totenkinder, the witch we saw interviewed in the first trade, now comes into the spotlight. She is powerful enough to challenge Baba Yagga and calls into doubt the way in which a Fable’s immortality and power is generated. After all, she only appeared in one story.
The story itself sets up Riding Hood as a tool of the Adversary rather quickly. It works, though, in that the reader sees how she is able to do things with the (almost) full knowledge of who she is. The more important element is the addition of the nearly unstoppable wooden soldiers. The battle against them is hard fought, resulting in the deaths of several minor characters we had previously been introduced to. This sets up a strong opponent for Fablekind.
We also see a little bit more of the political issue side of things in this arc. Snow’s reaction to the idea of abortion is one of the obvious instances. She recoils, stating that she has not gone native and that she still recognizes the responsibilities that she has. It is an interesting statement, that, while it fits the character, also speaks to the author’s ideas. It is more interesting, in that the pregnancy is the result of a dual rape scenario in which neither party consented to sex. This seems to be the perfect case for abortion. Another obvious item is the family that watches the wooden soldiers march by. Here we see the amusement of the author at demonstrations and the stereotypes about demonstrators. We also see his reaction to those who give conservative people a bad name. The last political issue is that of the lack of preparedness for an emergency situation. The Fables became lax and did not know how to react. It shows that not preparing for attack, even if it is believed that the attack will not come, invites disaster. These are all inserted into the story in a way that fits the universe and dose not remove the reader from the story, but they are interesting to consider, both for their places in and out of the narrative.
Well, thats all for this one. Until the next volume.
]]>Fables: The Last Castle
Writer: Bill Willingham
Pencilers: Craig Hamilton and P. Craig Russel
Inker: P. Craig Russel
Covers: James Jean
OGN
Price: $5.95
Also Included in Fables Vol. 4, March of the Wooden Soldiers
This is the story of the last battle in the Homelands that any Fables returned from. The framing structure shows it to be Boy Blue relating the tale to Snow White.
Fist off, I am going to look at the art. Both artists are amazing and I think they work really well together. This is helped by Russel pulling inking duties as well. The story works better because of the slightly different line work in their styles. The flashback that comprises the bulk of the story is separated just enough to be distinct from the ‘present’ time, while also looking similar enough that the reader is not pulled out of the story. I am also interested in the fact that some of the pages have both artists’ work on them. Stories tat call for this always interest me on a purely mechanical level.
The story itself is a pretty standard tragedy that serves to deepen our understanding of some characters, the most obvious being Boy Blue, who I will discuss last. Bluebeard is seen here to be an ass, as he always is, but we get to see that he was knowingly putting himself in harm’s way. This adds a good degree of depth to a character who has been a coward throughout the rest of the Fables story. At the same time, he is not willing to stay for longer than he has to. Essentially, he has courage enough to get himself there and indebt a number of Fables to him. Prince Charming, however, is ever the coward. He will not stay and uses a woman he plans to divorce to get out. Neither of these characters has changed much in the time they have spent in the mundane world.
Boy Blue is the character to whom we see a lot of depth added. Before this moment, he was a childlike character. We saw his humorous side, but not his serious side. Now we know why he plays the blues. The statement about the Harlem clubs is really telling, as he has more of an entitlement to the ideas of that music than possibly anyone else playing in the clubs. After all, he lost his great love and watched all of his friends die. In this one story, we see him a the strongest character in Fabletown because he has suffered so much and also because he wanted to be on the field, ensuring that the last boat got out, but instead he was ordered to leave, to bear witness to the slaughter of his friends.
This also serves to show a separation in Fabletown. There are those who got out early and those who got out at the last moment. The bond that creates this separation is one that cannot be broken. What is interesting to note is who is not at the gathering. Neither Bluebeard or Prince Charming are there. This was put out before Bluebeard died, so I would assume that it takes place before then. He is a special case, as he was not a defender. This leads me to believe that his status of being on the first boat out may not have been as assured, since he did not have the attachment to the defenders. It could also serve to demonstrate the way in which he insulates himself from the rest of the community. At the same time, Prince Charming’s absence can be accounted for by two things. The first being that he generally doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and thus would not attend the gathering. The other being that he had not yet gotten back to town. The framing allows for this story to have been told at any time. Of course, it could also be that the frame was too small and that they were off panel.
This also serves as another look at the adversary’s forces. Here we see the scope of them and we get an indication of the progress of the war. The return that we saw in the last trade would not have been possible at this point. Also, by the scope of the forces, we see that the adversary is bringing his armies to bear on the last remaining forces of opposition. I also find it interesting that the forces are comprised mostly of the monsters in the tales, all of the goblins. These nameless, endless hordes that are present in many tales.
Anyway, that is the end of this post. Until Wooden Soldiers…
]]>Fables: Vol 3, Storybook Love
Writer: Bill Willingham
Pencilers: Mark Buckingham, Lan Medina, Bryan Talbot, Linda Medley
Inkers: Steve Leialoha, Craig Hamilton, Bryan Talbot, Linda Medley
Colorist: Daniel Vozzo
Letterer: Todd Klein
Covers: James Jean, Aron Wiesenfeld
Issues: 11-18
Price: $14.95
I’m going to handle the discussion of this trade a little differently. There are four stories (Two one offs, a two parter, and the main ‘Storybook Love’ arc) in this one, so I’m going to discuss them independently of each other.
First up is ‘Bag ‘o Bones.’
This story focuses on Jack after he came into the Mundane world. He has joined the Confederate army so that he can become a hero and marry into wealth. He realizes that this wasn’t a good idea when they start loosing and he deserts. First, he plays poker against the Devil and gets a bag of holding. Then he stumbles across a ‘cursed’ house, in which the last member of the estate, a beautiful woman, lays paralyzed in her bed, waiting for death. In order to gain her favor and get laid, he captures death. This results in nothing dying (a bad thing during a war) and thus, Jack frees death.
It is a simple story with great art by Bryan Talbot. The most interesting thing about it, in my opinion, is the appearance of the Devil. It is not said whether or not he is a fable. So this either shows a theist leaning in the universe, or shows religious tales to have happened in the Fable homeworld as well. It would be interesting to see this addressed again. Similarly, I wonder if death is a fable or if he exists across all of the realms in this universe. His does answer the question of whether this is in anyway connected to the DC/Vertigo universe, firmly separating it. This was pretty abundantly clear from the setting and tone before, but this acknowledges a different cosmology.
Also of note is the further building of Jack as a character. We see his ability to cheat and the way he does not consider the outcome of what he’s doing. It is stuff we have already seen before, but we get an idea of the extent of his inability to plan with each new story.
Next is the two part “A Sharp Operation.”
This focuses on an operation to suppress a journalist’s story about Fabletown being a group of immortal vampires. The art team is the same as the first story arc, and it fits well with the tone of the story. The gritty espionage tale is well serviced by Medina’s more scratchy pencils.
This story has a lot of interesting characterization. We see Bigby as a mastermind (again) and as a truly intimidating individual (at least to the fables at large). We see Bluebeard as a manipulative coward who can only truly do things the easy way. We see Jack as resourceful, he actually has a successful plan. We see Boy Blue as a more childlike character. These further what we already know, but build the relationships between these characters. The animosity between Bigby and Bluebeard is a significant idea throughout this volume.
And the story has a fun quality to it because of its black sense of humor. The most obvious example of this is Jack’s solution involving Pinochio. There is something disturbingly humorous about this perpetually young character going along with sexual blackmail.
Next up: “Storybook Love”, a four part arc.
This arc focuses on a plot by Goldilocks and Bluebeard to kill Snow and Bigby. It also looks at the relationship between Prince Charming and Bluebeard.
This furthers three characters and removes two. Snow and Bigby’s relationship gets helped along when Bluebeard compels them to spend some time in the forest together. This leads to an interesting conversation that ties into the short story at the end of volume one. Apparently Snow is Bigby’s true love in the way that wolves determine these things, essentially he can’t ignore her scent. I also like the fact that Bigby’s smoking habit is explained here as a way to block out the scents of the city and kep from going insane. Prince Charming gets a little bit more noble, in that he stands up for Snow. This is tarnished when it is revealed that he is mostly standing up to Bluebeard for the money.
The characters that are removed are Bluebeard and Goldilocks. They are conspiring to kill Bigby and Snow, respectively. The reasons for this have been shown through earlier arcs. It is interesting to note the difficulty of killing each of them. Bluebeard is a relative unknown in the mundy world, thus he can be stabbed and it is over. With Goldilocks, however, she is thrown off a motorcycle, has a hatchet embedded in her head, and is hit by a semi. That is not necessarily assumed to do the trick. This emphasizes the ideas presented by Rose in the last trade.
This arc also shows the state of the fable government. When Snow and Bigby leave, the Mayor becomes worried. He may actually have to make some decisions. Boy Blue is essentially the only character around that can run the government. The true nature of the government is shown, however, after Price Charming kills Bluebeard. When he explains to the Mayor that the town will get all of Bluebeard’s money and magics, the Prince’s crimes are essentially washed away. They put on a show trial before Snow and Bigby can get back to investigate. Of course, with the Prince now seeking election, this could bite ing Cole in the ass.
The big plot point for this arc happens at the end, however. Snow is pregnant and Bigby knew about it because of his senses. After their relationship seemed to be moving in the right direction, it now seems to be grinding to a halt. And with a possible change in administration, where will that leave them?
The final story in the trade is “Barleycorn Brides.”
This is a short tale explaining a Lilliputan tradition that serves to give us a glimpse at the homelands. Essentially, a Lilliputan expeditionary force goes to meet the adversary’s forces, realizes that they would be crushed (literally) and joins the fable refugees leaving for the mundane world. This force is all male and, when they set up on the Farm, they grow depressed as there are no women for them. Matters become worse when Thumbelina arives. Now there is one woman to all the men. But one Lilliputan decides to go get the magical barleycorn jar from which Thumbelina was hatched. When he succeeds, everyone is happy and babies can be made. Now whenever a Lilliputan reaches manhood, they attempt to steal a barleycorn from Fabletown.
The most interesting thing in this story was the scene with the bear. Here we see a member of the Adversary’s forces that joined so that he could be left alone and because he had no place else to go. Of course, once he does have someplace to go, he leaves. This says a lot about the adversary’s forces. They are cobbled together from goblins and fable defectors. These defectors are not necessarily reliable. Of course, this could just be the Adversary planting agents in the mundane world.
Thats all for Storybook Love.
]]>I have completed the second volume of Fables, Animal Farm. These early volumes are especially short. Spoilers to follow.
Fables: Vol. 2, Animal Farm
Writer: Bill Willingham
Penciler: Mark Buckingham
Inker: Steve Leialoha
Colorist: Daniel Vozo
Letterer: Todd Kleinn
Covers: James Jean
Issues: 6-10
Price: $12.95
In this story, we take a trip to the more absurd area of the Fables world: the Farm. This is where all of the Fables who cannot pas as human live. And they are not allowed to leave. It is this that spurs them to rebel against the Fable government in an attempt to return to the Homelands and push back the Adversary.
I’m going to start by discussing the art this time. Here is the first appearance of our ‘regular’ series artist. And this is where we start to see the style of art that is typical of this book for me. It anchors the Fables in the real world, but it doesn’t hold so much to the need to be realistic that the shadows can’t be awkwardly placed or the faces a little out of proportion. These are still characters that we can take seriously, but they have a quality to their appearance that betrays their fantastic nature. At the same time, the animal Fables, specifically the pigs and bears, have faces that portray emotion without being cartoons. It is a rare artist that can pull this off, but Buckingham does.
And it is needed for this story. Legends in Exile had the task of making us believe that fairy tale characters can exist in New York. This volume has the task of making us believe that talking pigs, tigers, and bears can exist in upstate New York and form a functional, hidden society. Willingham does this with his plot and continued world building, but I’m not sure we would have cared as much without Buckingham’s pencils. The look on Colin’s face when he is turned into the Lord of the Flies has such impact not because of the level of gory detail (it’s carried out more respectfully than most comic book deaths) but rather because of the shadows and expression.
The plot of this arc focuses on an uprising at the Farm. Snow White and Rose Red take a routine trip to check on the Farm and stumble into the rebellion. Over the course of the story, we find out that the rebellion has been taken over, if not started by, Goldilocks as a way for her to gain control of the Fable community and ensure that the Farm residents are treated as equals to those of the City residents. Rose ‘joins’ the rebels to preserve her and Snow’s life while Snow joins up with the dissenting voice of the Farm population. They put down the rebellion with the help of the sleeping giants and a dragon. Snow White is shot and survives only because of her popularity in the mundane world. The ringleaders of the rebellion are executed and Goldilocks escapes.
It is one of these last points that most interests me. The fact that Snow survives due to her popularity among the Mundies (us). This makes for an interesting idea. Those that are present in Pop Culture are damned near immortal (Snow White, Goldilocks, the Big Bad Wolf, etc) those that aren’t are very killable (Rose, Bluebeard, Cock Robin). This adds an interesting dynamic to the mix. In the case of the rebellion, those that were most likely to survive no matter the result are spearheading it. But they can be replaced. This is seen with the three little pigs. THe mundane world needs their existence, but they don’t have to be Dun, Posey, and Colin. This makes it a slight bit more dangerous to be a more ‘annonymous’ Fable.
Goldilocks, of course, doesn’t have the anonymity problem. She is the only person that can be her in the story. This would make her more likely to take risks, so she is a logical choice to lead a violent revolution. Her relationship with animals makes her political stance likely, as well. What intrigues me most is that this is one of the few times we ever see Willingham’s political beliefs peek through and it is in no way detrimental to the story. The portrayl of Goldilocks pokes fun at many liberal PC movements. However, it also fits into the story and creates a compelling mouthpiece to show the extreme side of a real problem in the Fables world and because of this, shows the absurditiy of militants more than anything else.
And it is her approach to ‘solving’ the equality issue that brings up the central cautionary issue. After all, an arc called Animal Farm would just seem incomplete if it didn’t caution against a political action. In this case following a passionate leader in an unquestioning manner. The pigs may have started off innocently enough, but they traded one human looking leader for another. This was one of their issues, but given the chance to rectify it, they gave control to Goldilocks, with her charismatic personality. This probably has something to do with it being published soon after 9/11. The interesting thing is, that it shows the difficulty of government and warns against destroying the imperfect system as well. We are cautioned to choose who we follow and encouraged to work within the system.
This arc does further our understanding of the characters. We see Rose Red as being more street smart in her ability to trick the rebels. At the same time, she begins taking rebonsibility that she is not known for in two actions: dumping Jack and taking over the Farm. We see Snow losing her naiveté that being the prototypical good girl gives her. She sees the eventual war and she sees that the system she embraces is not helping everyone equally. These two are our primary characters and there relationship is complicated by the attempted killing of SNow. It is interesting to see the jealousy over a popularity that actually matters. Bigby, Bluebeard, and Prince Charming all keep to the background. But we do have Boy Blue coming somewhat out of the shadows and the introduction of the Wayward Knight. His prophecies seem to predict the farm and something more later on down the road.
That coming war takes more of a forefront in our minds with Snow’s request to Weyland Smith as well. She sees preparation for war as a necessary action. The Fables need to maintain what they have, but prepare to take back what they lost at the same time. But we get no further hints about the Homelands. After all, it is an interesting consideration that if Snow White can take a bullet to the head, that other Fables that did not make it out could have taken much more.
Until Vol 3, Story Book Love.
]]>I’ve also seen quite a few people chronicling their rereads, thus I am inspired to do the same. The most common of these seems to be Watchmen, one issue at a time, at the moment. The most amazing is Cerebus, being done in its entirety (300 issues), one issue a day. I don’t have the patience to do a one issue a day deal, so I’m doing a one trade whenever I finish it deal.
And I have finished my reread of Legends in Exile. Be warned, there are spoilers from here on.
Fables: Legends in Exile
Writer: Bill Willingham
Penciler: Lan Medina
Inkers: Steve Leiloha and Craig Hamilton
Colorist: Sherilyn van Valkenburgh
Letter: Todd Klein
Covers: James Jean and Alex Maleev
Issues: 1-5
Price: $9.95
This first story arc is a murder mystery. When I first read it, I was struck by how good an idea it was to use a murder mystery to set up an ensemble cast. You get introduced to the world and the tensions between characters. It still works incredibly well. But it does seem a little flat knowing what comes after. That said, its still far better than most of what is out there.
Bill Willingham faces an interesting challenge with this series. He has to take the high concept of ‘Fairy tale characters live in New York’ and make it not seem contrived. He also has to give us characters with more dimension than fairy tale/ Disney movies give us.
He is very successful at the first. Our opening scene, Snow White dealing with government issues concerning Beauty and the Beast, sets up the world in a very easy conversation. It is here that we learn that the Fables (those fairy tale characters) are living in secret. They have their own government and policies to keep them from being discovered. Their most important law is that no Fable will do anything to reveal their existence. We also learn why they are here. They were chased from their kingdoms by an invading army centuries previous. This is referenced throughout, but it is not the main plot, yet. This is the background. This is the reasoning on which our suspension of disbelief relies. This is our world, with one minor change that we could, potentially, not notice.
On the second point, he is less successful. The characters still feel largely archetypal, with a few exceptions. That said, he is setting up a large cast. Those few characters he does focus on long enough feel fleshed out and the ones he spends only a short time on are given enough hooks to keep us interested in them. I am disappointed, however, that we do not learn more about our murder ‘victim’ in this volume. But I’ll get to that later.
One of the firs things I noticed when I opened this volume was the difference in art styles from the later books. Lan Medina had a good solid style, but it is different in both the use of line and the panel flow. His line work has much more of a rough edge to it than that of Mark Buckingham, the regular series artist after this point. His art serves to ground the story in our world, in that it has a more realistic feel to it. This helps in buying the concept as serious. But, as unfair as it is to compare him to the artist who defines the series for me, his style simply doesn’t allow me to buy the fantastical quality of the book at this point.
As I said before, the story focuses on a murder mystery (last chance to leave if you haven’t read the arc) that centers on the supposed death of Rose Red, the sister of Snow White, as investigated by Bigby Wolf. I find these character choices an interesting starting point for the series. I didn’t know who Rose Red was before coming into this series. I haven’t read the original Hans Christian Andersen tales. I think that presenting the less known character in the story as having been killed is an interesting one. Rose Red is not part of the pop culture hive-mind that Snow White is. She has effectively been killed by the disney movie. The difference in tone is also noted in the reference to the Seven Dwarves on pages 12 and 13. To those of us that don’t know of the evil dwarves of the tales, this exchange seems like it’s purpose is simply to make the Disney tale more ‘mature,’ however it is to illuminate the differences between the pop culture versions of these characters and the ‘real’ versions from the tales.
This is why I am disappointed with the lack of information about either of the two sisters. Seeing Snow White say fuck and in a position of power separates her from the Disney tale, but little else does. I suppose the purpose of the character treatment in this first volume is to introduce them to us both as the original characters from the tales, rather than the Disney caricatures, and to extend those characters into the modern world. We see Snow as the responsible sister and Rose as the wild child. Bigby is every big bad wolf. Prince Charming is every prince charming (which creates a good tension point for the future and illuminates the similarities in archetypal characters from tale to tale).
It is also interesting to note that all of these characters come from folk tales. And as far as I can tell, he hasn’t wavered from this. It would be relatively easy for Willingham to pull public domain pop culture characters in, but he only uses these traditional folk characters. It is just as broad a character base as League of Extraordinary Gentleman‘s initiative to only use literary characters of an era, but a bit better defined. We have a nearly limitless cast, but we know who won’t be popping up. No Frankensteins or Draculas. No gods.
The plot itself is simple. It’s purpose is to get us more interested in the world than anything else. We are introduced to a wide array of characters through the investigation and their individual situations. We see Bigby and Snow investigate and use their eyes to see everyone else. They are the main characters of this very pulp detective tale. And this detective tale ends in a manor befitting its pulp status, a parlour room scene. It is contrived, but it works well for a fairy tale murder mystery. And it, in and of itself, says more about Jack and Rose than the rest of the arc. It shows how naive both of them are in their risk taking. It serves as a platform on which to build both characters.
In the end, we are also left with a lot of tension after the big reveal that Rose and Jack faked Rose’s murder to get away from marriage to Bluebeard. As Bigby said, Snow found a solution to the problem of resolving this mess that ensures that no one will be happy. Now we have conflict to move forward with that has nothing to due with the mythic Adversary who many other writers would immediately gear a series towards dealing with. This story makes certain the reader knows that it is about the lives of the characters, not their inevitable war.
And war is inevitable. Bluebeard’s training session and Prince Charming’s auction show us this. These people want their lands back. That is the hope that drives them. They exist here in our world, but their lives are built around the need to be back home.
So it seems fitting, that at the very end we are treated with two views of the Homelands. The first is in King Cole’s speech. Here we see the terror from which the Fables fled. The second is a short story that shows why Bigby was allowed to live among the Fables, even though he is the most brutal of killers. It is this redemptive story that sets a tone for the series to pick up a few years down the line. The Fables bound together because their way of life changed drastically, as King Cole said. But they resisted as well, for their own reasons. They did not simply flee. And because of this, the most reprehensible of killers was redeemed. We are introduced to more throughout the series (the other illustration of this is the old witch that killed Hansel and Grettle).
After the story concludes, we are left looking back and seeing that our most well developed characters are Snow and Bigby. And we have the hopeless romance of Bigby pursuing Snow, who still hasn’t let go of her bitterness towards prince Charming’s betrayal. What will happen to these two next? We will see in Vol 2, Animal Farm whenever I finish it.
I would be remiss, however, if I concluded this without mentioning the covers. I may do an entire entry on them once I get the James Jean Art of Fables book, but I will start here. These covers set that fantastical tone that Medina’s art couldn’t. In these covers we see the characters as fairytales. I also find it interesting that Alex Maleev provided a cover for the first issue. His style makes the series seem more gritty than it ever really gets. I guess they wanted people to know it would be a detective story at first.
Anyway, until Animal Farm…
]]>There is a car dealership in town named Price Kia. They have one of the most annoying jingles ever and, because of this, they became the one commercial that I could identify in the first second of broadcast and turn off. Their latest ad doesn’t feature the jingle prominently. No, its subject is much to important to drive people away. Its subject is gambling. On the part of the company itself more than the listener.
They discuss how, in these uncertain economic times, you, the consumer, might not want to buy a car. They give three very good reasons not to, in fact. No credit, fear of being fired, and something else which I cannot remember at the moment. They then dismiss them with a simple no problem. You see, they will get you approved. The optimistic tone suggests that it doesn’t matter if you’re paying of five credit cards onto each other and have bounced every check you’ve ever looked at, they’re behind you. This is a normal advertising ploy and of no surprise, but I will return to it. What is interesting to me is the solution to job loss. If you lose your job, they assure you, they will make your car payment for three months while you look for a new job.
This intrigues me. We are heading for something worse before anything better, and they are banking on the fact that they will not have to make these payments. They are hurting so badly that they are willing to risk huge loss. And Price Chrysler is doing the same. Seeing as they are owned by the same people, I’m not surprised by this point.
Up in the Northern Virginia area, one of the dealerships is getting people to buy with a different gamble, but a more honest one in my opinion. They are offering to let you return the car if you lose your job. Here you see the gamble that the dealership will not be stuck with old stock, but if they are, they can unload the cars on the used market afterwards. They out property, but rather only money. And they are seen as good guys. No repossession.
This is what Price seems to lack. What happens when the buyer looses his job and can’t find anything that will allow for those car payments in three months? It took me four months of hard searching to find something better than Starbucks in this town. Granted, my college graduate lack of experience factor helped that, but the situation is only getting worse. SO my car gets repossessed and I’m out x amount of payments.
And what I find interesting is the fact that there are more big purchase initiatives here. More buy on credit initiatives. Place the thought of ‘Bad Credit? No Problem!’ back in your mind. There is another ad running around assuring the citizens of Charlottesville and Albermarle that they can get financing to buy a home. It doesn’t matter what the news says about the markets in other areas, ours is a solid one. Ours is one that still has the possibility for you to won a home. Not only that, but its a good time to buy.
And to some extent it is true. Virginia historically lags behind the rest of the country on the economic crisis front. The rest of the country is well on its way to sliding down the toilet while we’re still on the rim for a while. But we are feeling it now. Charlottesville lags behind the rest of Virginia. But yet there are very few jobs and a large influx of people coming in to one of the ‘Top Places to Live in the Country.’
So Charlottesville is trying to prevent they’re economy from dying by encouraging spending. Just like the rest of the country.
And I see how much this would help at my job. If we were getting more orders, I would be on full time. I would have more money. I would spend more money. And I would know that I was going to still be receiving money a month, two months, six months from now.
But thats just it. I won’t spend as much money because of two things: a lack of it and a fear that there isn’t going to be any more of it. And because of this, the comic shop and the video game shop and the grocery store and the restaurants can’t hire as many people. And those people can’t order my product.
But the guys working at Price can. If their gamble pays off. If it doesn’t, what happens to their business, their employees, and their spending habits?
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This has been a look at the economy by someone not trained in it. I am probably making incorrect assumptions, but that show it goes. Correct them, debate them, enlighten me.
I’m also going to start using this as real blog.
Stay tuned.
]]>Warcraft terror possibilities unveiled
Court case against secret anti piracy treaty
DRM vs DRM Also, this.
Chicago Olympic bid team vs someone more forward thinking than them [discussion]
Scott McCloud is too racy for Vietnam. Also, note photo credit.
Cursing batgirl, boozing superman, and Condi Rice lookalike
YtLM loses its point in new movie, gains more monkey.
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