It doesn’t seem quite right to review this within March of the Wooden Soldiers. I understand why it was included in the volume, it is important to the Wooden Soldiers story, but it was originally published as its own GN. It deserves to be looked at in this light, rather than as a prelude to what comes after.

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…

Filed under: Blogishness by Kevin