4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What the what? Fables dashing into phone booths?, December 26, 2011
This review is from: Fables Vol. 16: Super Team (Paperback)
This volume, FABLES Vol. 16: SUPER TEAM, collects issues #101-107 and is bookended by two self-contained stories. "The Ascent" kicks things off and offers a catch-up peek into doings in the Fables' lost business office. In this one-off, the blue winged monkey, Bufkin, hero of the realm of the lost business office, scales an ancient giant tree and somehow ends up back in his homeworld of Oz. Thereabouts he begins to foment a revolution, of which we can be sure to hear more in due time. Just not now. "Waking Beauty" closes out the volume and catches us up with - as Bill Willingham puts it - "the life and restful times of one of our long overlooked friends, as she continues sleeping on the job." Just goes to show, nature abhors a vacuum. In the Homelands, in the ashes of the Old Empire, assorted warlords vie to become the new head cheese. One such has figured out that one way to power is to lift the enchantment from the sleeping Briar Rose. But he's not the only one to have worked this out.
Getting to the meat of the matter: As things stand, Mr. Dark had sown waste to Fabletown and had driven the Fables out of Manhattan. Recently, Frau Totenkinder had failed to properly contain Mr. Dark, who escaped his confines, forcing the Fables to flee the Farm in upstate New York and seek refuge in the kingdom of Haven. There's nowhere else to go after this, should Haven fall. And here's Mr. Dark now, very close to ripping thru the mystic barrier that keeps him from stepping over into Haven. Day by day Flycatcher's magic is failing him.
With Frau Totenkinder officially retired (fully deserving of her happy ending), Ozma has assumed leadership of the spooky witches what used to dwell on the 13th floor of Fabletown's Woodlands Hotel. Ozma means to assemble a strike force - composed of the fiercest and most fearless in the Fables community - to take on the malevolent Mr. Dark, except that Pinnochio suggests a loopy embellishment: Why not form a superhero team?
Pinnochio, an avid comic book fan, persuades Ozma that - in the interest of "every little bit helps" - it may be worth harnessing the faith and belief generated by a population of Mundy comic book fans. And as you know, belief is what sustains the Fables, the Mundy's belief in fairy tales and folk stories and nursery rhymes and such. Pinnochio himself has fully committed to his cape & cowl persona, having parked his butt in a wheelchair, noting that a lot of super team chiefs seem to be handicapped so. I was halfway expecting him to cry, "To me, my Fables." It's an indication of how desperate Ozma must've truly felt, that she'd go along with this whiff of silly.
Willingham also introduces a side plot with truly disastrous potential. Bigby Wolf learns that his implacable elemental father, the North Wind, means to kill Ghost, Bigby's invisible zephyr cub and the North Wind's grandson. This all has to do with a proclamation the North Wind had issued ages ago, about not suffering freak monstrosities to live.
After the debacle called The Great Fables Crossover, here's Bill Willingham again experimenting with meta-storytelling, except that, this time, he's doing it proper. It's a lot of fun watching Pinnochio do his damndest to ensure that the Fables conform to all manner of superhero tropes, working feverishly to get the costumes and the code names just right. I grinned big when I saw the superhero roll call which opens issue #104. There's something pretty priceless in seeing the likes of Bigby (a.k.a. "The Werewolf Man"), Ozma ("Super Witch"), and Thumbelina ("Tiny Titan") outfitted in garish crimefighting threads. And don't tell me that Brock Blueheart isn't playing the Green Lantern analog. The F-Men, indeed. F-Men assemble!! Heh.
Since this is FABLES, the story arc doesn't take you where you anticipate. Bill Willingham has something else in mind. Frankly, how he goes about resolving the problem of Mr. Dark is more satisfying to me, although I can see how other readers may disagree, seeing as how Willingham had seemingly set the stage so carefully for a dramatic and epic conflict, but then - bam! - here, eat some anticlimactic pie. But I like the unpredictability of this series, and I'm glad things didn't degenerate into a big stale superhero fighty fight, even if it does leave the "F-Men" sort of just milling around and Brock Blueheart entertaining some pretty lame aftermath conclusions regarding his deity Boy Blue. As an added treat, we finally get a glimpse of the person who had roused Rose Red from her horrid apathy at the Farm. Except that geting a glimpse doesn't translate to knowing just who in heck this person is. Willingham also introduces some food for thought, future plot points concerning a prophecy for Rose Red and the identity of the North Wind's successor.
As ever, Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha's now iconic artwork is invaluable. These guys are the perfect artists for FABLES. They draw Bigby Wolf, my favorite character here, the only way he should be drawn. I'm glad he didn't get stuck in "superhero" mode for too long. Wolverine and Timber Wolf don't need that kind of competition.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings, February 7, 2012
This review is from: Fables Vol. 16: Super Team (Paperback)
This felt rushed in some parts, much like how the Jack of Fables series ended. I have to admit, I was disappointed with the way that Mr. Dark wad disposed of. I will be honest, I hope this series gets wrapped up soon. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this series, it was clever and creative, but all good things must come to an end and I would rather see this series end than jump the shark. Now that Mr. Dark is gone, I am really hoping that we do not have a new enemy to deal with. Rather, I hope the next (and last) bad guy is Geppeto himself.
I found the Super Team idea to be having potential, but it completely sputtered out in here, and some things aren't quite explained. I only wish some aspects of this story had been handled better.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and different..., December 29, 2011
This review is from: Fables Vol. 16: Super Team (Paperback)
We return to the realm of Fables in this 16th volume as our heroes continue their battle against Mr. Dark. In the last volume Frau Totenkinder's battle against Mr. Dark has failed and the fables have been forced to retreat to Haven and Flycatcher cannot hold the barrier against him much longer. But all is not lost. Pinocchio and Ozma have hit upon a plan to pull their most powerful heroes together to form a superteam to tackle and defeat Mr. Dark. They've picked superhero names, costumes, and everything and are almost ready for the battle. But before their battle can begin Bigby and his father, the North Wind, have to settle the issue of Ghost, Bigby's invisible zephyr cub. And then...everything takes an unexpected turn and some surprising events happen before Mr. Dark is defeated. In other stories we get to check in with Bufkin, our hero of the lost business office, who manages to find his way back to his homeworld of Oz in "The Ascent" and continues his quest to be the best hero he can be. And we also check in with our lost hero Sleeping Beauty in "Waking Beauty."
I can see why there are some mixed reviews about this collection as the battle against Mr. Dark feels very anticlimactic compared to the previous one with Frau Totenkinder. There isn't the big explosion or the epic last battle. It's just not what you really expect at all. And yet...I like how it all goes down. It fits well within the Fables world, much like how Geppetto was finally defeated and it's going to lead the gang down a very different path than what many people I think expected. The artwork is again absolutely fantastic and I'm always impressed with the effects that they manage to pull off, such as the final battle with Mr. Dark. It just has such great imagery and such great character design.
I do have a couple of niggling little doubts, not related to the battle but to a couple of events that happen within it. One involves one of the Fables picked to be on the superteam, and I'll avoid mentioning much since it would be a spoiler, but this Fable suddenly loses their "power" and not much is ever mentioned more of it. I'm sure it will crop up in later issues, but it just left me feeling like I missed pages that talked more about what happened. The second little issue I have is that we finally get a glimpse of the person who roused Rose Red from her bed in the previous collection. It's almost presented like we should know who she is, but we don't. Again I'm sure that Bill will reveal all in good time it just bugged me a bit that we didn't get more information about these two circumstances.
Even with the two niggling doubts Bill Willingham has created a fantastic universe and continues to surprise me with the direction he's able to take the series. I have no doubt that my questions will be answered in future volumes and I look forward to seeing where he goes with the story.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
