Customer Reviews

Fables Vol. 8: Wolves

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well, herein we finally find out.

We've been hanging in there, pining away for more stories about the fates of the central characters in this ensemble cast, whom we met at the very beginning of the first story in the series. Ever since _The Mean Seasons_, when Bigby went away because the only person whose smell he likes (Remember he's a wolf: The Wolf!) couldn't decide to throw her lot in with him. Understandably, I suppose, because she was a practical girl and, let's face it, their history together had its ups and downs. She also had so cubs to take care of, and there were political issues with having Bigby around.

So we waited and waited (well, _I_ did!) and followed Boy Blue into the Homelands to reveal the Adversary, and the fates of an assortment of others dealing with folks from other cultures--all the while chuckling at Willingham's built-in jokes, very often of the political kind, and usually with a strong libertarian slant.

In _Wolves_ too, there a lot of implied politics and social commentary, but it all fades into insignificance before the central issues: where's Bigby, what's he been doing, and how is this thing with Snow going to play out? _Is_ it going to play out? Whatever happened to the aberrant 'Zephyr' cub of Bigby and Snow's; the one that kills living creatures because it likes their breath?

As a bonus there's also another story, involving that sexy spy, Cinderella; who is like a female James Bond, and so much nicer than that psycho Goldilocks (whom we're sure to meet again one day, even though she had an axe buried in her head last time we saw her plunge into a river).

As usual, the action is rough and tough, with few punches pulled; though in general the tone of the stories is gentler than those compiled into the previous two books. As fairytales for adults go, there is nothing better, and I'm of a mind, now that the story has gone the way it goes, to start the whole series all over again. It's great bedtime literature, and if, like me, you grew up with fairy tales, it's a homecoming of sorts. Thing is, in real life you can never go back--and often you really don't want to either--but FABLES on the whole takes me back to something familiar at the same time as it is firmly facing into the future.

On a purely professional basis and since I write novels and scripts myself, it was instructional to have the entire script to one of the 'episodes' collected into this volume added at the end. Been meaning to tackle this kind of medium myself, and for those similarly inclined there are valuable pointers for method and style.

If you aren't reading Fables, you have no idea what you're missing. The eighth volume of the series, taking us from issue 48 through 51, is still great. The series only gets better with age; it started off well, improved, and is able to continually find new ways to entertain instead of relying on old plot devices to keep audiences coming back.
The 2-party Wolves storline is the culmination of a story that started all the way back in the third trade paperback, when Bigby Wolf learned that he had impregnated Snow White. She eventually gave birth to his cubs, who were forced to live at the Farm due to their inhuman appearance. The Farm is an annex of Fabletown, a refugee colony for Fables in our mundane world. Fables that cannot pass for human are relegated to the Farm so that no "mundy" finds out about the existence of Fables. Bigby is not allowed to go to the farm due to the things that he has done to certain non-human Fables back in the Homelands, so he left Fabletown for good after Beast replaced him as sheriff. However, the new mayor, Prince Charming, realized that he would need Bigby's help for something important, and he employed Mowgli, of the Jungle Book, to get Bigby back. Wolves finally shows Mowgli's hunt for Bigby, showing two master hunters/trackers/wilderness survivors doing what they do best. The double-sized Issue 50 reveals why Charming needed Bigby, and brings together 2 Fables in marriage. Finally, the stand-alone story Big and small is a continuation of a story from the previous issue and showcases another one of Cinderella's missions. Cinderella may be perceived as a bratty store clerk by most other Fables, but in reality, she is a spy employed by the Sheriff's office who undertakes missions for the safety of Fabletown. Her latest mission is a diplomatic trip to the Cloud Kingdoms, which is where Jack had visited when he planted his magic beans.
Bill Willingham is a master of storytelling. He takes the characters from fairy tales we read growing up and twists them into new and compelling characters. Fables is a must read for any comics fan.

Eighteen months ago, a clerk in a comic story recommended this series to me. Based on my long experience with comics, I knew the flakiest ideas are the best. Still I admit to being skeptical of a colony of folklore figures living secretly in New York.

Well I am well and truly hooked. This is my eighth graphic novel and I am more than satisfied. In order to get the full effect, of the series I recommend you start at the beginning. This book ties together several plotlines that have been developing in the comic for years. Mr. Willingham just keeps hitting balls out the park.

At this point if you're new to the series, be apprised there are spoilers ahead.

When we last left Bigby Wolf, disgusted about being unable to live with his family, he has disappeared. Prince Charming, Mayor of Fabletown, needs him back. He and the Travellers have devised a plan to strike back at Adversary as retribution for the attack on Fabletown. However the only one who can successfully pull it off is THE BIG BAD WOLF. Prince Charming dispatches Mowgli to find him.

It takes a wolf to find a wolf.

Meanwhile Snow White, the mother of Bigby's children, is maintaining the fiction that Daddy is away but still in contact with his children. We all know Mowgli would find Bigby. We all know Bigby would come home and perform this mission. We know Bigby would return to Snow White.

Ah but the journey is the purpose of reading this series and therein lies the joy. Exactly how these events would transpire is the beauty and the brilliance of the story. Prince Charming, his staff and Bigby need to work for the Pentagon. We'd be out of Iraq in a month. There is no way I was able to anticipate how these events would transpire and the sheer elegance of the plan. A magic beanstalk? Cinderella? C4????!!!

That's enough for now. But if Bigby thinks he's retired......




T

Bill Williangham, Fables: Wolves (Vertigo, 2006)

Willingham takes a small time-out from the big story arc to resolve a smaller one: where did Bigby run off to, anyway? Willingam has been setting this up for a while, and ties together a bunch of loose ends with called-in favors and the like in this entry in the series, and "satisfying" ends up being an understatement. When Wolves is on, it's one of the best in the series so far. It's not always on, unfortunately (Mowgli's search for Bigby lags in a number of places), but that shouldn't stop you from plowing into this one as soon as you get the chance. *** ½

Where is Bigby? Will Mowgli be able to find him? If he does, can he get him to come back? Those are the questions driving this volume of Fables. Mayor Prince Charming needs Bigby back as he is the only one capable of carrying out the plan against the adversary. And what of Snow White and the cubs? Bigby's family has to stay on the farm and Bigby is not allowed to go there.

Well, we find out just what can lure Bigby back and what loophole the Mayor has found in the rules. We also learn the details of the plan and just how Fabletown plans to hold off the ravaging hordes of the Adversary. Really quite clever. The plan is handles so quickly that it is almost anticlimactic. Remember, this is a character driven story, not action-driven. Most of the story is about the Fables themselves and how they react to the situations.

As an added bonus, the volume includes the script for a pivotal issue. Now you can see how an issue goes from story to comic. Interesting in an intellectual way but after just reading the same story in comic-format, it lacked a little something. There is also a map of the Fabletown holdings and their relation to surrounding areas. Nice extras but the real treat is the story itself. Check it out.

Volume 8 kinda ties things up in a way that the series probably safely could have ended here (though I see a new one is coming out in June). Bigby and Snow are back. Things just seem to happen. The problem is that it is the weakest of all the Fables volumes so far. It almost makes me nervous about the next volume, but I do mean almost. As a whole this is (and I was a bit surprised) one of the better comic books out there.

The premise of this wonderful series is to rewrite and expand the world of fairy tales. They characters of which has entered our world fleeing a great evil. Lots of fun, smart and witty, typical american style illustrations for the most part, but nice. Some similarities of premise to the Sand Man series, but not quite as inventive or as extensively research and deep. Start at #1 for the best read.

This is the eighth collection of the ongoing "Fables" comic book series, reprinting issues 48-51. This is NOT the point where you should jump onboard--the payoff here is largely an emotional one built on character interactions that have developed since the very first issue. There's certainly plenty of action, but it's best appreciated if you've been following these characters since the beginning.

Our stars this time are Bigby Wolf and Snow White and their seven children, along with Rose Red, Cinderella, and Mowgli. On the domestic front, we see Snow and company hanging out at the Farm, wondering if the vanished Bigby will ever deign to reappear. Meanwhile, Mowgli has succeeded in tracking him down to send him on a secret mission through the Cloud Kingdoms and into the Homelands to strike at a very special enemy. The fact that Pinocchio has a cameo here should give away who the target is.

Some plot threads get wrapped up in this arc, and it looks like the stage is being set for new storylines and with a focus on different characters for at least awhile.

Included in this volume are a map of the Farm and Willingham's script for Issue 50, which are nice bonuses.

***Potential Spoilers***

I loved Fables until issue 50, as contained in this TPB. At that point Willingham just went almost comically conservative. He concludes a drawn out romance between Snow White and Bigby Wolf in the most hurried and unbelievable fashion where they settle down in proper wedlock in a McMansion-looking house (not kidding). Willingham wants us to accept that Bigby Wolf, who has been roaming about completely out of contact with six of his seven illegitimate children and their mother for years and was 'shacking up' with some random woman a mere one issue back, is suddenly ready for a settled, nuclear-family arrangement. Ridiculous.

Most unforgivable of all, characters from continental European, pre-modern, even pre-Christian contexts carry out the most overbearingly trite, Protestant, Anglo-American wedding ceremony imaginable, including an absurdly out-of-character promise by Snow White to "obey" Bigby. For a series that had studiously avoided religion with the exception of the Arabian Fables (with some fairly cliché portrayal of Islam), the wedding was a blatant shot at the notion of civil marriage and thus marriage equality for gays and lesbians (Willingham literally has his character talk about marriage as a sacred institution handed down by god). Heavy-handed is an understatement and worse detached from the actual nature of marriage in the social and cultural context of the characters, historical or modern.

I could tell from early in the series that Willingham was fairly conservative with his hearty use of the death penalty (Animal Farm), torture of captured enemies (Baba Yaga), some hackneyed shots at left-wing ''radicals' (Goldilocks) as he imagines them, and the supposed moral decay of the Mundy's in taking a more nuanced perspective on crime (Snow White's characterisation of modern values as blaming the victim). Still his points were usually subtle enough or at least well-integrated enough to be things I could agree to disagree on. With Fables 50, he just went over the deep-end and frankly spoiled two characters, Snow White and Bigby Wolf, that I had really come to love.

A very sad ending to my interest in this series.

Some minor SPOILERS, for Volume 8 and especially if you haven't so far read the preceding FABLES trades (and what's wrong with you that you haven't yet?).

Fans of FABLES and, more pointedly, of Snow White and Bigby Wolf are in for some fine reading. Since Snow and Bigby happen to be two of my most favorite characters in this series, the issues collected here in FABLES Vol. 8: WOLVES were something I'd particularly looked forward to. And for those who'd been on pins and needles regarding what's up with Snow and Bigby and their love story and their cute but impossible kids, well, the title of the 50th issue, "Happily Ever After," whispers a clue.

For those new to this remarkable, sometimes subversive comic book: Bill Willingham's modern-day twist is that the characters in all those classic fairy tales and stories from folklore and literature are alive and well and, having been driven out from their Homelands by the Adversary, are now hiding out in New York. Most of them live on a little residential street called Bullfinch (heh!), but those in the know call this community Fabletown. Those who can't pass for humans live on the Farm, Fabletown's isolated annex located in upstate New York.

Some catching up: Back in Fables Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers, Fabletown managed to fend off an attempted invasion by the Adversary's army of wooden soldiers. This naturally still doesn't sit too well with Fabletown's new mayor, Prince Charming. Charming hungers for retaliation, and his plans involve a secret mission in the heart of the Adversary's Empire. Except that the only one qualified to pull off this special ops, Bigby Wolf, has vanished.

Why Bigby took off is explained in Fables Vol. 5: The Mean Seasons. In this, Snow White, having given painful birth to seven cubs, is forced to relocate to the Farm, there to stay until the children learn to control their shapeshifting. What sucks is that their father, Bigby Wolf, is banned from ever setting foot on the Farm (Bigby was and is the Big Bad Wolf, so a lot of the Farm's sentient animals are rightfully wary of him). Bigby, in a tiff, skedaddles for parts unknown. His kids have never seen him.

So cut now to FABLES Vol. 8: WOLVES, this volume. Reprinting only issues #48-51, this is one of the shortest FABLES trades out there, but since it marks the return of Bigby Wolf, consider me assuaged. Issues #48 & 49 mostly intersperse Mowgli's sometimes harrowing year-long search for Bigby with goings-on at the Farm, and specifically with how the cubs are faring. All that is a set up for the big 50th issue, which treats us to Bigby's perilous mission in the Homelands, then a homecoming and a reunion. And the kids get to meet their dad for the first time, and there's a resolution to the whole Bigby-Wolf-shan't-be-in-the-Farm-like-ever! quandary.

Finally, issue #51 focuses on Cinderella, one of Fabletown's most capable Tourists (Tourists, by the way, are Fabletown's agents sent out to the mundane world to keep tabs on fables living abroad). Cinderella undertakes a diplomatic assignment up the giant beanstalk and in the cloud kingdoms. Cinderella, who prefers a dash of skullduggery in her missions, really doesn't have a good time with this one. But the reader might.

So I'm done talking up Bill Willingham (mostly 'cause it's getting hard coming up with new ways to praise the dude). I'll settle this time for saying only that the man can write like the dickens, and that his cast of fables makes up some of the most involving, three-dimensional characters I've ever read in comics. And that artists Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha continue to really bring Willingham's stories to life. And we all know that James Jean's covers are wicked cool.

For the completist in you, this trade also offers a map of Fabletown and of the Farm, as well as the entire script to issue #50. And, oh, did the invisible seventh child ever find his dad? Well, yes.