Author: Bill Willingham, Illustrators: Mark Buckingham(17,18,19), Gene Ha (18), Joao Ruas(17)
Genre(s): Graphic Novel
Series: Fables
Original Publication Years:
17: 2012
18: 2013
19: 2013
Mini Reviews
Fables Vol. 17 – Inherit the Wind
In Volume 16, Bigby’s father, the North Wind, gave up his
life in the struggle against the Dark Man.
Now it’s time to pick his successor and it looks like the most likely
candidate will be from among Snow White and Bigby’s cubs. This was a nicely encapsulated story with
some sidebars with Bufkin in Oz and it starts setting up what will likely be the next struggle for
Fabletown. It also starts the story of
Snow White and Bigby’s cubs that will begin in earnest in Volume 18. Things are just going to get harder - no
happy endings in these fairy tales. The
Volume also introduces the three other winds and the design and artwork on
these is stunning!
Fables Vol. 18 - Cubs in Toyland
First of all, I love how this series brings in all lore
without prejudice. There is everything from nursery rhymes and classic fairy
tales to The Wizard of Oz. Volume 18 introduces
the Island of Misfit Toys and gives it a downright sinister slant. In fact this whole volume is incredibly grim,
folks. Really grim. I was in tears at points and had really
uncomfortable and horrified feelings in my chest at others. Snow White and Bigby’s cubs, those carefree,
rascally, adorable, half wolf, half wind troublemakers, have some hard
destinies that begin to get meted out in force in this volume. And in a lovely side story at the end, which
Fables does very well, we learn that it is all because Bigby switched fates
with a sorcerer many hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Would it have been better if he hadn’t? This volume was an example of why this series
is so great but it was also really tough to read. Why?
Because while this, and the entire Fables series, leans more towards the
original more violent fairy tales in tone, in the original tales we don’t get
to know the characters and their connections like we do here. The emotional impact is ten times
greater. So beware but don’t let that
keep you from reading this one.
Fables Vol. 19 Snow White
Why Bill Willlingham why??
So you might think some bad stuff has gone down before in the series but
it ain’t nothing to what Volumes 18 and 19 heap onto Snow White and Bigby
Wolf. Lordy! The first part of the Volume is the whimsical
wrap up of Bufkin the flying monkey’s story in Oz (and beyond). Then, comes the rough
stuff. The thing is I’m not sure how
happy I am about how it was done. It’s
awkward to talk about without revealing what “it” is but quite frankly it was
sudden, nonchalant and more than a little anti-climactic.
Which it really shouldn’t have been.
It needed to be epic and it really wasn’t. I forgive it only because Cubs in Toyland was
so good and so moving and because Volume 20 is coming soon and is called
Camelot. King Arthur fixes everything. I
hope.
I'm dying to hear what your favorite comics might be? Where should I go to get away from the sad?
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