Comic Reviews
Jun. 15th, 2008 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe
A few comic reviews, just for the hell of it. I wanted to get the practice in.
Way back at the end of issue #70, writer-creator Bill Willingham promised us that in the very next issue we would be thrown into “the chaos of total war.” Now, I don’t know about you, but that term carries with it certain expectations for me, like dudes in trenches with guns, and bombs, and soldiers and explosions and everything. Of course, this being Fables, there’d also be giants and cows throwing hand grenades and stuff like that. Instead what we got was a cute little two-part caper with our favorite blonde superspy, Cinderella.
What’s worse is we find out last issue that the war has started without us, while we were following Cinderella through South America. Somewhere off-panel, the first shot had been fired, the first skirmishes were being fought, the first noble deaths were taking place. It’s a bummer that Willingham chose to let that happen without us, but it’s saying something that the biggest complaint I have about the series recently is not seeing more of the story.
Despite my reluctance to follow the misdirection, this issue has a lot going for it. The conclusion of this arc introduces several characters who will certainly prove to be useful in the coming conflict. Pinocchio’s back in the fold, and presumably a changed puppet. His time back in the Homelands with Gepetto has no doubt really messed him up good, and it’s surprising to see the effects of that. Gepetto’s loyalty spells remain as effective as ever, but they’re taking his surrogate sons and daughters to places that he probably hasn’t counted for. Pinocchio deciding for himself that the most loving thing to do for his father is to defy him is a very interesting choice, and it’s only made more interesting by the fact that he’s brought Rodney and June with him. I’ve always wondered when they would be tied to the main story, and it’s very satisfying to see their arc pay off.
Meanwhile, it’s always good to see Cinderella in action. She stands head and shoulders above an ensemble of bad-asses, and I think she could probably take any other fable in a scrap. (The exception, of course, being King of All Bad-Asses, Bixby.) She was really put through a wringer this time, being stabbed, shot, and hit by a car but still managing to pull off the mission, if only barely. Kudos to here on a job well done!
There were a couple of curiosities; in this issue Cinderella emphasized a few things that are already well-known about the Fables universe, including the popularity of a certain fable’s story influencing their physical constitution, and the fact that fables tend to live a very, very long time. It makes me wonder if this is going to come into play sometime soon; I’ve often wondered if there was some magic that could be used to make a fable forgotten among the world, thus rendering him fairly weak. I suppose we’ll see.
At any rate, now that the war is underway we’re bound to be thrown into the soup sometime sooner or later. I have no idea where Willingham is taking this, but I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Rating: 7/10.
We’re continuing on our picturesque detour here, following the cliffhanger at the end of the “Americana” storyline. When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were being menaced by a small army of fables-gone-bad, including (say it ain’t so!) a decidedly colorless Paul Bunyan. One of the things I absolutely love about these series, by the way, is thinking about how absolutely nuts I would sound explaining this to a casual observer. Seriously, who comes up with these ideas? Can I have what they’re having?
Anyway, whenever we’ve taken a break from the main Jack storyline, it’s to learn something that I suspect will become relevant in later issues. We learned, for example, that up until now Jack has been trading his lifetimes with various incarnations of the Devil, and that he’s worked out his last contract with Ol’ Scratch some fifty years ago. We also know just how powerfully scary Gary can be when he gets upset, as he did during a botched Shakespeare production back at the retirement village. Now, we’re following Jack as (what else?) a rogue and scoundrel in wild west America.
The tale is told in true folksy fashion, and it’s really admirable how Willingham and Sturges are able to just create legends from wholecloth with just the right touches to give them weight and authenticity. We’re introduced to Jack’s gang with colorful touches of how they’ve managed to achieve their individual reputations, as well as how they function as a gang. No one can touch them, not that they haven’t tried.
Bixby is thrown into the mix, intent on bringing Jack presumably in to Fabletown. Jack knows who he is, because, well, in the showdown that inevitably follows he’s all business, and goes to pretty drastic measures to make sure there’s as much space between him and Sheriff Wolf as possible. This being what it is, even the bloody end to the stand-off doesn’t mean that Jack is free to go; it just buys him some time before a very, very peeved Bixby comes down on him like a ton of bricks.
You just don’t shoot the Big Bad Wolf in the face. It is on.
Rating: 8/10
Way back at the end of issue #70, writer-creator Bill Willingham promised us that in the very next issue we would be thrown into “the chaos of total war.” Now, I don’t know about you, but that term carries with it certain expectations for me, like dudes in trenches with guns, and bombs, and soldiers and explosions and everything. Of course, this being Fables, there’d also be giants and cows throwing hand grenades and stuff like that. Instead what we got was a cute little two-part caper with our favorite blonde superspy, Cinderella.
What’s worse is we find out last issue that the war has started without us, while we were following Cinderella through South America. Somewhere off-panel, the first shot had been fired, the first skirmishes were being fought, the first noble deaths were taking place. It’s a bummer that Willingham chose to let that happen without us, but it’s saying something that the biggest complaint I have about the series recently is not seeing more of the story.
Despite my reluctance to follow the misdirection, this issue has a lot going for it. The conclusion of this arc introduces several characters who will certainly prove to be useful in the coming conflict. Pinocchio’s back in the fold, and presumably a changed puppet. His time back in the Homelands with Gepetto has no doubt really messed him up good, and it’s surprising to see the effects of that. Gepetto’s loyalty spells remain as effective as ever, but they’re taking his surrogate sons and daughters to places that he probably hasn’t counted for. Pinocchio deciding for himself that the most loving thing to do for his father is to defy him is a very interesting choice, and it’s only made more interesting by the fact that he’s brought Rodney and June with him. I’ve always wondered when they would be tied to the main story, and it’s very satisfying to see their arc pay off.
Meanwhile, it’s always good to see Cinderella in action. She stands head and shoulders above an ensemble of bad-asses, and I think she could probably take any other fable in a scrap. (The exception, of course, being King of All Bad-Asses, Bixby.) She was really put through a wringer this time, being stabbed, shot, and hit by a car but still managing to pull off the mission, if only barely. Kudos to here on a job well done!
There were a couple of curiosities; in this issue Cinderella emphasized a few things that are already well-known about the Fables universe, including the popularity of a certain fable’s story influencing their physical constitution, and the fact that fables tend to live a very, very long time. It makes me wonder if this is going to come into play sometime soon; I’ve often wondered if there was some magic that could be used to make a fable forgotten among the world, thus rendering him fairly weak. I suppose we’ll see.
At any rate, now that the war is underway we’re bound to be thrown into the soup sometime sooner or later. I have no idea where Willingham is taking this, but I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Rating: 7/10.
We’re continuing on our picturesque detour here, following the cliffhanger at the end of the “Americana” storyline. When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were being menaced by a small army of fables-gone-bad, including (say it ain’t so!) a decidedly colorless Paul Bunyan. One of the things I absolutely love about these series, by the way, is thinking about how absolutely nuts I would sound explaining this to a casual observer. Seriously, who comes up with these ideas? Can I have what they’re having?
Anyway, whenever we’ve taken a break from the main Jack storyline, it’s to learn something that I suspect will become relevant in later issues. We learned, for example, that up until now Jack has been trading his lifetimes with various incarnations of the Devil, and that he’s worked out his last contract with Ol’ Scratch some fifty years ago. We also know just how powerfully scary Gary can be when he gets upset, as he did during a botched Shakespeare production back at the retirement village. Now, we’re following Jack as (what else?) a rogue and scoundrel in wild west America.
The tale is told in true folksy fashion, and it’s really admirable how Willingham and Sturges are able to just create legends from wholecloth with just the right touches to give them weight and authenticity. We’re introduced to Jack’s gang with colorful touches of how they’ve managed to achieve their individual reputations, as well as how they function as a gang. No one can touch them, not that they haven’t tried.
Bixby is thrown into the mix, intent on bringing Jack presumably in to Fabletown. Jack knows who he is, because, well, in the showdown that inevitably follows he’s all business, and goes to pretty drastic measures to make sure there’s as much space between him and Sheriff Wolf as possible. This being what it is, even the bloody end to the stand-off doesn’t mean that Jack is free to go; it just buys him some time before a very, very peeved Bixby comes down on him like a ton of bricks.
You just don’t shoot the Big Bad Wolf in the face. It is on.
Rating: 8/10
