By: Bill Willingham (story), Mark Buckingham (pencils), Steve Leialoha & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors)
The Story: Bigby threatens to bring down Fabletown, with neither huffing nor puffing.
The Review: One of the many ways I’m a little off in the head is the way I treat stories like people. On first acquaintance, I’m open-minded, relatively forgiving of small quirks and flaws, and cautious to make any hasty conclusions. If it rubs me the wrong way, my judgment can become scathing, and it can be quite difficult to return to my good graces. If I really take to one, my loyalty is steadfast; even if things don’t go well for a while, I’ll still be by its side.
To me, Fables is a bit like my clique of coworkers at a transition job after grad school. We met somewhat late in life and I’ll always remain a bit of an outsider, but we get along well and make each other’s lives that much more pleasant. When we part, it’ll be with regret and hugs, but not tears. This is all a roundabout way of saying that even though I haven’t known the Fables that long, I’m fond enough of them to be really grieved when bad things happen to them. And Willingham seems set to unleash quite a lot of bad things on many of them, even the most beloved.
For example, I’d really hate to see Ozma go down, and fighting Bigby of all people. She may be uppity and hopelessly short with people, but it’s always been obvious how much she looks out for all of Fabletown’s well-being. When Bigby’s leakage of raw magic threatens to expose the Fables’ fair city, Ozma doesn’t even waste a second to fly off to her potential doom, telling the other witches to “[c]hoose wisely if the wolf gets me.” It’s a noble act, but one that has tragic overtones as well. She decides to wear her F-Men costume into battle, reasoning, “…why not?” That’s the tone of someone who thinks if she’s going to die, she might as well look good doing it.*
With Ozma departed and Morgan distracted in Camelot, the witches’ investigation into Bigby’s rampage is hampered, allowing Leigh to revel fully in her power as Mr. Dark’s bride. As much danger as she poses to Fabletown, there’s really not much to say about her plan. #137 already gave us all the clues we needed to figure out the How; the Why is obvious (she’s a resentful cow); and the What basically involves the systematic murder of all the Fables she feels slighted her, starting with her nemesis, Snow.
Leigh may be a simple kind of villain, but at least she has history motivating her. Brandish is just awful from top to bottom, and he proves that Rose was a bit foolish to believe that someone like him could make good on a second chance. Not that she’d care at the moment, as she begins to give in to her competitive edge with Snow, ignoring Morgan’s concerns about the critical mass of power she’s gathered to name her sword, after she sees Snow naming hers first. While Snow refuses to play the role greater powers are pushing on her, Rose gives in to the role she made for herself in Fables‘ early years.
The art is Buckish—quite so, and that’s a good thing. And that’s about all I have to say on that, sadly.
I haven’t been thrilled with these “Last Story” back-ups, but ignore me; that’s only because I don’t really know these characters to care about how they end up. Still, the Last Story of Babe, as written by Matthew Sturges, is pretty funny. Babe’s parade of characters has a powerful sketch-comedy flavor: Alonzo, the Cruelty-Free Pirate; Lenny Flanaga, the Existential Optometrist; Dash Weinstein, Heroic Accountant for Hire (“Sorry sweetheart, the way you’ve market-to-marketed those derivatives, there’s not an accountant in the world who can get you out of this mess. Unless…”).** Tony Akins doesn’t really have much to room to visually impress in, but his deadpan approach makes the inherent silliness of the feature even funnier.
Conclusion: Always good for solid entertainment, Fables is doing its best to remind you why you love this series and these characters.
Grade: B+
- Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * Willingham plants a seed of hope by sending Beast off to face Bigby as well, also in his F-Men outfit: a glorious piece of Jack Kirby-esque armor designed to withstand a dark god. Can we hope for the full F-Men team (whoever’s left in Fabletown anyway) to confront one of their own? I’d fricking love that, by the way
** I’m financially an idiot, as my monthly investment in comic books will tell you, but I’ll be interested if any money-minded readers out there know what he’s talking about.
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews, Vertigo Tagged: Andrew Pepoy, Beast, Bigby Wolf, Bill Willingham, DC, DC Comics, Fables, Fables #143, Fables #143 review, Fabletown, Lee Loughridge, Mark Buckingham, Matthew Sturges, Morgan Le Fay, Nurse Spratt, Ozma, Prince Brandish, Rose Red, Snow White, Steve Leialoha, Tony Akins, Vertigo, Vertigo Comics, Weyland Smith
