Fables Vol. 6: Homelands | Bill Willingham | .....the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Fables Vol. 6: Homelands | Bill Willingham | one of the best so far

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Fables Vol. 6: Hom...

	Fables Vol. 6: Homelands Bill Willingham Vertigo, 2006 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 14 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The sixth volume in the series explores some of Bigby Wolf's extracurricular exploits around the mundane world in "Cinderella Libertine" and "War Stories" before returning to the main storyline in "The Year After," which follows the aftermath of the Adversary's attempt to conquer Fabletown. Rated for mature readers.

.....the Valley of the Shadow of Death

This sixth volume of the "Fables" series does not disappoint. If you want to start the series at this point....don't. In order to fully appreciate this volume, you should start with Volume 1 and work your way forward. Storylines that have been under development for sometime are tied together at this point.

Don't even read anymore of this review! :-)

In a way, this graphic novel is about what happened to the things 'stolen' from Fabletown after the Adversary's attack and Prince Charming's election as Mayor.

The first part deals with Jack Horner and what he did with the contents of the late Bluebeard's missing treasure room. Up until now he has been portrayed as the pathetic hustler with one flawed get-rich scheme after another. Jack is the kind of guy that got your sister pregnant and then skipped town. He's the guy that's always borrowing money with no intention of paying it back. This is the loser your girlfirned dumped you for.....

Well this is one of his good ideas. Old Jack is a huge success. Even though he's set back at the end, he's still set up for his own personal series that I've reviewed elsewhere.

As satifying as the Jack tale is, it can't compare with Boy Blue's saga. He's left Fabletown stealing the Witching Cloak, the Volpal Blade and his best friends Pinocchio's body. He's returning to the Homelands to 1) Find Gepetto and see if he can fix Pinocchio 2) Reunite with his lost love - Red Riding Hood.

This is where Willingham and company's genius shines. Our nerdy trumpet-playing office clerk is really a man of cunning, brilliance, conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity. It's like Peter Parker and Spiderman. His primary motives are loyalty and love to the people closest to him. For this he risks his life in returning to the Adversary's empire, the Valley of the Shadow of Death referred to in the title. The journey is perilous and skillfully plotted with surprises and revelations along the way.

If I'm ever in jam, I'd want Boy Blue to come to my rescue.

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one of the best so far

I really have to hand it to them, I wasn't that much of a fan of Jack or Blue until I read this collection. Jack's story takes place with his greatest scheme yet, which places him in Hollywood, creating a blockbuster trilogy and boom... well, you have to see. And Boy Blue's story is just fantastic as he battles his way across the Homelands to rescue Pinnochio and Red Riding Hood. A definite must.

Demented fairy tales, but in a good way

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. Lost 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.

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Much better than Vol. 5

This is number six in the series and it's a considerable improvement over number five. The first story concerns Jack's aborted career in Hollywood after leaving Fabletown in possession of a large quantity of stolen loot. As a talented con-man, he turns out to be a natural in the movie world and his first project -- a LOTR-like trilogy about his own fairy tale career -- is enormously successful. But he's still a louse, which is why the miniaturized Jill rats him out to Mr. Beast, Fabletown's new sheriff, and he finds himself on the road again, the least unpleasant option available to him. Then we go to the adventures of Boy Blue as he treks through the enemy-occupied Homelands in pursuit of Red Riding Hood, and to return the dead wooden body of his best buddy, Pinocchio, to Geppetto. And maybe he can do something about The Adversary while he's at it. Turns out Blue had a more-colorful-than-expected earlier career as a swashbuckling sword-swinger -- but things don't turn out quite as he expected. Then we return to the Farm, upstate, where Mowgli (a "tourist," i.e., undercover secret agent working abroad) has come back to try to spring Bagheera from the pokey. Then it's back to the tribulations of Boy Blue for a temporary resolution. There's a lot of good storytelling in this arc.

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War of the worlds

In this case, it's the world of "Fables," the place where storybook characters have (or had) real lives versus the hundred or more planets under control of The Adversary. The Fables live in exile here on Earth, blending in when they look human enough, and withdrawing to a private enclave if they don't. No matter how many hundreds of years they live among us, they still have a dream of returning to their one-time home. Five of the seven monthlies collected in this volume follow a heroic quest to make return possible - an attempt to assassinate The Adversary himself. The story takes several startling turns, and promises more action in future volumes.

The other two monthlies reproduced here each tell one-issue stories of their own. In the first, Jack (of the Beanstalk, of the giant-killing and of many other stories) sets out to find his fortune, as he's done so very successfully so many times before. And he does - up until he incurs the wrath of a woman scorned, and doscovers just how much wrath can be packed in even a small woman. The other story looks inside the new administration. It's not nearly so solid as they'd like people to think, and a side-trip of an adventure gets under way. By its nature, it's best told in small glimpses at long intervals, so I'm looking forward to more of it.

This collection represents something a turning point in the Fables' tale. For one thing, we learn far more about the scope and power of The Adversary, with hints that the war is about to heat up. For another, it makes less mention of the Fables' fabulous lives. Partly for that reason, this might be the first in this series of collections that I wouldn't recommend to a newcomer. It certainly lives up to the standards of the earlier stories, but really works best for someone who already knows something about the characters and the premise of the story. It's very enjoyable, make no mistake, but easier to enjoy if you've been reading the series in order so far.

-- wiredweird

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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