Fables #155 – Bill Willingham, Writer; Mark Buckingham, Artist; Steve Leialoha, Colorist
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: The quest of the cubs continues, with Ambrose returning home to tell his parents of his adventures. It was rather hilarious just how unbothered both he and his dad were by him nearly getting eaten by a demon, but his adventures turned out pretty well. That can’t be said for two of his siblings, who have found themselves in some dire straits. Blossom, the girliest of the kids, is lured into a mysterious castle full of locked chests by a voice and baited into opening one of them—which releases some sort of ancient spirit, as well as his seemingly benevolent son. Connor, meanwhile, met a traveling hero in the woods who promises to give him a lesson in being a warrior, but this issue makes clear that the hero is anything but. He’s a ruthless hunter and vigilante who kills large beasts assuming they’re monsters, and executes travelers if he suspects them of being thieves. And Connor may have gotten in too deep to leave.
The cubs are the main plot in this issue, but some of the other players get some fascinating scenes too. Cinderella has been the key to the transition between the human and Fable worlds, and this issue she takes that to the next step—meeting with members of the U.S. military to discuss how to handle the influx of magic into the world. Meanwhile, the young warrior Greenjack continues her own journey into the Mundy, accompanied by a shapeshifting bear impersonating an old woman. I’m still not sure exactly what the plot of these two is going to amount to, as they don’t seem to mesh with the rest of the story, but they’re a lot of fun so far. And they seem to be coming closer to intersecting with our mystery new villain—Peter Pan and his associate Tinkerbell, now seemingly unmasked as the true power behind the empire. This calls back to the very beginning of Willingham’s plans for Fables, and may explain just why he chose to come back for a repeat engagement.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
