The finale “issue” in the form of a full length graphic novel comes out in July. I didn’t realize it wasn’t being printed in monthlies anymore so if you have read the book that came out this month (Volume 21 Happily Ever After) you are fully caught up.
I think the series struggled at times after it ended the Story-line with the Adversary but I have enjoyed it since the beginning and it’s one of my go to recommendations when someone who doesn’t read comics asks for a suggestion of one to pick up.
Is the fable that explains who Snow White and Rose Red really are based on an actual fable? A quick search doesn’t come up with anything.
I always thought it odd that the land of Oz became a major storyline without Ozma getting involved. I don’t remember her even giving a thought to Oz even though it should have been her first priority after the adversary was defeated. I figured that they must be saving her for her own storyline. I guess not.
If you want to get some more Fables before the end, the 9th graphic novel of Unwritten, which has Willingham and Buckingham as co-writer and co-artist, shows what would have happened if the North Wind had made a different decision about Mr Dark.
I love Fables, and will be sad to see it end. I haven’t gotten that most recent TPB yet, I’ll probably wait until the last one, plus the last volume of Fairest come out so that I have enough in the single Amazon order to get free shipping.
Fables, IMHO, remained a consistently solid read, but I don’t think Fairest was ever that great. They should have had the Briar Rose-Snow Queen-Ali Baba story as a regular series story, a one-off mini-series, or an OGN, and kept on producing no more than one book a month.
The Jack spinoff was a lot of fun, though. A bit over-the-top in it’s meta-ness, but Jack, Gary, Babe, Jack Frost and MacDuff made for some excellent stories.
The single best moment, IMO, in Fables, was the two-issue “boasting” sequence. First the emissary of the evil overlord explains how he is going to conquer the few remaining free lands. But in the next issue, Bigby explains how his side is going to conquer the evil empire.
It was all wholly hypothetical…and wholly brilliant. Like two kids boasting…but these kids actually could do what they boasted of.
The very opening of the whole series, where Jack reports Rose’s murder to Bigby, with the lovingly depicted series of clues for the reader to study, was brilliant. One of the best “mystery” comics ever. (I came close to figuring it out!)
And, of course, the amnesiac interlude with Bigby and Snow, camping out in the woods, was wonderful.
So many others! It’s a long series of really good dramatic instants.
I found the tone of Jack of Fables started to get a little tired but I did love how it played with the entire idea of story.
I was aware of the Unwritten crossover and enjoyed it. As it happens, that series is also ending as well.
For Fables, I liked how the series played with genres. It can deftly jump from mystery, to thriller to action and back again. I am really curious to see how it ends.
Are you talking about Bigby’s talk to Gepetto, right before blowing up the sacred grove?
That WAS good, but my favorite moment was later in the same issue, when Bigby proposes to Snow, and she accepts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen romance done quite as well, cetratinly not in the comics medium.
Also, the conclusion of the “Mean Seasons” arc was absolutely heartbreaking, though all the signs were set up for the reader to see where it was going. I’m glad Ghost re-united with the family eventually.
Been a while, but I think so. They were each bragging about how they were just about to win. One entire issue visualizing each version of victory. Airmobile troops dropping from cloud-giant clouds, etc. Lovely stuff, very much in the SDMB “Eagles fly the Ring to Mount Doom” kind of strategizing.)
Agreed and agreed.
Another thing I love in this series is the shameless revisionism. Gepetto as a bad guy, or Frau Totenkinder as a…um…kinda…sorta…not entirely…good guy. The series really makes you leave behind your preconceptions!
(There have been a couple of times that Gold Digger, by Fred Perry, from Antarctic Press, has made me go all syrupy and teary. One was when Cheetah was lost in space, and couldn’t visit her little daughter for Christmas…but was able to project her soul, so the little girl got a kind of dream-ish visit with her mama. I am such a sucker for cornball sentimentality…when it’s done right! Fables has been “doing it right” all along!)
It wasn’t originally Gepetto. It was originally planned that the Adversary would be revealed to be Peter Pan. But they ran into copyright issues and decided to use a different character.
Actually, now that I think of it, you’re probably thinking of the “Sons of Empire” story, in which the Snow Queen lays out her plan for destroying the Mundy world, and then Pinocchio, not Bigby (though Bigby does appear in the vision that Pinocchio lays out), tells her (as well as Gepetto, the Emperor and several others) how the Fabletown residents and Mundies will likely hand the Empire its proverbial ass.
That’s FUNNY! I could really, really wish they had gone ahead and done it that way!
You are very likely correct; my memory is terrible these days. Anyway, it was a lovely bit of wartime braggadocio, and, dimly as I recall it, I recall it with much fondness!