Summary: This volume is a turning point in the series; many important events happen which will make the continuing story take a new turn.

Comments: This is probably the most exciting volume I've read to date. I just loved every part of it! We start off with a two issue story solely concerning Jack which is integral to his character's future. A very enjoyable story. Then we move onto the heart of this volume where for the first time the setting switches to the Homelands and we see what life is like there now. I won't go into details, but an incredible story takes place with many twists and turns and amazing reveals as we learn the truth of who the Adversary is and how and why they took over the homelands. (I made a wild guess a few books ago based on some loopy logic as to who the Adversary was and I WAS RIGHT! The reveal is really well done and right up to the very last page turn I still didn't know if I was going to be right or not). This story line is 5 issues long but is broken up in the middle with a one issue story of what is going on back at Fabletown where many secrets are revealed and we also get to meet up with Mowgli for the first time and revisit his Jungle Book friends. I'm absolutely gleefully eager to get on to the next volume. ( )

After beating back the Adversary, Boy Blue disappears on his own mission back to the Homelands in search of the real Red Riding Hood, his true love. He has taken along some of Fabletown's most magical objects to help him which is just as well in the long run. He fights his way through the back passages and tunnels right to the Adversary and we finally learn their identity.

Jack also has his own adventure. He has also left Fabletown but has journeyed into the Muncy world to make his living. He has also stolen from the Fables, but he is putting it to a very different use. His aim is to make himself the most well known Fable stopping him from being killed. Turns out though that he isn't as hard to find as he thought he was...

This was so much fun. I won't spoil who the Adversary is but I was a little dissapointed when I got to the big reveal. I need to get back to the Jack of Fables series now I am up to date with Jack's story. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1285829...

Again a decent romp, mostly about Litte Boy Blue's solo raid deep into the Adversary's domain, with the final revelation of who the Adversary actually is. ( )

This series gets better and better with each volume! This volume follows Boy Blue as he goes on an epic quest through the Homelands. For fear of giving anything I away I will only say that Boy Blue's adventures in the Homeland had a very Dread Pirate Roberts feel to them. Highly entertaining and clever. Again, I can't say enough how wonderful this series is. Read them! ( )

Many subplots from previous volumes have been wrapped up, but plenty of new ones are spawned in this trade paperback collection.

“Jack Be Nimble” is a cute satire of contemporary Hollywood, starring Jack Horner, (of the Beanstalk, of the giant-killing and of many other stories), portrayed as a rather eternally unsavory trickster. Making his way to Hollywood with a fistful of cash, he becomes a wildly successful producer of films based on his own mythological exploits. Eventually, though, his ruthless business practices and unsavory past catch up with him—until he incurs the wrath of a woman scorned, and discovers just how much wrath can be packed in even a diminutive woman. He was never mentioned in the Fables series after this, since Willingham created a spin-off series based on his character (check out “Jack of Fables” series).

The main story arc (“Homelands”) follows the quest of Boy Blue-- the nerdy, trumpet-playing office clerk is really a man of cunning, brilliance, conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity. 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, leaving Fabletown--after “borrowing” the Witching Cloak, the Vorpal Blade (from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem "Jabberwocky"), and his best friends Pinocchio's wooden body.

Armed with the now-known full capabilities of the Witching Cloak (it provided impregnable armor; could not be burnt, stretched or ripped; provided endless personal carrying capacity; and allowed a large degree of shape-shifting), Blue cut a swath of destruction across the Homelands. He killed thousands of soldiers, killed and impersonated multiple governors (always ordering his underlings to lower tax rates), slew a dragon through cleverness and guile, and defeated the three demigod Knights of the Rus (Bright Day, Radiant Sun and Dark Night), who rank among the most formidable warriors in the Empire. The knights were magically connected to Baba Yaga; the fact that their decapitated heads kept talking alerted Blue to the fact that she was still alive and a prisoner of Fabletown.

Blue’s mission is to find Gepetto and see if he can fix Pinocchio (and reunite father and son); and for himself to be reunited with his lost love: Red Riding Hood. The reader then gets an idea of how vast the conquered lands of the Adversary is, and who’s who in the ruling elite: starting with the commander of the Emperor's personal guard: the Snow Queen herself.

Finally, the identity of the Adversary is revealed! My suspicion of who he really is was right on the mark! And while the revelation of the Adversary's identity might seem like the beginning of the end of the series, it is really a catalyst for many more stories to come. The next major story arc is alluded to when the Adversary states that after countless centuries, he has just finished conquering the lands of European Fables, and is prepared to begin enslaving the Arabian Fables. Also, now that his identity is known, the Fabletown Fables may try to strike back, or he may try to make another attempt at enslaving Fabletown.

Unbeknownst to the Fabletown community (which thought Blue had stolen its valuable magical devices), Blue had been on a mission from Prince Charming. In addition to its other properties, the Witching Cloak had infinite storage space. Blue emptied every library in the Homelands, bringing Fabletown hundreds of volumes of intelligence. Unfortunately, this could not be made public, so Blue had to stand trial.

In the “Meanwhile” issue, we return to The Farm, where Mowgli (of the “Jungle Book” stories) has come back from Baghdad to try to spring Bagheera from jail. He’s a "tourist," i.e., undercover secret agent working abroad, one of the three recruited by Bigby years ago. He manages to learn of Shere Khan’s death and catches up on good times with Baloo the Bear. Also, a traitor is exposed. That was quite unexpected indeed!

Book Details:

Title Vol. 6: Fables: Homelands
Author Bill Willingham
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

The center story of this Fables collection is Little Boy Blue's quest in the Homelands. In the previous collection (or issue #31, if you've been following the comic) Blue took the Witching Cloak and the Vorpal Blade from the Fabletown armory and embarked on a mission back to the dimensional worlds from which the Fables came. His objective is to kill the Adversary, the conqueror of their homelands and to rescue his true love, Little Red Riding Hood. (Well, she's all grown up, so I should probably drop the "little".) It's a classic quest tale, fraught with dangers and wonders, and peppered from that magic/mundane mix that is the Fables series. And as an appetizer, you can enjoy the story of how Jack the giant killer, beanstalk climber and candlestick jumper built a Hollywood empire. Cool, huh?
--J. ( )

Summary: After a two-part story in which we learn what Jack did when he left Fabletown after the election - moved to Hollywood and became a movie producer, apparently - the rest of this volume gets down to the business of telling the story of Little Boy Blue. Blue absconded from Fabletown at the same time as Jack, taking with him the witching cloak and vorpal sword (of Jaberwocky fame). He's headed back into the Homelands, which have been controlled by the Adversary for over a thousand years, and while he's there, he means to find his lost love Little Red Riding Hood - the real one, this time - and kill the Adversary. Back on the homefront, Mowgli's back from travelling the world and has a new assignment, while the other Fables attempt to root out one of the Adversary's spies in their midst.

Review: After the more personal, emotional story of Volume 5, Volume 6 gets back on track, chugging the plot relentlessly forward. At the same time as we get forward plot momentum, though, we also get quite a bit of backstory filled in, with the revelation not only of the Adversary's identity (although I totally guessed right in Vol. 4), but also of how they became the Adversary and how things got to be the way they are. What I loved most about this volume in particular is how well Willingham is able to create many-dimensioned characters out of fairy tale staples, while still having it feel organic to their origins. That's been true throughout the series, but in Homelands I repeatedly found myself nodding my head and thinking "Yeah, that's right. If character Z *were* real, he'd totally be X and do Y." That's impressive storywriting, especially considering the disparate sources from which Willingham draws, yet he still blends it all together into a cohesive whole.

One thing that did bother me a little is that there's no reference to how much time is passing in the main story arc, whereas in the Jack story at the beginning, they're explicit about five years passing since Election Day, so it's unclear how the two fit together. Presumably we'll figure it out when the series gets back around to Snow White and the kids. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: While I missed the familiar main characters of Bigby and Snow, Homelands was still an excellent installment, and a chance to take the story and art into more fantastic arenas than we've seen before. Very enjoyable. ( )

The sixth outing of the Fables, fairy tale characters in modern New York, begins with a story about the trixter Jack (who has later acquired a comic of his own). It is a pretty run-of-the-mill story with art that didn't please my eye.

Most of the rest of the book is above par, however. The story here is a heroic tale of how Boy Blue hacks his way through the goblin-infested Homelands in search for his true love and best friend. Again a great story, and remarkable art by Buckingham and Leialoha.

One of the best Fables collections so far. ( )

Fables is an amazing series, and this is one of the best storylines they've done so far. ( )

We start with a one-off on where Jack went to, which introduces his own new spin-off series.

In the mean time, we see Fabletown, where Blue has run off with Pinnochio and gone back to the homelands, ready to face down the advesary, whom we finally see and discover. We are also told that so far only the European worlds were taken, but the adversary is expanding, and the Asian and African worlds are set to fall as well...

A gripping adventure installment to this great series about exiled fairy tale characters stuck in modern day New York.

see all my reviews at www.tushuguan.blogspot.com ( )

Another wonderful showing in this series, although I didn't enjoy this as much as the others. ( )

I love this series! In the latest installment, we learn what happened after Boy Blue disappeared with the Vorpal Sword and Witching Cloak and went to challenge the Adversary single-handedly. ( )

http://vierran45.livejournal.com/9249... ( )