This enjoyable volume in the Fables series offers an overdue fleshing-out of Flycatcher's character. And -- forgive me -- it's quite suspenseful, wondering whether he's gonna "croak." ( )

The Good Prince is the tenth installment of Fables, a graphic novel series about characters from various fables which had been exiled from their Homelands by an evil emperor and have found a refuge in modern day New York. Unfortunately, they cannot spend their days in peace as the enemy threatens a total war to annihilate the colony. The stories are full of adventure, humor and strangely believable story lines. In this issue the tale of Prince Ambrose, or as all Fables know him Flycatcher the Janitor, is recounted and how he has to face many perils to finally avenge his family. This book is one of the best so far and an absolute joy to read with an epic story, romance and many surprises. I can highly recommend Fables and The Good Prince to anyone interested in graphic novels and modern fairy tales. ( )

Flycatcher was a happily married man in the Homelands, with many children. He lived peacefully with his family, his only quirk being the occasional resumption of his frog curse when he was nervous, scared or especially excited. Fortunately it only took a kiss from his loving wife to return him to human form, and, as time went on, he would often go for years between instances of the curse asserting itself.

His tranquil family life was shattered when the Adversary invaded his realm. Fly geared up in order to fight, unaware that the enemy troops had already invaded his castle. As he bid farewell to his family, enemy soldiers burst into the room, causing Fly's curse to manifest immediately. Trapped in his frog form, he could only watch helplessly as his younger children were murdered immediately and his wife and eldest daughter repeatedly raped before being killed themselves. How Fly returned to his human form is unknown - it is speculated that he took a last kiss from his dead wife. Finally he learned of the sanctuary of the mundane world and, figuring that his family would have fled there, he traveled there as well. Some of his fellow Fables are aware of the true situation, but conspire to keep the truth from him, knowing that it would destroy him.

Since then, Flycatcher has acted as the janitor for the Woodland building, the center of government for Fabletown. Fly was not employed in the traditional sense, since the nature of his history is such that, if he has a job that he could choose to quit, he would have to do so and return to the Homelands to seek his missing family. As this would almost certainly result in his death, Bigby Wolf developed a system whereby Fly is working off a never-ending series of community service orders for a series of minor infractions, usually eating flies. As such, Fly can remain in the job that he enjoys doing and where he feels important. This also helped in him not realizing the truth about who he truly is: Prince Ambrose or the famed Frog Prince, whose family has been slaughtered during the conquest of his kingdom centuries ago. But now, he is finally free of his trauma-induced amnesia and due to become the most unlikely and unassuming hero--the one fated to save Fabletown and the Homelands from the initial attacks of the Adversary and his undefeatable armies.

Along with the Forsworn Knight (Introducing himself as the Knight Lancelot of the Lake; the ghost informed Fly that he will act as a guide for the first part of Fly's quest) and wearing his armor guided by visions, Ambrose descends into the Witching Well on a desperate mission. He is the only man for the job (since Lance claims Prince Ambrose was to take up the role of the Once and Future King--a role formerly held by King Arthur). "Keep in mind that you'll be unbeatable in battle, as long as you wear this armor, wield Excalibur, and--most important--only so long as you keep pure and good."

But before he can start, he needs the help of those at the bottom of the Witching Well. Among the ghosts are Gretel, Baby "Boo" Bear, the original two of the Three Little Pigs, members of the Mouse Police, Little Miss Muffet's Spider husband, Shere Khan and Bluebeard, as well as Trusty John and of course, the ever reliable Weyland Smith. The ghosts are informed that they shall have flesh when they are near Flycatcher, and they follow him out of the land of the dead, into the garden kingdom where Flycatcher was once prince.

Meanwhile, Prince Charming and other leaders of the community (after all, you can't really expect Snow White and Bigby to be retired, except in the pure technical tense) are preparing for war. They have been made aware that Lord Hansel and his acolytes have a mission to rescue the heads of the wooden soldiers captured in the battle for Fabletown. In the process they are a distraction while the Adversary plans to destroy our world. Through the prodding of Kay, Frau Totenkinder was forced to reveal the nature of her spies in the Empire.

Only Flycatcher and his army of ghosts have a chance of stopping the Adversary from wiping out his home. But how can the meek Flycatcher undertake this deadly task? Let us not be too hasty in judging the mettle of Flycatcher's character, after all, it has been noted that Flycatcher was the only Fable to reach the mundane world who had nothing to forgive, be covered up or otherwise being absolved of under the Fabletown Amnesty.

Book Details:

Title Vol. 10: Fables: The Good Prince
Author Bill Willingham
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

this has to be one of my favorite volumes so far, after 1001 Nights of Snowfall. This is King Ambrose's story (you may know him as Fly Catcher. After Santa made him remember, he knows what he has to do, and shoulders the burden. I don't want to get too much into it, but... oh. It's wonderful and heartbreaking and if you like this series at all, you must get at least as far as this volume! I also really liked the page borders in this story arc--very well done, especially the candy canes and cookies whenever Frau Tottenkinder was on the scene!

The book does take a break in the middle for an interlude with Snow and Bigby's kids turn 5. It was a cute story that comes up again in the next Jack volume, but... my characters look a certain way. This issue was drawn by Aaron Alexovitch. It threw me at first because that's now what Snow White looks like! (Although I did like her curls...) I'm a big Alexovitch fan, but I do get set in my ways.

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

Summary: With his memory of events in the Homelands restored, Flycatcher - or Prince Ambrose, as he's more properly known - can no longer be content serving as the Woodland's janitor. Instead, he plans a daring return to the Homelands with the help of the Forsworn Knight (the suit of armor hanging in the back of the Woodland business office). He must travel down the Witching Well and through the lands of Death, but he eventually raises an army and reaches his home, which he sets up as the kingdom of Haven. But the Adversary isn't going to let him carve out an independent nation right in the middle of the Homelands, not when both sides are in the midst of preparing for war.

Review: Kudos - again! - to Willingham and company, for taking the story in a direction I wasn't expecting, yet making everything fit together flawlessly. Up until this point, Flycatcher's been a minor background character and mostly comic relief, but he emerges here as a multi-layered and enormously sympathetic figure - the only Fable not to need the general amnesty of the Fabletown charter. I also really enjoyed the new characters introduced, as well as the reappearance of several old characters I'd mostly forgotten about, although I should have known that in a comic book, being dead is never really an obstacle. Overall, this volume was intensely satisfying, made some major forward movement on the plot, and left me with more of a warmfuzzy "awwww" feeling than Fables usually do. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Unexpected, original, and very satisfying. Read it, and then join me in being antsy to get your hands on the newly-published volume 11. ( )