Jim Fern

... and right back on form with all the magic at stake. inwhich Bufkin and Frau Totenkinder step up, the Barleycorn Brides make their mark, the Adversary makes his move, Mister Dark gets lonesome waiting for the Fables to retrace their steps, and King Fly makes an agonizing decision in his Haven Heaven. on one level a meditation on what makes a hero medal you get to keep. and on another a demonstration of why the reconciliation model's blanket amnesty has to trump vengeance if all sides need show more to live together afterwards. show less

Out of all the installments of the main series and the spin-offs, this HAS to be one of my absolute favorites! The title for this collection is more than appropriate, and I sincerely hope that Ozma's past is explored more in future issues so we can see how she is so powerful, and why she chooses to maintain such a youthful - even child-like - appearance.

One thing I was more than satisfied about was learning more about Frau Totenkinder. We learn more about her abilities and power, and a few show more things about her history and tools. The story of Mister Dark is also explored, and though I wished for a little more, it was overall very satisfying. The story arc within this volume greatly pleased me, and I would be doing this book a injustice by giving it anything less than the five stars it deserves. show less

I read this book back in September but have been putting off reviewing it since then. Originally, it was due to the fact I thought I already had reviewed it. I expressed my opinion of it to Jonas, after all, and likely to several others (I think I mentioned it to Sharon in passing, as she was playing The Wolf Among Us then). Since I was talking about it so often, hadn't I reviewed it?

Apparently not.

Once I discovered my mistake I began putting it off for an entirely different reason. Namely, show more the fact that this book was remarkably unimpressive.

I'm a big fan of the Fables series. I read through the books up to the most recently published Deluxe edition each year, and have played the Tell Tale game. Intermittently I'm one of those people obsessively checking for the rumors of a sequel. I read through the comics faithfully enough to have won the first-reads edition of [b: The Wolf Among Us|23784080|Fables The Wolf Among Us #1|Matthew Sturges|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418406313s/23784080.jpg|43399884] book - which was great, by the way. All of that meant little, however, when faced with this book. It's an anomaly of sorts. How could a [a: Bill Willingham|12444|Bill Willingham|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1347423972p2/12444.jpg] authored chapter in the Fables books be so, well, painful to get through?

There are two things that make comics work - a good plot, and good artwork. [b: Werewolves of the Heartland|7619569|Fables Werewolves of the Heartland|Bill Willingham|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375405928s/7619569.jpg|10092138] had neither. The plot, while it did tie back to Bigby's WWII days and prove an interesting mystery, in the end went nowhere. It seemed as if the book was more of an excuse to have a massive werewolf fight than to actually be an intriguing mystery or further any sort of characterization of Bigby, or indeed, any other characters.

The artwork, on the other hand, seemed plainly sloppy. While I didn't mind the werewolf nudity, as other reviewers did, I did mind the lack of detailing in the characters overall. The book seemed hastily done, rather than the intricate artwork Fables nearly always has. The Arabian Nights Snow White story had better artwork than this, truly.

So, in essence, while this story has a decent idea at the heart of it the execution of exceptionally poor. It could have been more than a werewolf fight-fest, but it really wasn't. The action of the fight could have been more clearly rendered, the mystery could have been stronger... but it ultimately wasn't. An embarrassing hiccup in Fables history, this is best left only for completionists to read. show less

This is the fourteenth book in the Fables series and finally takes us back to the storyline started in book twelve. Finally we learn more about what Mister Dark is up to and what happened to Baba Yaga. It was very good installment in this series; I enjoyed it a lot.

The first part of the book goes through the history of Mister Dark and how he was trapped in the first place. Then we go to Fabletown where the witches are preparing to smackdown with Mister Dark. Ozma is trying to throw out Frau show more Totenkinder and Frau Totenkinder takes a walk between worlds for mysterious purposes.

While all of the above is going on Bufkin is still trapped in the Fable’s office and ends up facing off against Baba Yaga and a Genie; his only allies are the Magic Mirror and a bunch of seed fairies.

It was a very fun issue. We learn lots of back history and there was lots of excellent action. The illustration is spectacular, in keeping with previous issues. I wasn’t as keen on the illustration for the last couple issues; this was a short diversion featuring Ambrose and Red Riding Hood.

The main storyline progresses some, not a ton and I hope we really get to see the Witches and Mister Dark face off in the next issue.

There was action, a great storyline, and some wonderful humor. All in all much, much better than The Great Fables Crossover.

Overall another excellent installment in this series. I loved learning the history of Mister Dark, watching the Witches prepare for war, and seeing Bufkin face off with Baba Yaga. Fans of the series should be happy with this installment. Highly recommended for fans of fantasy and urban fantasy graphic novels. show less