Fables, Vol. 06: Homelands

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 show more 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. show less

Volume 6 opens up with Jack's adventures after leaving Fabletown in the previous volume, which includes a stint in Hollywood. This is an entertaining little story that is clearly a precursor for the spin-off series about Jack that followed shortly after this (and will probably be a fun read that I will try to get to after I'm done with the main Fables series). Most of the rest of the book is concerned with the other character that took off from Fabletown in Volume 5 -- Boy Blue, who returned to the Homelands in search of his love Red Riding Hood and to seek vengeance against the Adversary. Armed with potent magic tools, he is a one-man wrecking machine bent upon destroying many numbers of the Adversary's army. Back in Fabletown, Prince show more Charming and the Beast are strengthening their espionage efforts and gearing up for an eventual showdown with the Adversary.

Despite the notable absence of my favorite characters Snow and Bigby (who are both just given a random mention by other characters), I quite enjoyed this addition to the Fables story. We get to see more of the Homelands and we finally meet the Adversary, who is both more sly and more ruthless than one would have suspected. There are also some new and interesting characters introduced, including the Snow Queen and Mowgli, in addition to some well-established characters becoming even further developed, such as Boy Blue, Prince Charming, and the Beast. (Beauty, however, remains fairly bland, with her presence being shown in a few scenes without her actually saying or doing anything.) This book is a lot more like an action or spy novel than the previous volumes and even though those aren't necessarily my favorite genres, Willingham did such a good job keeping up with the character development side of things that I was still interested to keep reading and seeing what would happen to these folks next.

Because I've neglected to mention the illustrations side of Fables in my more recent reviews, I'd like to point out these continue to be top-notch. The scenes and characters are all done in a fairly realistic style, even with all the fantastical elements. I love the use of backgrounds and other small details to indicate which story we are in -- for instance, chopped logs running in a sidebar when in Geppetto's cottage, film strip banners for the opening title of each of Jack's Hollywood chapters, and a caged bluebird atop each page when Boy Blue is in captivity, to name a few. show less

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, show more 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 show less

Rating: 4 stars

A humorous interlude shows us what Jack has been up to since leaving Fabletown. Then, Boy Blue secretly returns to the Homelands to rescue his beloved Red Riding Hood and ends up captured by the Adversary himself. Neither Boy Blue nor the Adversary is anything like what we thought they were.

The plot is finally moving forward again! Excellent! Finding out who the Adversary is and how he became the enemy of Fabletown is thrilling. If you've been reading Fables but stopped after Vol. 5 because it was boring, pick it back up again!

Finally, we learn a lot more about the mysterious Adversary, and more about what drove the Fables from the Homelands. This is another excellent volume which is quite creative with the stories of various characters in Fables, fleshing out and giving some rather surprising twists to the backstories of certain Fables to make for an excellent installment.

Little Boy Blue's attempt to stop the Adversary - and the revelation of the Adversary's identity - is quite engaging, following up threads that were sewn as far back as Volume 4. Naturally, after this point, Willingham's story has to veer sharply away from its original course, but the mystery of the Adversary has been drawn out long enough, and it's time to move on to pastures new.