Volume fourteen in the long-running Fables series is a breath of fresh air after the frustrating pointlessness of the last entry, Fables: The Great Crossover. Picking up after the events of the crossover, and employing flashbacks both recent and distant, Witches takes great strides forward with the ongoing plot, which centers around Mister Dark and the Fables’ need to prevent him from destroying them entirely.
Several narrative threads run through this volume, all driven by Mister Dark’s actions. Locked away in Fabletown’s administrative building, cut off from the world outside, Bufkin the flying monkey finds himself battling wits with a mighty djinn and Baba Yaga, who seek freedom as surely as he does. Is a flying monkey up to the task of defeating such powerful enemies – and does he really have a choice, if he wants to see Fabletown ever again?
Upstate, at the Farm, Frau Totenkinder, Ozma and the other magic users debate who should step up to deal with Mister Dark, a discussion that’s resolved in a rather unexpected way. Gepetto, free from his earthly imprisonment, also seeks to move against Mister Dark, but at a price that many will see as too high. And Beauty has interesting news for Beast, news he may not be thrilled to hear, thanks to Frau Totenkinder….
And at the center of it all is the mysterious Mister Dark, who finally reveals his past, and in so doing, how he might be destroyed. Or at least contained for a while.
The last chapter in the collection leaves Fabletown and the Farm far behind, to visit Ambrose (once the Frog Prince, now the Good King) in his new kingdom of men, creatures and goblins. Ambrose finds himself between a rock and a hard place after a goblin’s inadvertent midnight snack of a sentient squirrel. By his own laws, the goblin’s life is forfeit for murder, but the fragile peace between the Adversary’s former soldiers and the kingdom’s other denizens might be ripped asunder should he be put to the blade. Ambrose must act quickly – and wisely – to prevent disaster.
Willingham is really on his game in Witches, drawing unexpected strength and actions from various characters while making use of even the tiniest of Fables (the Barleycorn brides from Storybook Love). He also deftly draws on the recent Fables novel, Peter and Max, with a single line of dialogue, to set the stage for a coming development. And as always, Mark Buckingham’s art is top notch: clean, crisp and appealing.
The next volume can’t come quickly enough!
(Vertigo, 2010)
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