Fables

Well well. This short collected edition was all about Snow's and Bigby's cubs, mostly about Therese who got taken to a different land, of forgotten and murderous toys, to become their queen. We also learn more about different fates and premonitions, coming to life, and how Bigby ended in the situation he is in, without even knowing it. The queen turned into tortoise with a cup containing a whole world features again. Very interesting.

Oh so this is why I'm still reading this series.

It feels like we're into the home stretch and we're playing for keeps now. The main tale is a real heartbreaker which feels like a return to the more traditional fairy tale that the series is rooted in. The chaser is a clever parable about destiny that also reframes the entire series, with some fantastic guest art.

There is still a few plot threads I'm concerned about, but after this I'm keen to see how they wrap it all up.

Seems the series is finally back in the swing of things. It's nice to spend more time with the cubs and the Christmas Carol homage was suitably chilling. The rest is mostly filler and retconning but mostly harmless.

'Cubs in Toyland' is a stunning, dark-as-hell story that I absolutely loved. This is a visually terrifying and disturbing story of two kids drawn into the land of discarded toys.

The creepiest Fables volume in ages. For my money, Toyland is far scarier than Mr. Dark was.

For a long time, Fables has been feeling a little played out, and since the defeat of the Adversary we've had some good individual stories (Peter & Max), but no satisfactory arcs. Mr. Dark, who I assume was supposed to be the Bogeyman, was too simplistically and single-mindedly evil to be truly worrisome, and was defeated handily by the North Wind almost as an afterthought.

With this volume and its predecessor, I think Willingham, Buckingham et al. have found their groove again. The story of Wolf & Snow's cubs is now the driver, and it's a good engine for stories. I was thinking about this volume for days after finishing it. It ends brilliantly, with the beginning of a conversation you'd love to be in on, but never will be. Looking forward to Vol. 19!