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Fables get better and better with each volume. And I really can't understand how that might be possible provided that volume 4 (March of the wooden soldiers) was already stellar.10th volume tells a really great fairy tale and is almost stand-alone (provided you know the characters). It is full of surprising twists and manages to bring in some new characters and revive some old characters.
The strength that Willingham exhibits the most is his character development - his crisp, correct dialogue coupled with Buckingham's artwork brings the Fables to life. The vast majority of this satisfying epic is the story of the "Good Prince."Bill Willingham's "Fables" is the most interesting concept in comics I've seen in the last few years.
This volume, #10 "The Good Prince" may be my favorite yet. I am running out of superlatives for my reviews of the various Fables volumes.
The overarching story arc of the Fables battle against the Adversary continues, but this happens only in short cutaways to side scenes. In it, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham finally give poor Fly, the janitor, his due.
They lovingly make a hero out of him and the story fills up this very meaty volume. "Fables" is even beyond Vaughan's "Y The Last Man" and "Ex Machina." The artwork is top notch - a nice balance between the hyper-realistic exaggerated new style and the more sedate, literal style of the classics.
It is utterly fascinating and refreshing to see him take historical fairy tale archetypes a completely new direction.Like all other Vertigo titles, it is not recommended for children - as an adult I find Fables extremely entertaining.
I'm surprised at the negative reviews; how you could read 10 of the series, then not like this one.Fly is quite changed, and its explained. Lots of planning was done to set things up for him to do what he does. Some nice character development.Now - what happens next. Some friends are trading copies - I need the next one.
This book continues the thousands of pages that have gone before. Fly starts that war. Not weapons, not battalions, just a nice place to live. So, if you haven't read the nine books that came before, anything you learn about this story will count as a spoiler when you read the whole series. We've all grown up - the "glory" of war consists mostly of dead or maimed soldiers, ravaged civilians, and victorious nations with crumbling economies and war debts that will take generations to clear. Please, start at the start - you'll like this even more when you get here.In the last book, Fly was transformed. The series of books carries one whole story arc. He brings an improbable, maybe impossible army to bear, establishes an outpost within the heart of the belligerent empire, and starts building roads and farms.
The enchantment that held him as the guy mopping the floor passed. In this collection of the original monthly comics, he takes on the role he was born to, or maybe something even bigger.A vast war has been brewing, hundreds of worlds against the tiny outpost of Fables. As my father told me, "Doing well is the best revenge," and Fly's happy little kingdom does very well indeed.You just have to see this to believe it. This book is fantasy, yes, but Fly finds a better way.-- wiredweird
Bill Willingham, Fables: The Good Prince (Vertigo, 2008)Flycatcher has regained his memory, and now, as Prince Ambrose, it's time for him to claim--or reclaim, as it were--his destiny. Willingham is doing a great job with the politics of this thing, above all, and that's what makes it the compelling series it is; the characters are great, but this one's definitely situation-driven. With some surprising allies, he undertakes a quest that may well change the balance of power in the upcoming war between Fabletown and the Empire. Meanwhile, Fabletown are preparing for what they assume will be an all-out attack by the Empire on the mundane world, and to do that, they're going to have to find themselves some very specialized teachers. I'm not usually a big fan of political thrillers, but between this and Ex Machina, it's been quite the season for them. ****
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