I reviewed most of this series at Epinions. Now you get to read the reviews here.
Bill Willingham's Fables: Homelands gives us the adventures of two of Fabletown's denizens who have gone missing: Jack, who is suspected (with good reason -- as Beast points out, Bigby Wolf told him "Always suspect Jack first.") of having made off with the contents of one of the late Bluebeard's treasure rooms; and Boy Blue, who seems to have made off with several of the town's magical artifacts, specifically the Witching Cloak and the Vorpal Sword.
We start off with another of Jack's schemes to make his fortune -- except this time he's starting off with a fortune. He heads to Hollywood to make -- well, with Jack, it's never quite sure what his goals are, since he can't go public -- but he's going to make a splash. He sets himself up as a production company, with layers of front men to keep himself out of the public eye, and begins work on a fantasy trilogy -- the story of Jack. (No one ever said he was short on ego.) He's brought Jill with him on this jaunt. She just wanted to get out and see the world, but winds up living in Jack office in a series of antique dollhouses (she's rather diminutive). She's not real happy about that.
If this is Willingham's take on Hollywood and its workings, it's a little heavy handed. Jack has set himself up to be the biggest shark in an ocean full of them, and pretty well succeeds: we get a picture of Jack's character in this one, and it's not pretty. He's forgotten, though, that there's always payback -- this scheme works out just like the others have.
Boy Blue's goals are somewhat different: he's busily carving his way through the Homelands to get to the Adversary. He wants the Adversary to be history, and he wants Red Riding Hood, the real one, the one he fell in love with. There are a few surprises, but Blue is up to them -- he's a lot sneakier than we thought. And he's working for someone even sneakier than he is.
We also get to meet Mowgli, of Jungle Book fame, who's one of the "Travelers," Fabletown's spies in the mundy world. The new mayor, Prince Charming, has a special job for him.
This one is a lot of fun, from the swashbuckling adventures of Boy Blue in the Homelands to the machinations of the Adversary (and we finally find out who that is) and Prince Charming.
The art is up to the usual standard, and there are even distinct shifts in style when the characters are telling their histories that set off the narrative into a real "once-upon-a-time" mode. There's one thing I haven't mentioned before, and that's the borders around a lot of the pages. They give the feel of an old story book and add a lot to the fairy tale feel of the books.
This volume takes us back to the main narrative, and although the Jack story tends to go on a little too long -- I mean, we know Jack's a creep, right? We don't really need the repetition of just what a piece of work he is -- the Boy Blue story line more than makes up for it. I'm calling it a solid 4.
(Vertigo, 2006) Collects Fables #34-41.
We start off with another of Jack's schemes to make his fortune -- except this time he's starting off with a fortune. He heads to Hollywood to make -- well, with Jack, it's never quite sure what his goals are, since he can't go public -- but he's going to make a splash. He sets himself up as a production company, with layers of front men to keep himself out of the public eye, and begins work on a fantasy trilogy -- the story of Jack. (No one ever said he was short on ego.) He's brought Jill with him on this jaunt. She just wanted to get out and see the world, but winds up living in Jack office in a series of antique dollhouses (she's rather diminutive). She's not real happy about that.
If this is Willingham's take on Hollywood and its workings, it's a little heavy handed. Jack has set himself up to be the biggest shark in an ocean full of them, and pretty well succeeds: we get a picture of Jack's character in this one, and it's not pretty. He's forgotten, though, that there's always payback -- this scheme works out just like the others have.
Boy Blue's goals are somewhat different: he's busily carving his way through the Homelands to get to the Adversary. He wants the Adversary to be history, and he wants Red Riding Hood, the real one, the one he fell in love with. There are a few surprises, but Blue is up to them -- he's a lot sneakier than we thought. And he's working for someone even sneakier than he is.
We also get to meet Mowgli, of Jungle Book fame, who's one of the "Travelers," Fabletown's spies in the mundy world. The new mayor, Prince Charming, has a special job for him.
This one is a lot of fun, from the swashbuckling adventures of Boy Blue in the Homelands to the machinations of the Adversary (and we finally find out who that is) and Prince Charming.
The art is up to the usual standard, and there are even distinct shifts in style when the characters are telling their histories that set off the narrative into a real "once-upon-a-time" mode. There's one thing I haven't mentioned before, and that's the borders around a lot of the pages. They give the feel of an old story book and add a lot to the fairy tale feel of the books.
This volume takes us back to the main narrative, and although the Jack story tends to go on a little too long -- I mean, we know Jack's a creep, right? We don't really need the repetition of just what a piece of work he is -- the Boy Blue story line more than makes up for it. I'm calling it a solid 4.
(Vertigo, 2006) Collects Fables #34-41.
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