by Bill Willingham (writer), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva De La Cruz (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)
The Story: Mr. North confronts Mr. Dark and tells him of Totenkinder’s challenge to single combat as the Dark Man continues to build his domain.
What’s Good: I wasn’t particularly impressed by the Rose Red arc. Overall, it meandered a bit and the result was that I wasn’t anywhere near as excited for Fables #100 as I should be. All of that changed with this issue, which had me salivating for #100. This comic should serve as a template for how to construct an effective build-up issue.
Much of this is because Willingham spends much of this issue showing, and not just telling, what is at stake. We get a disturbing peek into Mister Dark’s transformed New York City, one that’s rife with irrational violence, cruelty, apathy, and, well, zombies. It’s a dark and diseased place and instantly, next month’s climactic issue feels all the more important. More than that though, Willingham hypes #100 by basically telling us exactly what that book is going to be about: an epic duel between Mister Dark and the suped-up Totenkinder.
Willingham relays this purely through a tense dialogue between North and Dark. I love it when writers have immensely powerful entities just… talk. It’s great to have scenes where characters who are essentially gods only imply their powers and merely converse, while showing a certain respect for one another. It’s always an awesome dynamic and Willingham does it well. More importantly, by merely talking about what will, or might, happen next month without actually giving us any action this month, Willingham ratchets up the tension and makes us want #100 all the more.
Where Willingham most shows his skill in building up #100 though is in creating a kind of retrospective aspect to the upcoming conflict. Willingham makes the genius decision of having each witherling be somehow tied to fables, which means there are plenty of references to past events in Fables’ long run, from obscure events to major ones. This culminates in an awesome splash by Inaki Miranda where Miranda essentially zombifies one my favourite Fables covers of all time. That image alone tells it all when it comes to what’s at stake. Willingham not only makes it clear what the consequences of Dark’s victory will be, but he also makes Dark’s powers reach across the entirety of the Fables series. It’s only right that a conflict culminating at issue #100 should reflect back on prior stories.
Inaki Miranda’s art is also truly fantastic. Her backgrounds are super detailed, intimidating, and yet vaguely dreamy while her characters are likable and emotive in a way not unlike Amy Reeder’s. I suppose the best compliment I can give her work is that I wouldn’t mind her showing up to longer stretches of work on Fables and filling in for Mark Buckingham on a more regular basis.
Of course, there’s also a great issue ending as well. It wouldn’t be a build-up issue if there wasn’t a seed planted for a future story beyond next month and boy, that’s one heckuva seed.
What’s Not So Good: I’m really hard pressed to think about much that this issue did wrong. That said, it’s not perfect, as few comics are. The scenes involving the kids taking lessons from the attendant winds weren’t particularly necessary and could’ve made way for more Totenkinder. Also, I was rather ambivalent about the narration, which while not bad, didn’t do enough for me to justify its presence, beyond reminding me that, yeah, that cat is still around.
Conclusion: The best issue of Fables since Bufkin was running the show.
Grade: A –
-Alex Evans
Grade
Conclusion