After beating back the Adversary, Boy Blue disappears on his own mission back to the Homelands in search of the real Red Riding Hood, his true love. He has taken along some of Fabletown's most magical objects to help him which is just as well in the long run. He fights his way through the back passages and tunnels right to the Adversary and we finally learn their identity.
Jack also has his own adventure. He has also left Fabletown but has journeyed into the Muncy world to make his living. He has also stolen from the Fables, but he is putting it to a very different use. His aim is to make himself the most well known Fable stopping him from being killed. Turns out though that he isn't as hard to find as he thought he was...
This was so much fun. I won't spoil who the Adversary is but I was a little dissapointed when I got to the big reveal. I need to get back to the Jack of Fables series now I am up to date with Jack's story.
The Fable universe is extended with the addition of the Fables from the Arabian worlds. They are living in Bagdad and Sinbad with an array of slaves and advisors comes to meet with the major of Fabletown to see about the two cultures combining their strengths after the Adversary has turned his attention to them. They have brought a genie with them, a piece of ancient and powerful Fable magic which could be deemed an act of war. Luckily Fabletown has their own witch in residence, Frau Totenkinder.
After the main series of comics there is also The Ballad of Rodney and Jane. They are both wooden people, Rodey is in the Adversary's army and Jane is a nurse. They meet and quickly fall in love, but have some problems with kissing and certain anatomical issues so they petition to be made human ("meat"). Making their dreams come true comes at a price.
I loved the Ballad at the end and am looking forward to reading more about Rodney and Jane who I am sure will pop up in future installments. It was also good to get some new Fable characters and it's good to have a scary Fable on the side of good!
Mowgli is off looking for the missing Bigby Wolf in a bid to free Baghera from a cage on the Farm. The problem is Bigby is excellent at hiding himself when he doesn't want to be found and now is definitely one of those times. A wild goose chase ensues leading Mogwli through Russian when he realises the reason the lead goes cold. Bigby is not being recognised by humans because he is using his other allies, the wolves. Luckily for Mowgli he was raised by wolves and knows their language and their ways.
There is a mission for Bigby that involves Jacl's beanstalk beans. Wolves are not natural climbers, but he has a mission that needs him to go into the Cloud Kingdoms to pull a massive hit and run on the Adversary. He is just the man/wolf for the job and if he suceeds in his mission he will be able to be reuinted with Snow and his children.
My favourite in the series so far as it has some great closure. Bigby and Snow are two of my favourite characters and it was great to advance their story so much. I can't wait to see what trouble their brood get into and I hope Rose Red has a greater part to play in later stories.
She is published in The Metro which is one of the free London papers you see people reading on the tube all the time. My husband is a sweetheart and often brings home ones he has torn out which particuarly remind him of me (like Nemi looking at cars and falling in love with the purple one or having a happiness overdose eating chocoalte and listening to the new Tori Amos album). Metro keep a copy of Nemi in their online archive so if you enjoyed the strips above go here for lots more.
