Fables #159 // Review
Pan ran into a few wolf children. It was an accident. Could have happened to any forest, really. Problem was: it happened in the Black Forest. The battle escalated quickly and became the sort of thing of legend. In the process, there was a massacre. Death and destruction because of a chance encounter? Maybe it was a little bit more complicated than that. And maybe that’s exactly what the heroes are going to find out in Fables #159. The fantasy adventure continues courtesy of writer Bill Willingham, artist Mark Buckingham, and inker Steve Leialoha. Color casts itself over page and panel courtesy of Lee Loughridge.
The old man is understandably upset. There are a number of people who are vying for the position of being protector of the Black Forest. None of them averted disaster. None of them had prevented this war from happening, though each one of them has different excuses. Possibly the most powerful entity there simply didn't have the energy yet. It had just been a little bit out of the box relatively recently. (Five years can seem like a long time, but not to a forest or a forest entity.) The girl and the bear were stuck in an alien world. They all failed, and they all want to be protectors of the forest. So the bear offers a suggestion. There's a mystery. It needs to be solved. The one who can do that is worthy of protecting the forest.
Willingham has once again found a really clever way of taking traditional myth and the legend and modifying it for more contemporary audiences. Traditional fairytale tends to deal with fate and prophecy and the consequences of not being virtuous. Willingham takes a distinctly contemporary perspective on this simple matter of a few different people looking for the same job. It's an ensemble competition in a world of fairytales. Willingham has allowed each of the characters to seem interesting enough that it's hard not to want to pick a favorite. Everybody has a different reason for wanting what they want. And everybody has a different approach to it. Ensemble fantasy is very rarely executed with this kind of engagement.
Buckingham and Leialoha take the fantastic and make it very, very approachable. The magic that is present in the issue seems mundane. This aids in the fact that bad is in the contemporary world. Modern helicopters exist alongside classic sword-and-sorcery rangers with arrows and bows and things like that. And, of course, a forest spirit of great power. It all feels so approachable. It may lack a sense of wonder, but that’s part of the charm of the Black Forest story.
Loughridge’s color palette feels very sylvan. The light and dark greens and the Earth tones give the issue a feeling of calm. There's enough shadow in and around the dialogue that it never runs the risk of feeling garishly overpowered. All too often, fantasy doesn't work the mundane effectively enough to make the magic seem wondrous. Willingham and company are doing a great job of modulating the fantasy.
