My Fables Vol. 22 (#150) Review - Share Yours!! (Obviously full of Spoilers)
Whew......where to start? At last, after 13 years of publishing (of main storyline, and various spin-offs), Fables is finally over. Well, The Wolf Among Us comic series is still ongoing, but that is much earlier in the timeline, if you get my drift.
I'm usually someone who is very prone to being spoiled, whether it's for a movie, book, or comic. But with Fables, a series I had (and still have) deep affections for since 2013 when I first started reading the Fables main series (this was when TWAU game was announced). I was determined to not let the spoilers get the better of me.
This proved to be particularly difficult with the web already filled with reviews (filled with spoilers, due to leak, and sites like ign etc already having read the Volume earlier), but I restrained myself from reading any web reviews, and any threads on this forum (Jeez Hazza, you sure didn't make it any easier for me, with your several spoiler heavy threads about this volume!! But don't worry, I forgive you) detailing any spoilers.
And after somewhat grueling week of avoiding spoilers, lo and behold, my Volume 22 arrived.
So enough about my rant about what happened before and dive straight into the review.
First, let's talk about the negatives / some missed opportunities (or some parts that made me sad):
The whole Snow vs Rose Red conflict that they've been hyping up pretty much fizzled into nothing - which comes to the next point:
What was the point of Totenkinder and Cinderella's death? They both died for causes which pretty much ended up being pointless.
Not enough Bigby action. He did a lot of talking in this volume, but no action at all (and when he starts to get into action, he just gets controlled by Rose, and falls asleep lol). I was hoping for at least some action, with us getting a last look at Bigby in his Big Bad Wolf form, in his glory. Oh well, I guess I was expecting too much from this volume.
Rose was just really annoying and I pretty much hated her until the last moment, her change to make amends didn't really convince me. Still kinda wish that she died, but oh well....
I was hoping at some point that Charming will be back in the main storyline of the series (after his whole Fairest Vol. 03 - The Return of the Maharaja storyline but before his last story), but that didn't happen.
Sigh......Darien and King Cole's last stories were a bit sad. King Cole with his expression that Fabletown is finally done (though I guess he found solace in being headmaster of mundy world's Totekinder magic school), and Darien with his whole (still) white world with noone yet telling him what happened so he can pass over)
Now that we have the negatives over and done with, let's go over the positives / moments that I was pleased with:
I liked Connor snapping Bigby back from his feral mind back to normal. But I have to ask, was he really strong enough take on Bigby (if Bigby didn't snap back to his right mind)? I mean sure, he's a shapeshifter and all, but he's still a child (not adult like in his "Summer Prophesy" and Bigby and Snow's last story), and it's not like he went through massive transformation like Winter by becoming the new North Wind. Kinda felt like he was bluffing a bit when talking about "swallowing the whole wide world thing" as well. Probably Bigby in his Big Bad Wolf form would have overpowered him (but luckily Bigby snapped back to his senses).
Brandish's way of death wasn't my most preferred method, but it was passable (I wanted him dead, and he died, so I am content with that)
Pretty much majority of the main Fables' last stories are covered (didn't know whether Willingham will be able to pull this off, but somehow he did it).
I liked how they covered each Cub's prophesy in "The Summer Prophesy." (pretty much confirmed that Ghost outlives all his siblings for his prophesy, and I'm glad that I guessed Blossom and Connor's prophesies correctly)
Pinocchio being the President was pretty cool and hillarious.
Liked Blossom with her Jungle girl type life and her "Hunt" World.
"PatMat" term in Bigby and Snow's last story, I liked that.
In Bigby and Snow's last story, (more specifically on the "big double barreled gatefold" at the end) all Wolf family (including the cubs and relatives) are present except for Darien (since he's dead). But if you do look closely, there is a portrait of him on the top right hand corner above the vases of flowers. I thought that was a pretty nice touch (he's dead, but not forgotten).
I LOVED that they gave Bigby and Snow a happy ending (with big family of generations) in their last story, and loved Bigby's words to Snow while in embrace (final words in the series): "I'm gonna stand by you until the sun and the moon and the stars spin down into darkness and dust." Just comes to show Bigby's a real romantic at heart.
That TPB cover, is just sooooooooooooooooooo COOL/AWESOME. Willingham said that there will be a lot more Fables in the TPB cover, and he kept that promise. It does hurt my eyes when I try to find where the specific Fable is by the number though (kinda wish they didn't jumble the numbers all over the place....sigh)
The whole "big double barreled gatefold" at the end was just awesome as well. If the TPB cover was the ensemble cover featuring most (if not all) of characters in Fables, the gatefold at the end is the ensemble cover of the "Wolf Family." I just simply loved that.
Final Word and review score:
Fables Vol. 22 does close off majority of storylines that were left open till now. But it does not have as much of an impact as the previous Volumes, (which generally had quite a bit of action, mixed in with humour, love, drama etc) especially if we compare it to the hype it's been building up to. Still, Bigby and Snow received a happy ending (that they rightfully deserve, more than anybody in Fables), so I can't complain too much (especially with their last story ending, that just left me smiling).
So while it is a bit difficult to give this final Volume a very high score, I would still give it a score of 7.5 / 10, being Good (but not great. Would have been higher if more of the book was spent on main story, especially with Bigby getting more action, and Snow vs Rose Red conflict hype being matched with more satisfying conclusion, but sadly, that wasn't the case).
What did you think of the final Volume of Fables? Share your own reviews here!!
Comments
I haven't read it yet seeing as my pre-order comes out next week (it sucks balls living in the UK!)
But I heard that there is no kiss between Bigby and Snow, or anything like that (which does piss me off) What was Snow's response to him telling her he'll stay by her side for all eternity??
The comic hasn't managed to cover every bit of story though. I expected this comic to end with loose ends all tied up, but you forget that Geppetto still has a plan to take over the Mundy world. Plus Charming's war against Sinbad... I guess I'm looking for any sign of a continuation.
I know you've heard it from me a 1000 times dude, but even with Bill's afterword saying that extra stuff would just be adding onto details, he may still go back to it. He knows Fables like no one else does; you think that afterword is gonna stop people from asking if there will be more?...
Anyways, it seems that the hype for this Volume didn't live up to expectations. But, Snow and Bigby both lived and got their much deserved Happily Ever After. So I am content to leave it at that
For now...
I already wrote my "review" in another post but here it is ...
Is it just me or was this issue ... anticlimatic ?
This whole preparation for war and in the end ... nothing. Rose Red was like: "I will kill Snow a Bigby will be mine" .... few pages later: "We don´t have to fight, bye bye. Bigby´s restoration was, how to say it ? Sh*t ... atleast for me. What restored him ? Love to his children or fear of his children ? I don´t know. Snow and Bigby happily ever after ... yea that´s nice ... but he killed several humans and fables ! I know he was "broken" but when he was restored everyone is like nothing happened. At least some internal conflict would be nice. Is he good ? Is he bad ? How do they know his restoration is permanent and wouldn´t last only days or hours ?
Brandish´s death was too quick and death of Cinderella and Totenkinder was pointless.
I´m not saying that this issue is bad, it´s good. Many last stories and open endings for Fables 2. But it has lot of dumb things. This issue reminds me of HIMYM where last episode made entire season pointless
Sorry for grammar mistakes, I´m not good in english.
Bill Willingham's afterword hinted that there won't be anymore Fables. Saying it would just be adding onto details
Even so, I have a little hope in me...
There is no response from Snow after Bigby's "I'm gonna stand by you until the sun and the moon and the stars spin down into darkness and dust." That's the last line of (any character in) the series, and the line "THE END"
Yeah, the comic doesn't cover 100% of the loose story ends, but I do believe it covers around about 90~95%. And some of those stories, the story will go on and on (possibly to infinity without proper conclusion lol), so I believe Willingham may have left those stories open (on purpose) to be completed in our imagination.
Given how they gave Bigby and Snow, the best happily ever after in their last story, any story about them after that story would be pretty anticlimactic (and personally, I do not wish to see their story past that point). And any story between main story's final scene and their last story, I feel while possible, may lose tension/steam, because of the fact that we know already The Wolf Family comes out of the conflict pretty much unscathed.
While TWAU Season 2 has the similar risk, it does have some advantages that the continuation post-Volume 22 doesn't have.
The possibility to continue to develop the relationship between Bigby and Snow (whereas they are pretty much the happily married couple in the main series.
Several of the fan favourites have not been killed off permanently e.g. Totenkinder, Cinderella, Beast, Ozma, (and I regretfully include) Jack Horner. Sure, they can introduce new characters, but I don't think they'll receive quite the same reception as the old characters have been given.
History of the characters can be further revealed, such as Bigby and Cindy's Teacher/Student relationship, and "Bigby's rules of Combat."
and so on.
Of course, Willingham's afterword can mean nothing if he decides to come back some time in the future (And there are other writers of comics who came back after saying such things), but I believe by his afterword, at the time of writing this, he feels this is the fitting end to the series, and it doesn't warrant a continuation.
And like I've told you before, if Willingham does come back, I want him to come back by his own volition, and not because people/fans have continuously asked him to (but I'd imagine that to be very difficult, people will continue to ask him on twitter etc for continuation, pressuring him, lol). Besides, I am also curious what other works he has planned.
If he trully believe the series warrants a continuation, then yeah, I'd read it (though I'm not so sure I'd have the same excitement with the continuation as I did with the original series, due to the reasons I've stated above, and the comparison to TWAU Season 2).
But if Willingham trully believes this is the end, then I am pretty much content with the ending he's given for the main series (though personally, I do wish to see TWAU Season 2 by either him, or another writer, set before the issue #1 of the main series).
I really wanted to give this volume a 9 or 10 out of 10. But I realised that was only the fan-side of me talking. So I decided to give it a total honest to the core, review (at first, I thought about giving it an 8, but then I thought 'It's good, but not great.', so thought better of it and scaled it down to 7.5).
I'm content to have this be the end of the series as well. But if it is continued, then I will be happy
I'm still sad that Snigby did not share a last kiss or something like that, but I guess I was expecting too much from this Volume already :P
Yeah, my thoughts exactly about anticlimactic part. After all that hype in the Volume 21 about Snow vs Rose Red conflict, as I've said in my review, it just fizzled into nothing....... And Cindy and Totenkinders' death....Oh boy.....
And they could have at least shown in more depth how he was restored, and what they did with the ring Rose Red gave back to him.
And yeah, as I've said, it was good, but not great. Hence my rating....sigh...
Well, there is an artwork "Fables Gallery" at the end with "Bigby and Snow commission piece by Mark Buckingham" which shows a sketchwork of them kissing, but I think it's from the prevous volume (when they get married), and it's not in the ending.
If that's any consolation.
That's cool enough! XD
Oh well, I have fanfictions to make my wishes come true... It's a shame you don't read them dude, I try very hard to stay true to the characters
As for internal conflict after the final scene (When Rose departs from Snow, and after they disband their armies), there definitely would have been conflict, but I think Willingham is just leaving it to our interpretation/imagination of how it all gets resolved.
But regardless, I'm still happy with the ending Snow and Bigby received (my two favourite characters), and all those last stories, they were good.
So while not perfect, I'd still say it was a good volume.
Do you, or any-one else, read Fairest at all??
Well, today, I finally got my copy. Best part, I was on the "last page" and turned. and I was like.
"What the hell? What type of shitty ending is this?"
Then I noticed that you could turn the pages insideout to get a huge page and I was just like.
"ooooooooooooooooooooohhh."
Anyway, I liked it alot, glad it had a happy ending.
And for the Cindy vs Bellflower fight, that was because they still fought there would be a fight, and just to make us feel bad for Cindy dying ;-;
Yeah, I just can't find time for the fanfictions (sorry mate).
I'll be taking a break (?) from Fables for about 3 ~ 4 days, and then I'll start to re-read back from Volume #1 (where it all started), sans Jack of Fables. However, the pace that I'm going through may be a bit slower this time, because I'll finally start to read The Walking Dead Graphic novels for the very FIRST time (yes, after putting it off for so long, I have finally decided to read them, and they are on their way from order).
I've thought about reading them for a while now, but I think maybe the TV show's enjoyment has stopped me from reading it, but after Michonne DLC announcement by Telltale, I decided I really should be reading it.
Regardless, I'll still be active in TWAU board (Since the comic is still ongoing, and I still like to look back and talk about previous volumes of main series, spin-offs etc.), and I do hope more people post their own reviews of Fables Vol. 22 on this thread. I'm curious to read their thoughts.
Yeah, I read the Fairest series. I have the complete collection of Fables graphic novels, its spin-offs, prose novels etc. I even have the Jack of Fables series (even though I hate Jack as character) just because of my "Completionist" attitude when it comes to Fables.
Well, can you PM me some spoilers please regarding #32, specifically to the fate of the Farm, its Fables, & to Reynard the Fox? Also, what did you think of Peter & Max?
I'll be posting my own review of the Volume after I read it
I may read TWD comics, but there is a limit to how much space I have in my cupboard (It is PACKED with Fables Volumes!!) XP
Same here, I own everything released to date (except the Unwritten/Fables crossover, I still need to get that one...)
Will also be getting TWAU comics in TPB when they're released as well
Nice ending, but could be better.
That's great, looking forward to your review (just post it here, on this thread, hehe).
Will do bro
Yeah, I felt terrible when Cindy died (oddly though, I felt nothing with Totenkinder's death).
I think that feeling was made worse, when at the end, Rose just went and said to Snow, "Let's end this fight." and the war ended just like that, LOL (her sacrifice made totally pointless).
But I too am glad the series had a happy ending - especially for Bigby and Snow.
OP, I agree with you 100%
Also ... it has nearly nothing to do with issue 150 but ... what do you think about Lancelot story ?
I think he was meant to have bigger story, not just slow Brandish and die ... or ?
The whole Brandish story felt very, very sluggish since the previous Volume, and Lancelot's "trial by combat" didn't really help either.
It just felt like a wasted opportunity to better utilize a character, who has been an integral part of Haven since its inception.
But oh well, what can we do.....
Hehe, thanks.
I spent a good deal of time last night writing this review, and I hope others (Who have read Vol. 22) share their reviews on this thread also.
Not the best ending in the world, but neither it is the worst.
And my, that last page, Snow and Bigby has certainly been busy.
The art was amazing!
Why's that? Do they have even more kids or something?! :O
I don´t get it either ... Bigby and Snow only have 7 cubs.
Yeah... Hmmm.
@DavetheArakin, can you please elaborate on them being 'busy'
They have been busy with preparing a feast for their numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren and further descendants.
Looks like we misunderstood you
Ahhhhhhh :P
Cool
I loved Buckingham's art for Snow and Bigby's last story, and that "big double barreled gatefold" .......it's enough to make any Snow x Bigby or Wolf Family fan drool over haha (I know I was....hehe.....I just updated my review with an extra positive, just for that).
Bigby does say to Snow "Well Snow, you did say you wanted a big turnout this time."
Which would imply they already had several feasts of Wolf Family Gathering. Since the last page of main story, till that point in Snow & Bigby's Last story, a millennium has past.
My guess is (though I could be wrong), they had a feast of gathering like this every century or so, and with every century, numbers of the family members grew exponentially (though some did die as well, but that ratio between birth and death, it's not even a comparison.....)
You are definitely not the only one pleased with the prophecies. The hype was huge but Rose Red realized every inch of the curse has ended in Snow and Bigby. And she also figured out that most if not all of her army would be wiped out, thanks to Frau and Cindy killing each other.
I just finished it, and I am blown away. I think this is the first time I've come close to crying when finish a series, and thats saying a lot since I didn't even do that when I finish Harry Potter (which I fucking love).
Everything about it was perfect imo, I can't find one thing about it I didn't like. That's basically my review of it lol .
Note: that last line killed me so badly (in a good/emotional way):
"I thought you'd have learned by now. I'm going to stay by you until the Sun and the Moon and the Stars spin down in darkness and dust" - Bigby to Snow
Well I finally got my copy of Fables 150!! XD
However, I've had a long day and I just want to chill out, so I'll read it tomorrow and post my review of it then.... I have skimmed through it and already there are points that I didn't like, but also ones that I did.
Really Shubba?
There wasn't one thing you didn't like, or were even a little bit disappointed with (not trying to criticize you in any way, I'm just a bit surprised)?
Wow, I guess you really did get 100% satisfaction out of it (I wanted to give it a 10 out of 10, but thought better of it and gave it a lower score, since in the end I thought it was good, but not great for the reasons I stated in my post).
When you have a series as great as Fables, the endings will always be very difficult to write, probably more so than any other part because you don't want to disapoint and you wanna successfully wrap everything up. Taking that into account, I think Bill Willingham did a great job of wrapping up the series.
Well regardless, despite my criticisms of this Volume, I still did enjoy it a lot (That Bigby and Snow Last story was just perfect, and best last story out of them all).
Still a bit sad about Fables having ended, but I'm glad we got to know all these characters (that we grew to love) and their worlds.
Now if only Telltale can just do something about TWAU Season 2.......(big sigh x infinity)