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A review by madmooney
Fables, Vol. 22: Farewell by Bill Willingham
4.0
This is a spoiler free review for the entire Fables series, with a few thoughts on the last volume.
TL;DR version:
Full Series: 4 Stars "Not perfect, but still worth the read. And YES, you should read it too!"
Fables Vol 22: 4 stars
Old Stories into New
I have always been loved the idea of revisiting older stories- especially when you do so by breaking them down to their basic elements, and then breathe a new life into them.
An example: I have always loved L.F. Baum's Oz stories [b:The Wizard of Oz 15 Book Collection|22731743|The Wizard of Oz 15 Book Collection|L. Frank Baum|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405498135s/22731743.jpg|42268348], and Greg Maguire's 'Wicked' [b:Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West|37442|Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)|Gregory Maguire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437733293s/37442.jpg|1479280] remains somewhere in my Top 20 of favourite books of all time, as it weaves Baum's multiple Oz yarns into a single, cohesive tapestry that is both simultaneously familiar and new, all while paying tribute to the source material. An example of a series that does a poor job of this would be the Dorothy Must Die series [b:Dorothy Must Die|18053060|Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die, #1)|Danielle Paige|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1381437107s/18053060.jpg|25337746]). It revisits the series, but only uses the source material perversely to trick the reader into reading it to make up for its lackluster writing.
Fables the Series
My first Fables experience was the textual book "Peter and Max", which I quite enjoyed as it fit the above criteria,
I had attempted to start the Fables graphic novel series a number of times, but I had trouble getting past the first scene where Beauty and the Beast are in trouble with the local Fable authorities over a domestic dispute.
Cute, but schlocky.
I had no interest in continuing the series, especially if all the authors were going to do was take these fairy tale archetypes and simply drop them into a modern setting (I could vividly hear the crowd chanting "Jerry...Jerry...Jerry..." in the background).
It was only when I had heard that the series had an end date that I decided to give it another shot and bully my way though my past prejudices. This time, after a few volumes in, I found myself deep enough into the series to become interested by the Homelands-Adversary story line and this provided enough purchase and momentum to convince me to continue.
I was also intrigued by introduction of a specific character:
Think of every fairy tale that possesses an 'old woman character'- evil and magically powerful'. Now imagine if all of those characters from all those stores was the same person, living among the 'good guys' because a general amnesty that forgives all past crimes. And even though she is with the 'good guys' the cost of her help usually outweighs the benefit the help provides, as she can be a bit of a schemer, and a bit of a chess-player when it comes to matters at hand.
This is Frau Totenkinder (which means child-killer in German- haha) and it was the first bit of proof that convinced me that the writers were doing some meta-thinking when they were crafting their story: revisiting something old, but bringing something new to it as well.
Fables' Story Arcs and Volume 22/Issue 150
Fables is a series with many story arcs, but it is the plight of the Fables in our world that serves as the primary story arc, threading everything together. Many of the story arc are very strong and serve the primary story arc well(the Adversary, Mr Dark, Arabian fables, 'Wolf-Wind-Farm') and some diverge from the primary story arc with the result being that they feel weak and shoehorned in (Brandish, Bufkin/Lily etc,) or are properly sequestered into their own series (Jack of Fables).
While the final story arc (Magical Tontine) DOES serve the primary arc by completing it, it definitely fits into the 'shoehorned' category, and it leaves a bad aftertaste. The elements of the Magical Tontine should have been introduced MUCH MUCH earlier than the penultimate volume. It leaves you with the sense that Willigham picked an arbitrary number to end the series (150 is nice and even) and then artifically rushed everything that was previously patiently simmering to meet that self-imposed deadline.
Poor execution aside, I was still happy with the ending he chose.
Endings
On top of ending the primary storyline, Volume 22/Issue 150 also provides the "Final Stories" of many of the characters. It can be said that Fables is an anthology series, with many important characters that each deserved their own ending, happy or not.
I was quite happy with Willingham's decision to spend just and equal amount of space for the 'Final stories' as he did for the ending the primary story. Many of the stories CRUELLY leave you wanting more, and that's OK (Willingham actually discusses this in his afterword).
A final thought: finishing off the series and Willingham's discussion of endings reminded me of two things other authors have said about endings which has always resonated with me:
Stephen King- The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower
There is no such thing as a happy ending. I never met a single one to equal “Once upon a time.”
Endings are heartless.
Ending is just another word for goodbye."
Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13: The End)
"One could say, in fact, that no story really has a beginning, and that no story really has an end, as all of the world's stories are as jumbled as the items in the arboretum, with their details and secrets all heaped together so that the whole story, from beginning to end, depends on how you look at it. We might even say that the world is always in medias res - a Latin phrase which means "in the midst of things" or "in the middle of a narrative" - and that it is impossible to solve any mystery, or find the root of any trouble, and so The End is really the middle of the story, as many people in this history will live long past the close of Chapter Thirteen, or even the beginning of the story, as a new child arrives in the world at the chapter's close."
TL;DR version:
Full Series: 4 Stars "Not perfect, but still worth the read. And YES, you should read it too!"
Fables Vol 22: 4 stars
Old Stories into New
I have always been loved the idea of revisiting older stories- especially when you do so by breaking them down to their basic elements, and then breathe a new life into them.
An example: I have always loved L.F. Baum's Oz stories [b:The Wizard of Oz 15 Book Collection|22731743|The Wizard of Oz 15 Book Collection|L. Frank Baum|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405498135s/22731743.jpg|42268348], and Greg Maguire's 'Wicked' [b:Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West|37442|Wicked The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years, #1)|Gregory Maguire|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1437733293s/37442.jpg|1479280] remains somewhere in my Top 20 of favourite books of all time, as it weaves Baum's multiple Oz yarns into a single, cohesive tapestry that is both simultaneously familiar and new, all while paying tribute to the source material. An example of a series that does a poor job of this would be the Dorothy Must Die series [b:Dorothy Must Die|18053060|Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die, #1)|Danielle Paige|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1381437107s/18053060.jpg|25337746]). It revisits the series, but only uses the source material perversely to trick the reader into reading it to make up for its lackluster writing.
Fables the Series
My first Fables experience was the textual book "Peter and Max", which I quite enjoyed as it fit the above criteria,
I had attempted to start the Fables graphic novel series a number of times, but I had trouble getting past the first scene where Beauty and the Beast are in trouble with the local Fable authorities over a domestic dispute.
Cute, but schlocky.
I had no interest in continuing the series, especially if all the authors were going to do was take these fairy tale archetypes and simply drop them into a modern setting (I could vividly hear the crowd chanting "Jerry...Jerry...Jerry..." in the background).
It was only when I had heard that the series had an end date that I decided to give it another shot and bully my way though my past prejudices. This time, after a few volumes in, I found myself deep enough into the series to become interested by the Homelands-Adversary story line and this provided enough purchase and momentum to convince me to continue.
I was also intrigued by introduction of a specific character:
Think of every fairy tale that possesses an 'old woman character'- evil and magically powerful'. Now imagine if all of those characters from all those stores was the same person, living among the 'good guys' because a general amnesty that forgives all past crimes. And even though she is with the 'good guys' the cost of her help usually outweighs the benefit the help provides, as she can be a bit of a schemer, and a bit of a chess-player when it comes to matters at hand.
This is Frau Totenkinder (which means child-killer in German- haha) and it was the first bit of proof that convinced me that the writers were doing some meta-thinking when they were crafting their story: revisiting something old, but bringing something new to it as well.
Fables' Story Arcs and Volume 22/Issue 150
Fables is a series with many story arcs, but it is the plight of the Fables in our world that serves as the primary story arc, threading everything together. Many of the story arc are very strong and serve the primary story arc well(the Adversary, Mr Dark, Arabian fables, 'Wolf-Wind-Farm') and some diverge from the primary story arc with the result being that they feel weak and shoehorned in (Brandish, Bufkin/Lily etc,) or are properly sequestered into their own series (Jack of Fables).
While the final story arc (Magical Tontine) DOES serve the primary arc by completing it, it definitely fits into the 'shoehorned' category, and it leaves a bad aftertaste. The elements of the Magical Tontine should have been introduced MUCH MUCH earlier than the penultimate volume. It leaves you with the sense that Willigham picked an arbitrary number to end the series (150 is nice and even) and then artifically rushed everything that was previously patiently simmering to meet that self-imposed deadline.
Poor execution aside, I was still happy with the ending he chose.
Endings
On top of ending the primary storyline, Volume 22/Issue 150 also provides the "Final Stories" of many of the characters. It can be said that Fables is an anthology series, with many important characters that each deserved their own ending, happy or not.
I was quite happy with Willingham's decision to spend just and equal amount of space for the 'Final stories' as he did for the ending the primary story. Many of the stories CRUELLY leave you wanting more, and that's OK (Willingham actually discusses this in his afterword).
A final thought: finishing off the series and Willingham's discussion of endings reminded me of two things other authors have said about endings which has always resonated with me:
Stephen King- The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower
There is no such thing as a happy ending. I never met a single one to equal “Once upon a time.”
Endings are heartless.
Ending is just another word for goodbye."
Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13: The End)
"One could say, in fact, that no story really has a beginning, and that no story really has an end, as all of the world's stories are as jumbled as the items in the arboretum, with their details and secrets all heaped together so that the whole story, from beginning to end, depends on how you look at it. We might even say that the world is always in medias res - a Latin phrase which means "in the midst of things" or "in the middle of a narrative" - and that it is impossible to solve any mystery, or find the root of any trouble, and so The End is really the middle of the story, as many people in this history will live long past the close of Chapter Thirteen, or even the beginning of the story, as a new child arrives in the world at the chapter's close."