Graphic Novel tale of Fabletown -- with folktale characters galore. Very well done. But part of a series. Which one to choose? I really liked this one, but haven't read other parts.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

Comments: This whole volume deals with one complete story arc from beginning to end. I don't want to give away any plot points as it's too much fun to have it all unfold as you read it yourself so I'll stick with characters and the main theme. We start with a flashback of Little Boy Blue telling his last days and hours in the Homelands with Red Riding Hood. I love it every time time there is a flashback to the old days and I always get a little excited when I see one so this was a great way to start off the book. This flashback later on will prove to be relevant to the events of the main story.

The characters are all dealing with their lives and many are featured and given spotlights but this volume concentrates on Snow White, Boy Blue and Pinocchio, a character we've seen but haven't got know up to this point. Fabletown is under attack by a menacing force and it takes the combined forces of all the residents both of the town and the farm to come together and do battle with a possible unbeatable enemy. As usual, the stunning death of characters is to be expected and many new characters are introduced while on the final page we are left with several story arcs that remain hanging.

This is one of my favourite volumes to date. I really love how intricate the plot is with this series. There are so many story arcs going on within an often overarching main plot per volume that it really just sweeps you away as a reader. This volume has it all from romance to battles from familiar characters to introducing new ones and both touching moments and shocking moments. Volume four is a real winner in the series! ( )

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Here we have Fabletown under direct and vicious attack from Pinocchio's brothers, with sinister infiltration by the woman who calls herself Red Riding Hood, and wracked also by an internal power struggle between Old King Cole and Prince Charming. Which sounds really stupid but works really well; in particular, the battle against the wooden invaders is very vividly and memorably depicted. ( )

The volume sets off the pace with the special issue "The Last Castle," guest-drawn by P. Craig Russell and Craig Hamilton. It flashes back to the Fables' last stand in their home world; echoing Peter Jackson's Two Towers movie battle scene from "The Lord of the Rings."

I love this story; very rich in terms of characters introduced and extolled. We are given a chance to get to know the character of Boy Blue (one that is beyond his clerical duties to the Fabletown business office), of who he was back in the Homelands (then serving under Col. Bearskin's company). We are also given an intimate glimpse of the impending divorce between Prince Charming and his third wife, Cinderella.

Most importantly, we are introduced to the heroic characters of Fables: the Twelve Crow Brothers, Robin Hood & his band of Merry Men (Little John, Friar Tuck, etc.), the lady warrior Britomart (a nymph of Greek mythology and a character from "The Faerie Queene"), Kings Bornegascar and Madagao (rival kings from "A Tale of Two Kings"), King Pellinore (from the Arthurian legends that spoke of his endless hunt of the Questing Beast), the Red-Cross Knight (the unbeatable knight from "The Faerie Queene"), Sir Herman von Starkenfaust, Tam Lin (a knight loved by the Queen of Faeries), the Cow from the Moon, Count Aucassin de Beaucaire (although fighting for the side of the Adversary; taken from "Aucassin et Nicolette", a medieval French chante-fable). This is a most well thought story arc and even though I'm not a fan of bloody battles, I must applaud Willingham. "...to those who stayed behind, and the debt that can never be paid."

Wedged between the two long stories is a snippet of another one of Jack Horner’s get-rich-money-schemes: this time around he’s planning to sell off one of the magic beans (remember the Golden Goose that lays all those eggs?) to a Fable, Thrushbeard (of the Brothers Grimm story). Not to be overlooked is the revelation of who Kay is—he turns out to be that little boy from the story of “The Snow Queen”. He still has the mirror shards in his eye, with the result that all he sees is the bad in people; the evil things that they've done in their lives. The pain that this causes him leads him to routinely gouge out his own eyes, although they subsequently grow back over a period of around ten years.

The story arc "March of the Wooden Soldiers" begins under mysterious circumstances, (Little) Red Riding Hood arrives in Fabletown via a gateway that has been closed off by the Adversary’s troops 200 years before. Boy Blue reencounters the love he thought he had lost: the grown-up Red Riding Hood. But is this the same Red? No Fable has escaped from the Empire in centuries, so her arrival stirs tensions in the community.

While Mayor-for-life King Cole is anxious to give her asylum (in part to fend off Prince Charming's bid for the mayor's office), Fabletown Sheriff Bigby Wolf is immediately suspicious of this new arrival (he met and ate her and her granny after all), and shares his concerns with Snow White (who remains quite objective in the light of this current situation). Those suspicions got validated with the arrival of a trio of men in black suits (no, not MIB—but a good jibe at them) on Red's heels, issuing demands against Fabletown for submission to the Adversary: surrender in order to avoid a hostile takeover or else. Careful, don’t offer them food for that is the gravest insult to a wooden soldier of The Sacred Grove.

Snow White is, incidentally, pregnant with Bigby's cub. She prefers to think things through, albeit fending off the “modern” medical suggestion of Dr. Swineheart. Watch out for the unconscious admittance of love by Snow at the end of the battle scene, where even her fraternal twin, Rose Red, is amazed that the former may actually be falling for the resident big, bad wolf. Stranger things have happened but I’m certainly voting for a happily-ever-after ending for the two.

"March of the Wooden Soldiers" is a completely exciting and engaging war story, with a dash of politics, domestic comedy (witness how Beauty’s jealous rage was used to aid Fabletown’s side), and romance mixed in (Rose Red & Weyland Smith?! I never would’ve imagined).

Willingham's sense of pacing and ability to tell unpredictable stories is nearly incomparable. Characters that seemed indispensable die in the course of the battle and the mystery of the Adversary seems to be the biggest question of all (although I’ve got a pretty good idea).

Book Details:

Title Vol. 4: Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers
Author Bill Willingham
Reviewed By Purplycookie ( )

Summary: March of the Wooden Soldiers contains the nine-issue story of the Battle of Fabletown. It starts with Little Boy Blue reminiscing about the fall of the last freehold in the Homelands to the forces of the Adversary - a battle in which he had to leave Red Riding Hood, his love, behind as he escaped into the mundy world. However, when Red shows up in Fabletown with a story of captivity and torture, most Fables are willing to welcome her with open arms. However, she comes at a time of turmoil - Prince Charming and King Cole are heating up their campaigns for mayor, Snow White's hugely pregnant, and mysterious goons who seemingly can't be hurt are stalking the night, beating up Fables - and Bigby's not entirely convinced that her story's on the level.

Review: Very, very good. In this volume, we not only get some new characters (Red Riding Hood, obviously, but also Robin Hood and Co.) and see some old characters come into the spotlight, but we learn more about the Fables' history, and get some more hints as to the identity and motivation of the Adversary (I'm about 98% sure I've figured it out.) The art's great throughout, if a little bit graphic by the end. Finally, while the end isn't exactly a cliffhanger, the tenuous stability and peace achieved by the end is so obviously going to shatter at the first touch, the reader's left wanting to immediately dive into the next volume.

Recommendation: My favorite of the series so far. ( )