GRAPHIC NOVEL
Fables
Wolves

Author: Bill Willingham
Artists: Mark Buckingham and Shawn McManus
Titan Books
RRP: £9.99, US $17.99
ISBN-13: 978 1 8457 6388 6
ISBN-10: 1 84576 388 2
Available 26 January 2007


The community of Fables living undercover in our midst has endured plenty of suffering at the hands of their long-time antagonist, the Adversary. Now it's time to return the favour and put the would-be conqueror on notice that the cost of subjugating this last stronghold of independent magic will be higher than even he can bear. The one Fable who can accomplish this mission, however, has hidden himself away in the wild and will take some convincing if he can be found. Luckily for Fabletown, there's something more than a trip behind enemy lines awaiting Bigby Wolf's return...

Wolves collects issues 48-51 of the Fables comic book series. There are two stories here. The first (Wolf) follows Mowgli on his quest to track down Bigby Wolf and persuade him to return to Fabletown to embark on a dangerous mission. The second tale (Big and Small) follows Cinderella and her bid to get the king of the Cloud Kingdoms to sign a treaty with Fabletown.

Wolves is split into eight chapters and opens with Mowgli undertaking an almost impossible task. He has to scour the earth looking for Bigby. When he tracks him down, he must ask Bigby to accompany him back to Fabletown in order to help with a most perilous mission - to go deep into the heart of enemy territory and let Geppetto know that Fabletown will retaliate if he sends in another army of his wooden soldiers to attack them.

Big and Small sees Cinderella on a diplomatic mission to get a treaty signed between Fabletown and the Cloud Kingdoms. There is a problem. Every time Cinderella manages to spend weeks in negotiations with the latest king of the Could Kingdoms, they have been replaced by a new king. It seems no one really wants the job for too long. Cinderella is getting a little impatient as the negotiations have been put back several times, and now the new king won't see her because he has an ear ache. The king's doctor is a quack, and so Cinderella hatches a plan to make sure the king is better much quicker than the month predicted by his physician.

Both tales in this collection help to add much to the Fables universe, and an added bonus for fans is that this release also includes a new set of maps showing the Fable Territories in the Mundane World. There is also a copy of the original script for the series' 50th issue.

Fans of the Fables series will love this latest inclusion to the stable.

Nick Smithson

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