Snow Write and Rose Read: The Fables 115 Letters

[Cindy McShane]

In "Cubs in Toyland" part 2 of 8, Therese's journey into Toyland takes a turn for the terrible.Shawn McManus (CINDERELLA) continues illustrating the backup feature chronicling our Fables' adventures in the Land of Oz.
Written by:
William Willingham
Pencilled by:
Mark Buckingham
Shawn McManus
Inked by:
Steve Leialoha
Shawn McManus
Lettered by:
Todd Klein
Painted cover by:
Joao Ruas

Beware Spoilers lurk Below.....

[HellBlazerRaiser]

I didn't expect Mrs. Spratt to admit to who she was – not just so quickly, but at all. I assumed she was going to say she was someone else and infiltrate, slowly emerge as the "Ms. Dark." Then we'd get some big reveal scene near the end of this arc (or the next). I should know better by now that with FABLES, I should assume my assumptions are incorrect.

Maddy seems to have some suspicions, but I hope her curiosity doesn't get the better of her. Although, I'd like to see her cut loose and kick ass.

Therese in Magical Land/Mattagonia/Madland is at once creepy, sweet, nefarious, innocent and already has me quite intrigued.

I'm proud of Dare. He's going to make a good leader one day.

I want to read a Lily Martagnion one-shot!

Buckingham's art is as stunning as usual. The art and coloring in the Magical Land/Mattagonia/Madland sequence is wonderful.

[Juan Ramón Vallarino J.]

Only one comment? Yikes.

[Heather Wallace]

Hi everyone, after many many months of reading the boards I've gathered together my courage to de-cloak and join you all. Plus I wanted to up the messages about the latest edition.

I really enjoyed seeing the different decor of the cubs' rooms, and what it said about each one's personality. It's a shame Ghost doesn't have his own room though, I'm sure even pure gusts of wind like their privacy now and again. The sequence made me wonder what Winter's room is like.

I hope Darien gets a stern talking to from his parents "Next time you see one of your siblings get into a toy boat that's magically expanded to full size and sailing down a river that wasn't previously there, TELL US BEFORE BEDIME!"

Therese's greeting party in Magical Land reminded me of the villains in Toy Story 3, and the Raggedy Nan doll's plaintive cry of "are you my mama?" was reminiscent of a very very creepy 2005 episode of Dr Who. So I wonder if it's playing the trope of creepy, damaged toys as a misdirection and will then suddenly verge into a new angle entirely?

I was surprised that the erstwhile Mrs Spratt revealed her identity so soon, it seemed Maddy is suspicious, maybe she picked up that Mrs Spratt's tatters were shrinking to fit her newly slim figure in each panel rather than hanging like a torn tent around her.

[Juan Ramón Vallarino J.]

I'm sorry that with travel plans I hadn't had a chance to comment, but here I am.

Another very brief issue, which probably reads better in TPB format. The toyland story is not really doing it for me, but I don't it's SUPPOSED to be doing it for anybody at this time. We'll see.

Liked Beauty's legs in thos pages with her and Beast in Haven. Reminds of why she's called Beauty. Would be an interesting thing if they DID stay in Haven (I would think that they are both free to do whatever they think is best for them and their daughter - no implied obligation to go back to NYC if they don't feel like it).

In re: Leigh/Mrs. Spratt, it seems odd to me that Snow or Rose Red didn't notice that she wasn't around in Haven. It's possible they did, but that King Cole just didn't know (BTW - there's a lovely stained glass image of King Cole in the Stained Glass Museum at Navy Pier in Chicago, should anybody pass by there).

My one historical complaint with BW and Fables is that dialogue is not Bill's strength I didn't really like the dialogue in the Leigh/Mrs. Spratt's sequence. But that's just me.

In any case, the art was wonderful, as always.

As to the back-up, I think I'm going to hold on reading it until it's complete, at which time I'll read it complete (3 pages are just too little to read at a time, and this comes from a follower of Dark Horse Presents's current incarnation).