Review: Fables #161

Review: Fables #161
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Bill Willingham
Art: Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: Todd Klein

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

In which the storm breaks, we catch up with Greenjack, discuss politics and a reckoning occurs.

Positives

Eleven chapters into “The Black Forest” and it’s still interesting to see Peter Pan played as the villain.  Geppetto was a surprise as the Adversary so it’s not completely a surprise.  One hopes that next issue’s finale will flesh out Peter’s turn to evil.  In Fables #161 we see Peter as an icon of villainy.  What’s his motivation, though?  Why is he so determined to kill and why is Tinkerbell enslaved to him?  This issue makes some of the action smaller and really focuses on Peter’s vile actions.

The other characters get attention as well and it certainly feels like Cindy, Bigby, Snow and the Wolf Pack and Greenjack will all come together to save the Black Forest.  Willingham sets the reader up for the finale as he moves all the pieces into place for the end in Fables #162.  Buckingham and Leialoha don’t miss a beat on the art, as usual.  It’s bittersweet knowing this is the final Fables tale.

Negatives

For the entirety of “The Black Forest” the single greatest drawback has been the delays.  It doesn’t really matter the reason, but it’s taken its toll on the series.  This is one of those series that will have to be revisited all at once with all the issues in hand for binging.  ‘

Verdict

If one were reading Fables #161 in a collection, there’s no way the reader couldn’t finish out the last chapter.  This issue has that kind of narrative intensity.  It’s hard getting that feeling right at the outset since it’s been two and a half months since the last issue.  Do yourself a favor, when the final chapter comes out, get all your issues together and have a Fables-fest and read all 12 in one sitting.