Fables vol. 19: Snow White
The title of this volume would imply that after nineteen volumes of this excellent series, Snow White is finally getting her time in the spotlight. That’s not quite true as though the events of this volume center around her past, the character’s profile isn’t any more or less notable than it has been previously. Even with some minor issues, this story provides another satisfying showcase of her mettle as she faces off a prince who embodies one of the most eminently hateable traits out there: misogyny.
After the heartbreaking events of the previous volume, the series jumps back in time a bit as Bigby and Brock Blueheart (mostly formerly known as Stinky the Badger) start journeying through the many Fables worlds in search of the former’s missing children. While this happens, Snow is left to carry on with caring for her remaining children and assist in the re-integration of the former Castle Dark into Fabletown. As it would happen, the fencing instructor who was teaching the now-slimmed-down Ms. Spratt is actually Prince Brandish — Snow’s first husband-to-be from way, way back in the Homelands. Now that he’s back, the man is determined to make the woman his wife and dispose of her current family so that it can be replaced with his own.
Now my knowledge of the fables in “Fables” has been enough to recognize a good deal of them in this series beyond A-listers like Snow White and Bigby Wolf. This time out, I actually had to consult Wikipedia to find out just who this Prince Brandish guy was since the whole “Snow’s original husband” plot point doesn’t quite work if there’s no real basis for it. As it turns out, he’s the original prince from “Snow White and Rose Red.” Given that Rose Red has been a part of this title from the beginning, you’d think that creator/writer Bill Willingham has been keeping this story in reserve for quite some time.
However long he’s been holding onto it, the story makes for a good read now. In the issue after his connection to Snow is revealed, Brandish establishes himself someone whose views towards marriage and women are as old-school as his royalty. From his “husband’s rights” to touch his wife as he sees fit, carrying Snow off and locking her in a tower until she acquiesces to his demands, and the prince’s casual way of saying that her current husband and children need to die in order to make way for him, Brandish makes for a great “love to hate” villain that you can’t wait to see receive his comeuppance. Yes, this does involve Snow suffering for a while at his hands, but it’s ultimately through her own actions that this is achieved which makes for a gratifying finish.
It is one, however, which is not without its own tragedy. Said tragedy is unfortunately something that has already been spoiled if you’ve already read the “Fairest In All The Land” graphic novel which came out over a month back. (I’ll have a review of that up later this weekend.) What should’ve been a shocking plot twist unfortunately only inspired an, “Oh, so this is where it happens,” with me. I realize that this won’t be an issue for anyone who reads this title in single-issue form, so I can just chalk this up to the pitfalls of being a tradewaiter.
Then you’ve got how this volume uses magic and we have a problem that’s a genuine annoyance. “Fables” has been quite good about having specific rules for how magic is used in its world and how it generally can’t be used to grant everyone their heart’s desire without causing even more problems in the process. This time, it comes off as more of a plot device than anything else as we’re told that Brandish is protected by some unspecified magical force which will project all of his injuries onto Snow. The witches of the thirteenth floor are at a loss as to how to deal with this until the climactic fight when we get a lot of dialogue that essentially amounts to handwaving this magical defense away. It’s disappointing in the sense that I’ve come to expect better than this from “Fables.”
In addition to the main story, there’s also a subplot that picks up most of the comedic slack here. A few volumes back, the Blue Fairy made her return to extract terrible vengeance upon Gepetto for his torture and abuse of her power during his years as the Adversary. Beast was able to stave this off for a time, but now the Fairy has come back to collect. Utterly out of options, Beast tries one last desperate gamble here on the hopes that the formalities involved will grant him as much time as he needs to work things out. What’s his plan? It’s so absurd and out-of-left-field that I can’t help but root for it to work. There’s also plenty of amusement in the requests Beast makes for this plan, such as a chalice containing the tears of the nine-thousand lost gods of Lemuria, and explaining why Gepetto would be worthy of such a thing. Good stuff all around.
Then we come to the beginning of the volume which collects the back-up stories detailing Bufkin’s plight in leading the revolution in Oz. That’s thirteen parts of pure “Fables” whimsy as the revolution involves overfeeding a nome general, a talking hangman’s rope, a bounty of two lollipops (subsequently increased to three), and the largest marble collection you’ve ever seen. The arc veers wildly between comedy, drama, satire, and some bloodshed yet Willingham still manages to have it all make sense in the end while making some witty points about war and the nature of ruling as well.
The whole “revolution” story also winds up being a kind of prelude to the issue-length story of Bufkin and his Barleycorn bride Lily as they travel from world to world on a series of grand exploits of liberation and adventure. If Willingham had wanted to, there’s enough material in this single issue for an entire spinoff series featuring the pair. Yet it ultimately proves to be a great example of boiling down a huge amount of story into its key parts to give the reader a satisfying experience. Bufkin and Lily are effectively written out of the series with this issue, but they go out in great style.
“Fables” is currently set to wrap up with issue #150, with this volume collecting up to #129. After all these years of great stories, Willingham could certainly coast for the remaining twenty-one and I woudn’t begrudge him (too much) for that. There isn’t any indication that he’s going to do that as Bigby’s ultimate fate remains a big issue here, and the final page of this volume also brings us back to the last one in vol. 18. How can you not want to see where that’s going to lead? It’s not without its little issues, but this remains one of the most consistently entertaining titles on the stands and it’ll be missed when it’s gone.