Fables 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers

 

By Bill Willingham & Mark Buckingham and various (Vertigo)
ISBN 1-84023-918-2

This volume (with artwork by Mark Buckingham, Craig Hamilton, Steve Leialoha and P Craig Russell) collects the wonderful, triumphal one-shot “The Last Castle”, wherein we see the final escape from the homelands to the mundane world, and issues 19-21 and 23-27 of the regular series, a bombastic saga of sex, politics and betrayal that leads to the first full assault by the mysterious, all-conquering “Adversary”.

That’s the plot, but it’s really the merest tip of the iceberg in what has become probably the best fantasy comic strip ever. There are times when this series makes me feel things that Neil Gaiman’s Sandman never could.

This is what you should show people when they ask “Why Comics?” and the best thing you could possibly get for the jaded fan (as well as the other volumes Legends in Exile, Animal Farm and Storybook Love).

Go treat yourself, and perhaps even indulge in missionary zeal by treating a friend to some Fables.

© 2004 Bill Willingham & DC Comics. All rights reserved.