Fables, Vol. 11: War and Pieces

by Bill Willingham

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

741.5973

Collection

Publication

Vertigo (2008), Paperback, 192 pages

Description

The final battle between the free Fables of the mundane world and the Empire occupying their former Homelands is about to begin, and the scrappy storybook heroes have already managed to even the odds considerably. With his previously unstoppable wooden soldiers neutralized, the Adversary is about to get his first taste of high technology in the form of steel-jacketed bullets and laser-guided bombs. But the ruler who conquered a hundred different worlds didn't do it by fighting clean-and he's still got a surprise or two left to spring on the residents of Fabletown.Collects issues #70-75 in Bill Willingham's Eisner Award-winning series.

User reviews

LibraryThing member stephmo
Cinderella is finally given the chance to show off her super-spy skills that have merely been hinted at here and there at the very beginning of the story. I believe if James Bond were to meet our Cindy in some sort of cross-over extravaganza, he'd be crying for his mommy in about 20 seconds. Her
Show More
story, however is a mere amuse-bouche to the final battle between Fabletown and the Empire.

Ever see Ralph Bakshi's Wizards? If you have, you get much of Fabletown's strategy. Much like Avatar finally reveals at the end of that film, Fabletown has learned one important lesson upfront: guns do have a certain superiority to the elegance of magic. It doesn't mean that the fighting is simple and straightforward - it simply means that Fabletown is able to strike first and form a strategy that doesn't merely involve trying to hold Empire forces at bay. Ultimately, though, nothing is simple in out-and-out war and Willingham and Buckingham do some amazing work together in these panels.

Niko Henrichon does the guest art for this volume. Although not as severe a departure as some guest artists, the face-work on most characters was just "off" and it made some of the dialogue in the vignette seem out-and-out wrong. At the same time, it involved Stinky, and he's always good for a laugh.
Show Less
LibraryThing member xicanti
Fabletown has grown tired of waiting; they've decided to take the war straight to the Adversary. WAR AND PIECES shows us their preparation, their strategy and the battle itself. It is, in many ways, an ending. It wraps up the main storyline begun in LEGENDS IN EXILE, and it's the final hurrah for a
Show More
couple of our favourite characters. There's still room for the story to grow, but there's also enough closure to satisfy anyone.

And I've gotta be honest with you: I haven't much to say about it. It was decent. The art remains top-notch, and the writing is great. I particularly liked the two-issue story about Cinderella. (Seriously, how much ass does she kick?) I loved the airship. I thought Willingham did a decent job of wrapping everything up. It's a little anticlimactic, maybe, but it is all tied up. I do think he might've done a bit more with one of Boy Blue's subplots, though. I mean, that baby didn't even whomp. It just kind of

You get what I mean?

So it was good. I enjoyed it. If you've enjoyed the series so far, you definitely want to get your hands on this. And I have absolutely nothing else to say about it.

(This review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
Show Less
LibraryThing member extrajoker
This 11th collection brings to a close the primary story arc of the Fables series (i.e., the refugee Fables' war with the Homeland), but not the series itself. After 10 collections, it was a bit...not anticlimactic or disappointing, really, but a bit surprising to have the war suddenly end. Of
Show More
course, previous books (Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers; Vol. 8: Wolves) detailed heavy, pivotal battles, so this was just the final wave, I guess. I enjoyed the story and the art, as always. Being invested in the characters and concept, I'm sure I'll continue with the series. (Volume 12: The Dark Ages becomes available in August '09.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member nesum
Satisfying in that the long war comes to a logical and creative end. Willingham does a wonderful job in plotting the Fables' attack on the Adversary. Cinderella's mission near the beginning of the volume is exciting as well.

But as well-plotted as the war itself is, it makes for somewhat dull
Show More
reading. It's not until the end, when everything starts to go wrong, that the story picks up a little, but for most of the war, we are left watching the Fables go through victory after victory without even losing a single soldier.

Though I still recommend all Fables books to comic book fans, this volume left me disappointed.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Rhinoa
The War between Fabletown and the Adverssary beings in earnest. Cinderella has her own mission to bring back a package which turns out to be more complicated than expected. Bigby mans the last remaining beanstalk as an escape route into the Cloud Kingdoms which the adversary must never have access
Show More
to. Meanwhile Prince Charming and Sinbad have taken to the skies in a super ship to shoot down any dragons or other aerial warriors set against them. The Fables are employing the use of earth technology, guns and bombs specifically, which the Adversary has always forbidden in his lands to stop them being abused and used against him.

Boy Blue finally reveals his true feelings for a fellow Fable, but things do not turn out as planned. He throws all of his efforts in to using the Witching Cloak to travel between the three outposts and make sure no one runs out of supplies of ammunition. Nothing can get through the Witching Cloak, or can it...

The end of the first main plot arc. I plan on taking a break and catching up with the Jack of Fables books before going further with this series. Some great storytellings, I look forward to coming back to the world of the Fables in the future.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
This is the book where the exile Fables Get back at the empire. - I especially liked the tail featuring Cinderella.

The stories are smart, Magic vs Technology. There are a few heartbreaking stories of heroism.
LibraryThing member chellerystick
Spoilers? Maybe!

Good, adds some depth to some of the characters, but takes a few too many leaps of believability and motivation. It feels a bit... lurching... to fit a whole war into so few issues. Also, I don't know if they are getting more tired or what, but it feels like as the series goes on
Show More
many of the facial contours and expressions are slipping. The borders and page bleeds are fun though, and the cover art is as wonderful as ever.

Don't know what will happen w/ volume 12, but I have bought it and will see how that goes. (Catching up a bit!) Meanwhile I am thinking this volume will get donated to the local library.
Show Less
LibraryThing member EJAYS17
It had to happen sooner or later and in this the 11th collection the Fables go to war.

In the first issue of the collection; Kingdom Come, drawn by Niko Henrichon, Boy Blue is shipping out, but before he goes there two things he has to do. One is to let the Fables on the Farm know that if they want
Show More
he'll take them to Prince Ambrose's kingdom of Haven in the Homelands, but there is one catch. In area Haven isn't much bigger than the Farm, and while they'll be free to leave, once they do so they won't be under any protection from the Imperial forces of the Adversary. It's up to the individual Farm Fables to choose. We never find out exactly who does elect to go and who decides to stay, but there are some hysterically funny conversations when the Fables try and choose between the technological advantages of the Mundy world (TV, iPods, the internet) and the lure of being back in the Homelands. The second thing that Blue has to do is tell Rose how he feels about her, especially once Stinky, sorry Brock the Badger explains to him that it's painfully obvious to everyone else that she's head over heels in love with him. Unfortunately by the time Blue gets around to this and he's shipping out Rose decides she doesn't want to open herself up to possible heartbreak if he doesn't return.

The second two issues, a two parter called Skullduggery features Cinderella in her secret agent glory. Pinnochio has been smuggled back from the Homelands. Fabletown's brains trust: Charming, Bigby, King Cole, Beauty, Beast and Frau Totenkinder believe that the puppet is extremely important to the war effort and they want him safely hidden in the Woodlands building. It's up to Cinderella to collect him from Chile and spirit him to New York, battling Imperial agents the entire way.

Once Pinnochio is secured the action shifts to the war in the main story; War and Pieces. Charming resigned as Mayor and gave the position back to Cole so he could take an active part in the war. He's one of the commanders on the Arabian built skyship Glory of Baghdad. Sinbad is the other commander. The skyship is held aloft by flying carpets and armed with modern Mundane weapons, they are kept up to date with what the Empire is doing by the zephyrs. Glory's chief mission is to locate and bomb the gates that connect the various Homelands to each other, which will greatly restrict Imperial troop movements.

The war is also being fought on other fronts. Bigby commands Fort Bravo, their duty is to protect the one remaining magic beanstalk to provide an escape route for the Fables if needed and to destroy it if the Imperial forces look like gaining control. The Farm is being used as a storage and staging depot and the Homelands building is their headquarters. Blue is supply, he uses the Witching Cloak to ferry himself, reinforcements, supplies and news between the various fronts of the war.

Briar Rose has been dropped into the Imperial capital with Hakim, the Arabian Fable guard and one of the 13th floor Fables, the witch Mrs Someone to protect her. When the time is right she will prick her finger and the amplification that Fabletown's magic users have placed on her usual sleeping spell will put everyone0 in the city to sleep and cause it be covered by a near impenetrable thicket of thorns.

Things go smoothly until the Emperor (who is really just a giant armoured puppet) breaks free of the thorns and gets information about Fort Bravo. He travels there and the commander there fires a specially enchanted arrow at Bigby. The arrow should find it's target and kill them. Blue gets in the way and tries to shield Bigby with the cloak. Amazingly the arrow pierces the cloak and wounds both Boy Blue and Bigby, but neither fatally. Bigby takes on the Emperor and uses guile to bring him down and allow Blue to finish him off with the Vorpal Sword.

Meanwhile an Imperial dragon squad has managed to avoid detection by Glory and launches itself in a suicide attack on the flying ship. Glory explodes and Charming and Sinbad barely manage to esscape with their lives and their payload. They're grounded, but they still have one gate to destroy. At the last Charming proves that the stories about him weren't just that, he is courageous and noble and gives his life for the greater cause.

The war is over at great cost. The Fables have captured the Adversary, Pinnochio's father Geppetto. They bring him back to Fabletown at Pinnochio's insistence. I can't see this ending well.

This was a great collection. It was fitting of a big war collection, you could sense that the series had been building to this. One criticism is that there seemed a bit of an anti climactic sense to it. The war just went too smoothly for the Fables. Although the ending was tense there wasn't the same sense of loss we got seeing some of the heroes go down in March of the Wooden Soldiers. Yes, Charming died and did so nobly, but his amoral character never allowed readers to bond to him tightly. The only other Fable that I got any sense of loss about dying was Mr Toad from Wind in the Willows and that was only because I saw his grave at the end, he never spoke and I think we only saw him once in the entire series.

I'm still eager for more!
Show Less
LibraryThing member krau0098
This is the 11th book in the Fables series and brings us to the battle between Fabletown and the Adversary. It was an excellent continuation in this series and ties up a number of things that the series has been building up to.

The book starts with a story that deals with Cinderella and her mission
Show More
to recover a certain missing fable. After that we quickly get into the main story of the epic war between the Fables and the Adversary.

The illustration was very in keeping with previous installments; very well done and fits the tone of the story nicely. It’s never hard to follow what is going on and the characters have wonderful facial expressions.

This is the issue we have all been waiting to read. Finally we see the Fables engage the Adversary in war. It’s the Fables huge dirigible like machine supported by flying carpets with buttloads of ammo versus the Adversary’s dragons. At first it looks like technology will win the day, but the Adversary has some tricks up its sleeve.

There is some great humor in the story. Boy Blue and Prince Charming feature in much of the war scenes. We also hear a lot from Snow, Bigby, Rose Red, the Emperor, and the Snow Queen.

Lots of breath-taking action scenes and the Fables/fairy tales are woven into the story in many clever ways. I loved the way Briar Rose uses her “power”.

Overall one of the best installments in this series so far. I am curious as to what will be next for the Fables and can’t wait to read Dark Ages. Highly recommended to fans of fantasy/urban fantasy graphic novels.
Show Less
LibraryThing member macha
Book 11 in the series, this is the big war against the Adversary, with many threads converging, some new reveals, a few new characters, and even a main character death. all deftly and lovingly entwined. this series just keeps getting richer as it gets more complex, and Willingham's afterword
Show More
suggests he might just be prepared to continue on with it indefinitely. which is fine with me, it's a neat idea well realized. inventive in all the right places, and the only serious successor to Gaiman's Sandman series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member -Eva-
Cindy's new mission is to bring "the package" back to Fabletown, Rodney and June become bona fide members of the community, Sinbad and Prince Charming strikes a huge blow against the Adversary's forces, Briar Rose gets to use her particular "power" to help with the war effort, and Bigby gets a
Show More
chance to take the Emperor down. Lots of good storylines, all having their impact on the war. All characters get to show themselves at their best - whether their best is to be good or to be bad. It's a great war story and especially the events on the airship Sky Treader and Bigby's great contribution to the fighting provide excellent action scenes.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini
I dunno, man, Willingham's a bit of a hack at the best of times, I suppose, but in this one it doesn't even feel like he's TRYING to disguise the blatant shoehorned-in expository prose. Like, at least give us a pretext, dude, and then we can pretend that the characters don't always talk like that.
Show More
And, I dunno, for "the end of the war" this one seems so minor. The Flycatcher story was not only more affecting, but a lot longer. This was like a footnote. And one gets kind of tired of how Fabletown goes from success to success and the big scary Empire is powerless to even touch them. And in the first chapter it's impossible to tell any of the women apart - thanks, guest artist! But there are some totally cool moments, of course, and the naval camaraderie between Charming and Sinbad is adorable, and I'm definitely more of a fan of Boy Blue as the focalizer than Snow White or Bigby or whatever. And now they'll be reclaiming the Homelands, and that will provide lots of opportunities for the machinations and revelations and character moments that made this series great.
Show Less
LibraryThing member cantinera
This only gets three stars from me since I liked Cinderella's story. Otherwise, meh. And that was the end?
LibraryThing member ancameme
As good as any ending, I suppose. The vertical panelling towards the end gets tiring.
On second read, it's better, just by a little. Maybe because I wasn't going in with high hopes.
LibraryThing member cendri
Finally, I am here. Main war arc is done. Somewhat anticlimactic, but this was never why I got into the series anyway.

I look forward to new fresh arcs with my favorite Fables, now that this tedious war business is over.
LibraryThing member MickyFine
After all of the build-up for the last ten volumes, the fables exiled to our world finally go to war with the Adversary. But while modern weaponry gives them a significant advantage, no one is indestructible.

Gorgeous art in this one and I really enjoyed the two issue arc, following Cinderella's spy
Show More
duties. So much fun.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
This issue mostly deals with the war between the Fables and the Empire. The opening story featured Cinderella as she undertakes a mission to South America to pick up a valuable package that will aid in this war. The rest of the book is dedicated to the war that has been building for years. Many of
Show More
my favorite characters make an appearance in this epic as they take the fight to the Homelands and give the Adversary a taste of his own medicine.

As always the story is interesting, the artwork stellar and the fun factor is high.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
The war with the Adversary starts and ends in this volume. It's the most anti-climactic war story ever written--not in a way that reveals the banality of war, but rather because Willingham has de-powered the Adversary's forces to such an extent. All the Fables make the right choices, every single
Show More
time. The Empire's armies (which stretch over countless worlds and are comprised of a nearly infinite amount of soldiers) are destroyed basically off-screen, without any effort.

The story focuses on Boy Blue, who uses the Witching Cloak to transport and supply the Fables; Prince Charming and Sinbad, who fly an airship armed with guns; and Cinderella, who rescues Pinnochio and goes toe-to-toe with Witch Finder Hansel. I've never cared about Boy Blue, and this story didn't change my mind. Prince Charming was utterly out-of-character, and Sinbad was there so Charming could tell him plans and have Sinbad say, "Great idea!" Snow White, King Cole and Bigby get an appearance each, but have little to do. Cindy has the best story of the bunch.

And then, they defeat all the Adversary's armies, Boy Blue vorpal blades the Emperor's head off, and Gepeto is forced to sign the Fabletown compact. Annnnd that's it. Nobody dies. Nobody despairs. At no point did I fear for a single character. A very disappointing conclusion to a very long build-up.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ecataldi
This installment could very well end the series with the final all out battle taking place. Rather than ending though, it's simply the ending of a chapter and the beginning of a new one. Major sacrifices were made on both sides and the losses were high, but the build up of confrontation finally
Show More
comes to a head and this installment was impossible to put down. The battle plans were amazing, and Fabletown really came together with creativity and ingenuity. Wonderful! I can only imagine where the series will go from here!
Show Less
LibraryThing member bobbybslax
This is a solid conclusion to the 75-issue Fabletown vs. Adversary arc. The pace is excitingly quick and the characters remain ever complex. (I wonder what Snow White has been up to lately. She hasn't really done much other than get married. I hope she gets some of her own stories later on.)
LibraryThing member bdgamer
The much awaited war issues! It was tense throughout, especially the end.
LibraryThing member MerryMeerkat
Definitely not as good as the others. Bored the heck out of me. I can only hope it gets better, I was getting really tired of war crap.
LibraryThing member Girl_Detective
the long term plans and stories of the characters come together in a final, huge battle. Prince Charming partners with Sinbad to captain a skyship, Cinderella is a killer spy on a dangerous mission, Bigby Wolf leads the last stand, and Boy Blue narrates, since he’s all over the place. There’s a
Show More
satisfyingly big ending, and a short epilogue that balances things nicely.
Show Less
LibraryThing member wanderlustlover
More of Arthurian, Frog Prince, Haven, and everything. This continued to be amazing. There was so much I didn't expect and (got to see the end results of the things that I) did. I love the characters. I love how we see how much certain people, have grown. I love the King Cole's reinstatement, and
Show More
Charmings finding his next best place. I love seeing different sides of characters. Different ways of winning wars.
Show Less

Awards

Hugo Award (Nominee — Graphic Story — 2009)

Original publication date

2008

Physical description

192 p.; 6.62 inches

ISBN

1401219136 / 9781401219130
Page: 0.4852 seconds