Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland

Bigby Wolf, the seventh son of the North Wind, is the original big bad werewolf, now reformed and somewhat civilized despite a mile-wide mean streak. While wandering through the Great Plains in search of a possible location for Fabletown, a new home for his fellow creatures of myth, he stumbles on Harp, an old friend and a fellow WWII special ops commando who is now running Story City, a small town inhabited exclusively by lycanthropes who worship Bigby as a god. Not surprisingly, things aren’t very kosher in Story City—and not just because werewolves rule the roost. Bigby’s former comrade-in-arms has married their old Nazi nemesis Dr. Sieglinde Von Abensberg, now Sigi Harp, and together they have spawned a brood of killers who are out for Bigby’s blood. Subtle allusions to the underlying nature of fascism and other sociopolitical overtones make this story more multidimensional than the otherwise straightforward narrative might initially suggest. An efficient, well-structured layout and the excellent pen and pencil work by the talented team of artists led by Jim Fern and Craig Hamilton seal the deal. The clean lines and the equally clean plot with flawless internal logic make this excellent Fables volume a real joy to read. (Nov.)