Frau Totenkinder for the win. ( )

Oh, I had more love for this story. We return to Fables, and this time to Mister Dark. To more backgrounds, more research and more indepth knowledge on some of my most favorite second teir, mysterious characters -- The Witches of Floor 13.

I have to admit I didn't amazing love Bufkin's story, but it did amuse me. Mirror, Flowers girls, and all. The way they tell these stories, sometimes when I'm not in love with the characters, I still end up loving the story itself.

Not going to lie: I gleed at the image of Baby Yaga in her cauldron. (And all the flashbacks of Frau Totenkinder's past, and stories blurring together.) ( )

Loved the characterization here. Made a lot of sense for these characters to do what they do. ( )

Back to Fables and back to the problem of Mr. Dark! Originally I had no idea where Fables could go after the Adversary was defeated, but this works. A power vaccuum, filled by all sorts of big bads. It turns out that as dark as Geppetto went, he still arguably did some good (as all evil empires seem to do on some level). Fun times.

A solid story. It's interesting getting more insight into some of the more magical folks in Fabletown. They're a lot less straight forward than the Fables, which I approve of.

Spoilers and pictures:



I love the backstory; what Geppetto set into motion to solidify his control and just what that control cost. And what the modern day Fables are up against.



The loss of the Business Office is a wonderful subplot. It turns out that when you lean on magic in a mundane world, when that magic fails all sorts of weird things happen. It's an interesting analogy to leaning too hard on computized recordkeeping and things like that.



Wonderfully meta. Also Totenkinder is a lot of fun.



As I was saying, the subplot in the business office is a crazy fun way of going. I love it.



Heh. Fables within Fables. ( )

3.75 stars

There is a new villain in this volume of Fables. Some of the witches gather to try to defeat him.

This issue seemed more set-up for something I expect will come later. I do “like” the new creepy villain. I thought I'd like this one a little better than I did, with witches as main characters, but there was also plenty of other stuff going on, as well, that wasn't quite as interesting for me. I really liked the last story, though, with Flycatcher in it; that was another one that went a slightly different direction compared to the rest of the volume. Oh, I love the black cat in this one! As always, the illustrations are incredible, and I love the borders. You can flip through the book and tell from the border what scene is happening (or at least who the character(s) are in the scene) ( )