It's here.. the Fables attempt at taking back the Homelands. So well thought out by Bill Willingham, with a well crafted game-plan, using information that had been drip fed to the reader in the previous 10 volumes; there's no crappy deus ex machina here. In addition, the story is narrated in the past tense by a few of the characters. Great stuff, that keeps Fables fresh and that opens up so many new future opportunities story-wise. We also get a nice Cinderella pre-war mission as warm up. 8 out

Volume 11 of this Eisner-winning graphic novel collects issues # 70-75, and arrives at what Willingham had been working up to from the first issue of "Fables": Fabletown goes to war against the Adversary.But, before the main event, the story arc "Kingdom Come"provides us with the last-minute war council among the leaders of Fabletown and also for Boy Blue's confession of love to Rose Red. We get a glimpse on the pseudo-transition of Fabletown government officials comes about in light on the atta...

I'm less than satisfied with the final conclusion of this story arc. I'm usually all for redemption and forgiveness, for giving even the worst antagonists the chance to reform rather than just vengefully and spitefully taking their lives - but that still requires them to be willing to give it an honest shot, and Geppetto here obviously has no intention or desire to do any of that. Hell, he was basically dragged into the whole thing against his will! How messed up is that?Apart from that bit of d...

The pieces that the title refers to must be what happens to your heart after the events of this volume. War has a price and the price in this case is high. I wasn't expecting to wind up liking a particular character as much as I did or how heavy my heart would feel when they were gone. I knew he had some hero in him as we'd seen tiny snippets of it in previous issues so I wasn't surprised as his insistence of doing what he did. I am surprised at this character's demise and it again reinforces wh...

A terrible conclusion to what was in parts a great series. Fables jumped the shark somewhere around the paeans to the Israeli Defense Force; in this book, the writer is marvelously impressed with his familiarity with such military esoterica as "concentrated fire" and "bombing." There's a spy story in the beginning in which said spy's internal monologue is about nothing but what an awesome spy she is. It's really risible. Finally, the last scene involving the Adversary makes absolutely no sense.

A bit one-sided. There Still was allot of drama and it felt like it could’v changed out of nowhere. I’m curious What way the story Will go now.

The war is here and...it's okay? So first we get the start of preparing for the war with boy blue. Then a super secret mission with our favorite spy. And then we have the war itself. This covers pretty much the start, middle, and end of the entire war. Good: I liked the stuff with boy blue, the human moments with Bigsby, and the spy stuff. The rest?Bad: Was kind of boring. The war didn't have any crazy fight scenes for me. Overall this was a mehish volume. Probably one of the weaker ones so far....

The war has finally started.I really enjoyed this volume even though at times it seemed like there was no real danger for our heroes and heroines.Still at the end, sacrifices were made, though, how long the dead will stay dead is anyone's guess.Also interesting to see what happened to the Adversary and (I think) even more interesting will be to see what happens to him from here on out.This had a nice tidy feel to it that would (possibly) let you stop here if you wanted.But who wants to stop?On t...

This series is knocking it out of the park right now. This is the conclusion to the war of the fables, or so it looks like. This story was so satisfying. As in any war, there is much destruction and sadness, but wow. They had such a great idea for this. This series began 11 volumes ago with this war and it finally came to an end in this volume. I know there are at least 11 more volumes, so I wonder what the rest of the story is about. I’m just so impressed with this series and all the writing. I...

Wow! This volume was the War. It took 10 volumes to get to this point and it was great. A small part of me thought it could have been better planned but overall it was a great read. I can’t wait to read what happens next since the Adversary is no more but who knows...there’s always someone to fight.

I am very disappointed how this series is progressing. The great Adversary, who provided the tension that made the story interesting early on (they were not just Fables living in the real world - they were Fables in exile of a great evil) is now just a chump TV villain that nobody has a reason to fear. Everything goes near-perfect for our plucky heroes, and even people who supposed to have no chance of survival manage to make it through alive with no explanation. The good guys make clever plans

My favorite era of Fables. The culmination of what the series has been leading up to at this point, war with the Empire. I was a little surprised at how the war was handled, the story was much shorter than I expected. I did like the inventive ways that Fables mixed magic and modern weaponry. Mark Buckingham outdoes himself on the art with how he arms the animal Fables.

Just the other day I had a realisation in regards to a film which several people had curiously called a 'dumb film.' Then I read an article which pointed out that such a movie, judged linguistically may be seen as dumb. But the language of films, the article noted, extends beyond the dialogue or plot. It extends into the visual and therefore has a kind of visual intelligence. I would like to theorise that writing can be the same, that there are multiple types of ways to read a book. One way I wo...

Wow. And so ends an 11 volume arc. I'm both excited and nervous for the second half of the series. What can possibly come after?

Bill Willingham's Fables is one of the few series I've stuck with since the beginning, and while it hasn't always maintained the quality and excitement of its best issues, it's been consistently entertaining without falling into too many predictable patterns, thanks to a single ongoing storyline that has dominated everything else: the war between Fabletown and the world-spanning magical empire of the Adversary.In this trade paperback collection, the war comes to an end, which is an impressive mi...

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 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...

I have mad love for this series. I tried to stay away, take a long break, but it pulled me back. I'm a fairy tale addict and Willingham gets fairy tales and how to take them and give them a modern update without destroying the essence of what makes fairy tales so appealing.I like that while Bigby and Snow are much loved and favored characters in this series, they take a back seat and we see the heroism and the complexity of other Fables. I love how the backstories of the characters come into pla...

Wow. Vol 11 doesn't hold back in terms of plot development and excitement. I enjoyed this "culmination" volume to the Fables story arc. The book is divided into two stories but more on that in a second.The Fables and the Imperial forces are at a state of war. So Vol 11 starts with a two-fold preemptive strike against the Empire. The first part of the book deals with the covert side of the story. Cinderella is a truly impressive and badass covert operative. I really enjoyed her operation. Also ku...

A really good read but written in a way with not a lot of actual action.World: The art is amazing, there is simply not much else to say at this point about Buckingham’s art as it really does set the standard and the look of the world. The world building is amazing, this is the war, this has been building since issue one and this is the culmination of the idea of the Adversary and the Homeland and we finally have the pieces in place for it all come into play here. Story: A wonderfully paced and l...

The end of the great war, but not the series. This was good, but went as expected. Looking back at the earlier volumes, there was a lot more mystery and twists where the more recent ones were more straight forward. (view spoiler)[1/1 – Blue gets friend-zoned by Rose, Beauty feels left out since she isn’t a secret spy. 1/2 – Cindy goes on an errand for Frau – to pick up Pinocchio who ran off from his dad, Charming steps down from office making King Cole mayor again and Beauty his deputy. Charming...