The war is over , the Fables are victorious, time to celebrate? Hell no! With a nice turn and in a very fairy tale like way (which resonates well), Bill Willingham and co. set out the future of the series with the outcome of the huge power void made by the defeat of The Adversary. There's a number of cracking sub plots as well :)

The Dark Ages have begun! After the events of Vol 11, the Empire has fallen and Gepetto is now stuck in Fabletown subject to their rules and regulations. However, all is not well. Much like the collapse of the Roman Empire is popularly thought to have ushered in a "Dark Age" of chaos, the Empire's demise lead to ancient evils being unleashed. It gives another side to the idea of the Empire as merely an instrument of oppression.It seems the Empire played a stabilizing force for dozens of worlds,

Boy Blue has some insights into Rose Red’s love life.

The Dark Ages is the perfect combination of things I love in any story: pathos, tragedy and a glimmer of hope. My personal favourite types of stories are not those full of nothing but despair and pseudo-grit but really those with a conflict between darkness and light. That is what this volume of Fables has.Following the defeat of the Adversary in the previous volume, things look set to improve. The most interesting thing about the beginning of this volume is how Geppetto, once a tyrant and sorce...

ohhhh no this is not ok, not ok at all. (view spoiler)[ Seriously, Blue??? Did it HAVE To be Blue?? And did it have to happen like that??? (hide spoiler)] Willingham is a cruel writer indeed.

don't get me wrong i really like where this is going buti don't like the stalling and the prolonging and the milking of the seriesand it looks like thats where we are headed a lot of events that isn't really important for the story at hand the new enemy is great he is invincible he is nuts he is pure evil the only down side is who the hell is he? right? in a graphic novel full of fable celebrities we get a villain that isn't really that famous if he was famous at all speaking for myself am not s...

it turns out there are some unintended consequences to defeating a centuries old empire in The Dark Ages. Parts of this are just gutwrenching. (view spoiler)[You're my boy Blue! (hide spoiler)] Mister Dark is creepy as hell and epitomizes the boogeyman brought to life. Plus, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

A new threat pops up that's quite a bit scarier than the Adversary and the end result has the Fables running for the Farm. But first, we take a peek at how little everyone in Fabletown likes having Pinocchio's father come to town. I like Allred's art in that issue.The death that happens takes an awesome character off the board (for now) but leaves some very interesting consequences in their wake.(view spoiler)[The speech he gives Rose Red about why she is attracted to the men she purports to lov...

I did wonder what was going to happen now that the war of the Fables has been won. I did have faith in Bill Willingham and this marvelous series, but I couldn't figure something out. Well, our friend Bill certainly came through for us.There is a new big bad on the loose and its as a result of a power vacuum created in the fairytale lands. This dude is set free and he is one black magic baddie. All the magic that Fabletown has been using seems to be connected to this dude. It's really interesting...

This book kicks off with a new threat being unleashed, one that threatens the Fables. The artwork is very similar to the Hellboy pages and this is one of the best books in the series, more a reboot after Adversary conclusion. There are a few characters that meet bitter ends here and while it is shocking, it is clearly building to the next story arc of the series. The series is unpredictable and you never have a clear indication where it will go next. Great storytelling and an interesting series

Wherein we see the Adversary try to adjust to life after empire; bid farewell one last time to Prince Charming; learn what the fall of the Adversary means for different strata of Fabletown society; see a terrible new enemy unleashed by a pair of not-so-subtly familiar characters; witness the relase of Baba Yaga and the death of poor Kay; witness someone finally read the spoiled, self-centered Rose Red the riot act without caring what she thinks; and a hero dies needlessly, giving birth to what m...

There's some good bits here - good buildup of tension for a new threat after a somewhat underwhelming conclusion of the previous one, some shenanigans with a cranky old retired tyrant, cameos of some of my favourite sword & sorcery heroes, and Mr. Dark chatting with said heroes - but on the whole it's another small step down. The writing is less than solid, the characterization at a gradual decline, and the art is inconsistent: the story both begins and ends with guest artists who do a plainly t...

And now the boogey man.... This was just okay. You can tell that the writer just doesn't want to continue this series, as it is kinda halfheartedly written. This villain would have been much better than Geppeto, and his puppet ruler.

I think that this volume more than others in the series conveys such a powerful sense of loss and risk. In fact, it feels very melancholy. No doubt that was Willingham's intention. A character dies and it feels like an enormous hole is left in the Fable community. This volume touches on how someone can be such a part of your life and you take them for granted, until they are gone. I don't know if I will get over the loss of this person, and in that I feel I identify with the characters. The same...

A new chapter a new status quo.World: The art is great, nothing much to say here, the framing and the character are just marvellous, Buckingham is a God. The world building here is great, it takes all the pieces and the consequences of the last arc and adds and builds upon it. It also opens up new little things we did not expect and the world is so much more interesting with this new arc. The status quo changes with this book and so does the overall world.Story: I love that we had a little lull

Even before the last war's dust has settled around Fabletown, new storm is brewing in a shadows lurking nearby.With their losses piling up, spirit of its dwellers hanging by the thread and their way of life not seeing any respite from string of threats, the Fabletowners are up for harder times ahead it seems. As Dickens may have put it, "It was an age of crushed dreams. It was an age of rising nightmares." Farm is about to get more crowded than usual and become centre of operations as Bigby and

I’ve always had a soft spot for fairytales: real fairytales. Fairytales are not “sweet”at their core; nor do they “happy endings”. Those tailored by Disney for children are just that -tailored/fabricated. I’ve always thought of them as cautionary tales. Fairytale characters are just like us -fallible, gullible, fragile. (view spoiler)[In Fables, Vol. 12: The Dark Ages, one fable will see her true self -not through an enchanted looking glass, but through the eyes of a good friend. I hope that thi...

Not sure how I can review this now. Kinda mad about a death. I hope something magical happens and he comes back.

Volumes 10 and 11 ("The Good Prince" and "War and Pieces") were so strong, that I was a little let down with "The Dark Ages." Because volume 11 brought a resolution to the series-long storyline of Fabletown vs. the Adversary, I saw volume 12 as the beginning a new storyline, with a new villain being introduced. Mr. Dark doesn't seem to be as compelling as the mystery of, "Who is the Adversary?," however he seems to be a formidable opponent for our Fables. For me, the highlight of this volume was...

Setting up the next arch in the series.I like the new villain seems very powerful and very evil. Seeing some more parallels from OUAT with the idea of finding "the storyteller." The magic doesn't make sense that it becomes unbound in some places and with some people, but not others - just something I have not not think too hard about.(view spoiler)[1/6 – Geppetto and the citizens try to get used to him being in Fabletown. Frau is slowly trying to undue his protection spells so that when he does