Those Murderous Fiends!!

Fables 115-121
DC Vertigo
Bill Winngham, writer
Mark Buckingham and Steve Leialoha, artists

I picked this arc of Fables to discuss because I like the Wolf family of characters so much. Boy did that backfire on me.

Once again, the name of this rather lengthy story arc is "Cubs in Toyland." The first issue of this arc had young Therese, one of seven youngsters belonging to Bigby Wolf and Snow White, being "kidnapped" by a toy boat. As one can anticipate from the title of the arc, the boat takes young Therese to Toyland, but their destination is hardly the fun-filled place one might expect. It seems nothing is left living in Toyland as all of the magic is gone from the realm. The broken and discarded toys that inhabit Toyland are still quite animated because they never were alive to begin with, but they are desperately in need of a new monarch to restore the magic and splendor of their home. This is why they have sent out the toy boat that brought Therese.

One might also assume from the title of the arc that Therese is not the only child of Bigby and Snow to come to Toyland. In truth, she wasn't so much kidnapped by the boat as enticed to run away by it. Various taunts from her sister and brothers helped push Therese to that decision. Later that night, after Snow discovers that one of her children is missing, Darien, the eldest of the litter, begins to feel no small amount of remorse for the taunts. The magical nature of Therese's journey prohibits her parents from tracking her whereabouts, but with the help of some other characters, Darien secretly sneaks off to follow and bring his sister back to Wolf Manor.

I won't spoil the remainder of the story by giving further details beyond what one might assume from the title of today's post, and that much information can be gleaned almost anywhere on the Internet. Suffice to say that not everyone makes it out of this story alive, and none of the Wolf clan is left untouched by the events of this story. This isn't the first time Willingham and crew have killed off a beloved cast member in this title. In fact, sometimes it seems that the more popular a character grows in fans' eyes, the greater likelihood that something truly tragic will befall said character. It's one of the things I like/despise about this title. It's just sad when tragedy hits so close to home.