Part of the Pack

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland hardcover
DC Vertigo
Bill Willingham, writer
Craig Hamilton, Jim Fern, Ray Snyder and Mark Farmer, artists
***mature content warning***

I am a big fan of Bigby Wolf, one of the principal characters of Bill Willingham's Fables universe. When introduced to the series in the first issue, he was the constable and an often strategist for the Fable folk in exile in New York City. Since then, the former Big Bad Wolf of legend has married Snow White and fathered a litter of cubs. Once that blessed event happened, Bigby stepped down as constable in favor of living with his family. Based on stuff I've read online, I'm not that unique in being a fan of Bigby; he's a very popular character in the series. But I like him in spite of his apparent popularity.

I've always liked wolves. They are noble, beautiful creatures; what's not to like. My appreciation of wolves extends to the monster genre. I like many kinds of monsters, but especially werewolves. Let everyone else swoon over vampires and swarm around zombies; I'll take the alpha monsters, werewolves! Bigby wraps both of these things up into one, with even more thrown in. He's also the seventh son of the North Wind, hence his ability to blow pigs' houses in.

But enough preamble. Let's get to this awesome book.

It features Bigby in a solo adventure, so naturally I wanted to order it as soon as it was solicited. But this isn't just a stand-alone Bigby story; I should have known better than that with Willingham's ability to constantly expand on the universe he has created for these characters. If you are new to the Fables universe, this can certainly work as a self-contained tale. All you really need to know is right there between these beautifully illustrated covers. But if you are a longtime Fables fan, this story builds upon the events from way back in Fables Nos. 28 and 29 from almost 10 years ago.

In those two issues, we learned that Bigby had taken part in the fighting of World War II. The Fables characters, magical beings, don't have traditional lifespans, and Fabletown has existed in New York City for decades. Bigby took a leave of absence in the late 1940s in order to combat the Nazi threat on his own terms. His position as constable of Fabletown includes policing but also protecting the Fable folk, he explains. Anyway, a very fun solo Bigby adventure was told in the pages of these two Fables issues.

This hardcover one-shot tells a current tale, but builds upon those WWII adventures depicted in Fables Nos. 28 and 29. Bigby is again on the road by himself doing work on behalf of Fabletown. This is an extended mission involving exploring regions of the United States. Bigby comes across a town by the name of Story City. That name alone might be enough to make him curious, but add to the city's name the fact that the entire population of the town are werewolves who all seem to know Bigby already. Those are the makings of a mystery. And this book is an excellent one!