Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland by Bill Willingham

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland by Bill Willingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I think I am learning my lesson not to put off reviews.  My brain isn't as sharp as I would like, so it works better to write these reviews soon after I read the books.  Fortunately, this volume of Fables stands out a bit because it focuses on Bigby Wolf and his solo adventure to Story City, Iowa, a small town with a connection to Fabletown via Bluebeard.  We have to go back in time a bit to recall Bigby's WWII adventures, which are highly related.   It's no hardship to spend time with Bigby,  because he's one wolf I rather like.  I have to admit that this story gave me the creeps though. It had a Stepford Wives meets the Young Nazis Association of Weirdness feel.  This town that Bigby visits is just wrong!  You find out just how wrong it is the more time you spend in the town. 

The other thing I would say is if you don't like nudity, don't read this book. A lot of full frontal nudity, because it's about werewolves.  It didn't bother me, but certainly there is a lot of violence in this one, and the idea of that town just gave me the creeps. 

If you've seen the tv show, Wolf Lake, you might appreciate the strangeness of this town, except it has more of an Aryan feel.  I think that the writer/artists did an excellent job of conveying that sense of wrongness of this small community.

Bigby is basically forced into the role of enforcer when things come to a head in the town.  They see him as a god in many ways. He's not willing accept their worship, but he does take on the role of an alpha of a sort, enforcing the rules of the pack and a true understanding of what it means to be a wolf, which the people of the town seem to lack.

I didn't like this as much as the other Fables that I've read. I can't really say what I didn't like that much about it, other than it just rubbed me the wrong way.  I still love Bigby and his backstory and how it relates to the current situation was very intriguing.

Good story, although I didn't like this as much as I wanted to like it.



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