If the first arc of Fables was a murder mystery with a slightly satiric twist, the second arc is a more unusual political story, although with the same elements of satire. Willingham has captured the danger and shifting loyalties of a revolution, while also maintaining a slightly funny edge through the cast of players who make up the various factions. In addition, he's using the story to further explore both Rose Red and Snow White, showing hidden depths in the former and a surprising naivete in the latter which balances out their primary characterization.
In every issue of Fables we've seen previously, Snow White has been in control, but it's made clear in this issue that she expects people to play by certain social rules. Removed from her government, Snow White becomes vulnerable, and her more streetwise sister begins to look like the smart one. Mind you, it's hard to blame Snow for being a bit out of the loop; the goings-on at the Farm are multi-layered, with several different people (or animals) having different goals and approaches to fulfilling those goals.
The mixture of different revolutionary doctrines are what fascinates me. Goldilocks as a Patty Hearst SLA-style convert spouting rhetoric had me laughing quite a bit, even as she seemed like a dangerous and fanatical opponent. And Willingham's take on the bears, as dim-witted country bumpkins with obvious physical advantages, was also quite amusing. Meanwhile, Dun stands in for the disgruntled leader of a minority group, more Malcolm X than Martin Luther and with an unlikable edge to him that makes him fascinating as well. It seems clear that Dun, Goldy and several of the others could find themselves at odds by the end of this.
In many ways, Mark Buckingham has a tougher job than Lan Medina had in the first arc of Fables. While Medina had to be skilled in expressions and subtle storytelling, at least most of the characters he was working with were mostly human. Buckingham has to convey emotions and poorly hidden secrets with characters like a talking pig, bears, a fox and other animals. He does a great job, and I'm particularly impressed with his work on the sour Dun or the charismatic and roguish Reynard.
While Fables is a fun book, Willingham and company also manage to convey an air of seriousness and danger, and I found the shift from bickering sisters to more of a political/civil war story very interesting. Just as I spent each issue of the first arc trying to figure out the mystery, now I'll be spending each issue trying to figure out which group will wind up on top after the attempted coups.
