Fables #112

Written by Bill Willingham
Art by Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, and Dan Green

Ah, the Christmas issue - proof that time really does move forward in comics.  This is an extra-sized issue, something I didn't notice until I was more than half-way through and started wondering how Willingham and company had packed so much into one comic.

Anyway, the Fables return to the Farm just in time for Christmas, and after a large party, Rose Red is visited by a talking cricket (I think it's safe to assume this is Jiminy), who takes her on a Christmas Eve journey to meet with three 'Paladins of Hope'.  Apparently, a while back, when every issue was taken up with Rose Red's conversation with the ghost of her mother, she decided to become a paladin of Hope.  I don't remember that part happening exactly, so I was a little confused until I decided to just go with it.

The three paladins (there used to be fourteen) each represent a different aspect of hope.  Santa Claus, for example, represents the 'hope for justice', which is different from actual justice.  The Rose Red part is cool, in a Christmas Carol sort of way.

Willingham also checks in on Bigby and Snow and their family, who while still absorbing the news that their daughter will be the new North Wind, decide to have a quiet family Christmas at home.  Also, Nurse Spratt is laying a trap for the Fables back in Fabletown.

I still think it's rather strange that Frau Totenkinder (I know that's not her name anymore, but I forget what she's called now - Briarthorn?) is back, but no one is talking about it.  Perhaps we'll get there eventually.  Fables feels a little between big stories right now, and the next issue is going to be an interlude, but I feel confident that Willingham has something up his sleeve for 2012.