Comes a King in the North

[arbre_rieur]

Four pages from FABLES 106, the final chapter of the "Super Team" arc...

Last issue ended with the North Wind challenging the Dark Man to a fight. The first nine pages of this issue are devoted to that fight, as two god-like powers collide. Mr. North sacrifices himself to destroy the both of them, as was his intent from the start.

The rest of the issue then is an epilogue of sorts, showing the rest of the characters coming to terms with what happened.



Also, we find out the identity of Rose Red's mysterious benefactor: It's the embodiment of Hope, another one of the Great Powers like the Dark Man or the North Wind. Previously, Rose (and Snow before her) knew her as the "ghost" of Colin Pig.





Elsewhere, Bigby comes to grips with his father's sacrifice.

Comments

[k_red]

Ghost. Has to be Ghost.

[blackruzsa]

Seconded and motto'd.

[glprime]

Third. Though I've really wanted to see the Cubs grown up in living their lives in the Mundy world before being drawn back into a giant conflict.

[espanolbot]

Wait, Mr Dark is dead?

Huh, well goodbye then, you supremely creepy creepy... thing, if that's the case.

[ghosty732]

Mr. Dark is dead, but someone else will eventually take up the mantle of the Great Power representing Darkness. Nurse Spratt seems primed for that role.

Getting rid of him this way ties up a lot of plot lines, and it also makes way for a more interesting new enemy for Fabletown. Mr. Dark was too ancient and powerful for them to realistically stand a chance against, and that conflict would have got tiring after a while because of the power imbalance. But a new, inexperienced manifestation of Darkness might be a more interesting fight.

[paultmd]

Wait, so this is how he got out of having to kill Ghost? By dying before he could enact his decree?

Another thing about his having to kill Ghost, did Willingham ever reconcile having the zephyrs that were used as spies while Hansel was on "diplomatic business" for the Empire instead of being put down?

[ghosty732]

As Mr. North said himself, death ends all obligations. So it was the only way for him to get out of killing his grandson.

And I assume that Mr. North allowing Fabletown to use the zephyrs during the War was a sort of special dispensation on his obligation to kill them. Some of them burned up on the Glory of Baghdad when it was set on fire.

[arbre_rieur]

"Another thing about his having to kill Ghost, did Willingham ever reconcile having the zephyrs that were used as spies while Hansel was on "diplomatic business" for the Empire instead of being put down?"

When asked that on his message board, Willingham said it was a good question and theorized that Mr. North merely delayed those zephyrs' executions.

[drexer]

It does end up being a good justification for his resolute wanting to kill him that mayhaps Zephyrs can grow to become Winds and he knew that if he let Ghost live he might grow to face him and defeat him. Kind of translating the North-Bigby dynamic here to his grandson, which kind of make sense in a Fable-y world.

[drexer]

Am I the only one wishing that after that first page Ozma answers in a way that indicates possibilities of some kind of romance between them? Because that page and the cover makes me ship them so much...

Only me? Okay...

[ghosty732]

No, I want them to hook up so bad.

But then I'm not sure how to get around the fact that, although they are centuries old, they still inhabit the bodies of little kids, so "hooking up" has to be limited to hand holding and kisses on the cheek.

[leoboiko]

The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North! The King in the North!

…sorry, couldn’t resist. Been watching too much Game of Thrones :)

[ian_karkull]

I only klicked this post to write the exact same thing.

The King in the North!

[eyz]

Woah!!! °__°
This art's gorgeous!!!