Review Time - Week of October 11th

Fables #54 - Hansel arrives in Fabletown as the Emperor's ambassador and kicks the proverbial beehive. Prince Charming, absent from Fabletown for most of it's history, hears Hansel's story from Beauty and Frau Totenkinder, and it isn't pretty. After killing the Witch in the Gingerbread house (the afore mentioned Totenkinder) Hansel immediately begins to show a disturbing fascination with killing. When he and his sister reach Fabletown in the 1600s Hansel is horrified to find Frau Totenkinder living peacefully, safe from harm by force of the Fabletown compact. Hansel immedately leave to live in the Mundy world, becoming a world renowned Witch Hunter in the process. When he returns to Town a century later he finds his sister has become friendly with the old witch. In a fit of rage Hansel kills Gretel and tries to portray it as an accident. The Fables don't buy his story and exile him, stripping him of his amnesty under the Fabletown Compact. Soon after the business of Witch Hunting dried up and Hansel returned to the Homelands to work for the Emperor. This backstory is interwoven with Hansel's attempts to secure new digs and Beast's quandry of how to keep track of the Emperor's embassy.

Where is Gretel?

I know she was shown killed in the flashback, but shes a pretty famous Fable. Goldilocks survived multiple gunshots, a fall down a cliff and a axe to her head, so Gretel should be able to bounce back from a broken neck. So I fully expect Gretel to show up at some point soon. As for the issue, it was the normal excellence I expect from Willingham in this series. This issue really made me realize well he writes Prince Charming. Prince began the series as an almost irredemable louse, but ever since he became Mayor of Fabletown he has slowly become a very likeable character. He's still ruled by his libido, but he also seems to genuinely care about the fate of his people now.

New X-Men #31 - The New X-Men face Nimrod, a Sentinel from the future so advanced that even the X-Men, with one of their most powerful lineups ever, couldn't defeat it. They attack, but seem hopelessly outmatched, with Rockslide being blown to bits by Nimrod. Forge comes up with a plan to destroy the Super-Sentinel and the NXM attack en masse. Each teammember gets their licks in before Talon tears open its armor, allowing Mercury and Surge to overload the time device. Nimrod wakes up in the past, just before it's first encounter with the X-Men. The NXM however are devastated with Rockslide in pieces and Talon injured so badly her healing factor cannot compensate. Rockslide pulls himself together, albeit looking somewhat differently, and Hellion takes Talon and tries to fly her from Dallas to Westchester so Elixir can heal her. He makes it an collapses at Elixir's feet, but he manages to save Laura from death.

When Kyle and Yost first took over this book I disliked how many characters they killed off early on. It was a bit gratuitous, especially coming right on the heels of the Decimation. This issue those deaths really paid off. I really thought they killed off Rockslide for good this time. Santo Vaccaro isn't a great character, but I found myself feeling bad when I thought he was gone for good. The rest of the issue was equally great, with each team member getting a moment to shine. Its tough to take what is essentially a junior team and craft stories that are sufficently threatening while working within the bounds of the mother books, and in this case the writers did a bang up job. I tip my cap to Misters Yost and Kyle for making a worthy successor to the old New Mutants book without being slavishly bound to the past. This issue shows why Paco Medina is a rising star. Some fans think his work is too cartoony, but I think it fits the material here perfectly.

Quick Hits
Ultimate Power #1 - Bendis' take on Reed Richards may be his best work. Ultimate Reed may be the most sympathetic character in the Ultimate U.
52 Week 23 - The Island of Mad Scientists should get it's own series.