Comic Review: Fables-A Revolution In Oz

DC's Vertigo line of Fables recently wrapped up its A Revolution In Oz storyline which was featured as a backup story in Issues #114-#123, and then into a full-length conclusion in Issue #124. This follows the adventures of former Fabletown librarian, Bufkin, a flying monkey from Oz who after Fabletown's destruction managed to make his way to back to Oz, although he lost his wings along the way.

Bufkin returns to Oz along with his miniature Barleycorn Bride, Lily, to find the place has been taken over by the Nome King. So he teams up with the escaped Jack Pumpkinhead, Bungle the Glass Cat, and Sawhorse. They then managed to gain help from some rogue nomes and talking animals to break into a treasury where a lot of Oz's magical artifacts lie, including the Golden Cap they use to enlist the help of the other flying monkeys. Bufkin was captured during the raid, but his friends rescue him by using the Powder of Life on the rope meant to hang him. The revolutionaries then decide to get at the Nome King by putting a bounty on his head of not one, but two lollipops! This causes the Nome King to send all his troops out to capture or kill any kind of suspicious citizens, which turns out to be about everyone. With his forces scattered, the revolutionaries take down the rest of his forces, leaving the Nome King all alone to be hung by none other but the living rope. Bufkin then refuses to become Oz's new emporer, and leaves it in the care of Jack, Bungle, and Sawhorse. Then he, Lily, and the rope set off to free other people from tyranny wherever it exists.

The finale shows what became of our heroic trio. Bufkin, Lily, and Rope lived on for another 700 years. They went on to different worlds and different challenges, but never really coming back to Earth to reunite with the other Fabletowners. The fought dragons, gentlemen wendigos, and evil slavers. Bufkin loses one of his hands, but thanks to a mad scientist gets it back again along with his wings, and Lily for a while gets her mind transferred into a female monkey body for about thirty years, to which the two of them have a few kids from. Sometime later, Lily uses a magic fork to wish Bufkin into a Barleycorn body, two which they also have some offspring from, although the wish eventually wears off. They also both get turned into umpapa birds for a while, and lay several eggs from. Eventually though, they both return to Oz, and retire by one of the lunchbox trees. Bufkin dies of old age, and Lily passes away about a week later. Where this happens in continuity with the regular Fables storyline is a bit glib since time in some of the fairy worlds go quicker than other.

This made for a decent closing for one of Fables' supporting characters who managed to get his own storyline, which I thought was actually better than the Jack Of Fables series. The only thing though is the don't give much any mention to the other Oz characters already shown in other Fables comics like Dorothy from the Cinderella mini-series, or Ozma who has become the head of the witches of Fabletown. Strange how the Princess of Oz doesn't seem to show any interest in her homeland. Anyway, it's definitely worth a look. The collected entire storyline can be read in the Fables: Snow White trade paperback.