Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Never dismiss the caretaker or the janitor; they might be the only one who truly knows where all the bodies are buried.
The tenth instalment of Bill Willingham’s Fables, The Good Prince, is perhaps arguably the most fairylike tale of them all. A tale told of the valour of one man with more to lose than anyone in the whole of Fable Town, a man whose life throughout the previous nine books has been one of the utmost importance but who never realised what he was until his memory was forced to return as he thought of indiscretions with Red Riding Hood.
Flycatcher, or Ambrose as Red Riding Hood calls him, is arguably the one man in Fabletown for whom the whole war against the adversary hinges. He is the keeper of secrets, the man for whom keeping the mess out of the public eye has become so engrained into his moral fibre that he punishes himself for even allowing his mind to wander back to a time when he was more than just the humblest man in Fable Town.
What Bill Willingham has managed to do in this particular Graphic Novel is to show exactly what a hero is. It is the willingness to give up everything, even personal freedom, to solve a crisis, to help save his fellow citizens and even some of his enemies. Unlike Bigby Wolf, Boy Blue or even the selfish self-confessed womaniser but concerned for the overall health of his community Prince Charming, Flycatcher is a man for whom the responsibility is not sought, but thrust upon. It is the adage of heroism spoken by Shakespeare’s Malvalio that springs to mind throughout this particular story line, “Some are born to greatness, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them”, rarely though does one achieve all three in life, there lays the true power of responsibility that is entrusted to Ambrose the janitor.
Boy Blue and Bigby may have entered the Empire to take on and strike a blow against the adversity, but they did it under cover and with stealth. By placing the most unlikeliest of heroes into battle and armed only with the people and creatures he has to persuade to join him on his quest, heroism is found with the man.
Whilst not as dynamic or as thrilling as the previous title, Sons of Empire, The Good Prince nevertheless captures a mood that has not really been explored in any of the other Fable titles. This is book that underpins the true notion of doing the right thing at the right time and for all the right reasons, not so much a fairy tale, but one of strength in valour; a tale that often gets misplaced by having the stereotypical version of the hero winning through but in Flycatcher/Ambrose can be seen as being the personification of all who to aspire to such things.
Fables: The Good Prince is available from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall