Reign/Fables

If you haven't heard of Spider-Man: Reign, then I first have to show you this:

I saw this picture on the cover, and already I knew that, "Whoa, this is going to be good. The stuff of legends." Fear not, people who don't follow comics- I did not just give you a major spoiler. Mary Jane Watson-Parker is not really dead- not yet. Not in the canonical universes, anyway. Spider-Man: Reign, is a sort of short story which detaches from the main continuity. Sort of like those fun, "What If-" comics. Except well, a lot cooler.

Instead of the usual 'let's kick bad guys' plus drama, Reign takes things up a notch- 35 years into the future. Peter Parker is old (like, frickin' old), out of money again and no, he's no longer Spider-Man. It's a post-apocalyptic future: New York has cut itself off from the rest of the world after everything else falls into a sort of dark age. The new people running the city enforce law with a troop called the 'Reign', people who brutally beat up criminal offenders, even if its a minor offense such as graffiti. As such, Spider-Man has retired-

And not in a very graceful way, either. The first part of the first issue shows him getting fired from his latest job as a florist, and walking home in the rain with wilted flowers for his wife- to whom he promised he would bring them. He breaks an arm on the way home just for trying to butt into a Reign troop chasing after two little kids. Like I said, old. Then he gets home, apologizes profusely to his wife who sits silently across the dinner table from him for losing this job, and of course, promises to make things work.

At this point, you'll of course notice that Mary Jane's hair is still red. You can't see her face, but it's enough to know that it's a hallucination. MJ is dead. And Peter is left alone now, though he sees her at every turn. Why did she die? Oh that's actually kinda the sweetest part- I won't spoil that just yet. The story actually picks up when ol' Jonah Jameson arrives, begging Peter to don his old threads, claiming that the city needs him. The Reign troop can't be trusted, as the people at the top are corrupt, and waiting to launch this device called The Webb, which will efficiently cut off the rest of the world from New York.

I have the first two issues, and I have to say, again, 'Whoa'. Psychotic. Dark. Gritty. I think I'm in love. Don't get me wrong though, I don't hate Mary Jane. In fact there were times where Peter hallucinates of MJ, and I felt like crying. Theirs is a marriage more sacred than life itself! Fun fact: some of the Marvel editors have been conspiring to get MJ to bite the bullet more than once now. What's stopped them? Angry fans. Not just a few. A huge percentage have been threatening to stop reading the comics if the Spider-marriage is annulled.

Which is of course, why an alternate universe has to be opened up for anyone to explore the possibility of how Peter Parker would deal with MJ's death.

Am waiting for the last two issues with bated breath. Marvel.com promised an appearance by Venom. With a surprise twist. People living near me can expect a surprised scream/shout coming from my room on the day it happens.

On the other side of the comicbook world, has anyone heard of Fables?

Well if you haven't, well here's the rundown. Fables is a story in which the key characters are people from European folklore (though Arabic folklore eventually makes an appearance). I'm talking about Little Red Riding Hood, Pinnochio, Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf (named Bigby Wolf in this series) Has anyone seen 10th Kingdom? If so, then you may experience deja vu once or twice here. Fables is a story of empires and war, and a small town called Fabletown, hidden from human eyes in New York City. The sheriff of this town is Bigby Wolf, a human who can shapeshift into wolf form. The fables (term for characters from folklore who have special powers and cannot age as long as their stories are told) who do not want part in the war take refuge here. Among them are Snow White, Boy Blue (as in, from Little Boy Blue), Prince Charming, and a whole plethora of other people.


No, don't put it in the same vein as Shrek just yet. I mentioned war, didn't I?

Remember Geppetto? The guy who made Pinnochio? Well, in this story, Pinnochio became a real boy, though his desire for adventure caused him to leave home so often that the woodcarver found himself alone most of the time. In his loneliness, he carved new 'children', whom the blue fairy would make real every time out of pity. I can't remember where he lived then, but there was this ruling council which approached him one day, and asked him to make a puppet of this person from the cabinet who had grown corrupt and immoral. The idea was to kill that person, and make the puppet real so that it could take the dead person's place. It happened. Only the problem was that it happened again, and again, and again, and Geppetto found himself in a position where he had power. At one point he had replaced the whole ruling council with his puppets, and he took over as emperor, using a different puppet body which of course, looks more menacing than a tired old man.

And now he's marching on the Arabic fable world. (as in, Sinbad, Alladin, etc. etc.) On his side are people like The Snow Queen, Hansel and a bunch of others. While he doesn't seem to be paying much attention to Fabletown just yet, that's where the bulk of the story takes place, as refugees coming in bring their own stories, and some inspire the people to fight against Geppetto's empire before things get really screwy.


Judging from the Wikipedia article, it's pretty damn fucking awesome. People claim that it could very much surpass Sandman as the best series Vertigo has ever produced. Expect the characters to have a certain twist on them. Pinnochio, for example, is still a boy. Yes, a boy. See the problem with the enchantment that made him real is that Geppetto wanted a son who would never grow up. So here we have an angry twelve-year old who's seen the world, knows what sex is, but can't hit puberty.

No, I don't have any of the issues, unfortunately. I'm trying to torrent them, but if that doesn't work out, I am goddamn willing to buy. It won Eisner Awards! (whatever they are) It only started publishing in 2003, so it shouldn't be that hard to trace back.

This has been a very happy week in comicbook land. For me, anyway. Now, if only I didn't have to come back out crashing into the real world...

Ah well, in the meantime, a raving/ranting Bal is a happy Bal. That's all you need to know. Anyone interested in Reign (it is, stand alone, after all), let me know. Anyone who HAS Fables, let me know so I can kiss you.

Ta ta for now.

Extra: 'Hey, you people outnumber me- aren't you supposed to be winning? You know there are three kinds of people in the world. The ones who can count, and the ones who can't.' - Peter Parker, Spider-Man: Reign #2