Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The power of a child’s imagination is one that can move mountains and level an entire city, it is perhaps only second in its strength to that of a parent who would tear apart a world in order to save their child. It is a power that award winning writer Bill Willingham in his much sought after Fables graphic novels captures with great joy in the book Cubs in Toyland.
The tale of a lost girl, of abandoned innocence, of the mislaid and the forgotten; it is the type of story that sits at the heart of every parent’s deep seated fear and can thrill any child with the possibility that their sacrifice, that their love for a sibling, no matter how strained at times, is enough to make heroes of them all.
Whilst the rest of the Fables continuing stories have kept a distance between them and the walking into the realms occupied by the imagination of a child, Cubs in Toyland revels in the potential, it looks on and dares the reader to remember into a dim and distant past what it felt like to be a child, to have the sense of responsibility that a child has thrust upon it when left to fend for itself or to care for others. It is the kind of responsibility that Bill Willingham and his crew carry off with great pride.
The book centres on the relationship and actions of the children of Snow White and Bigby Wolf, especially the spoilt and demanding Therese and the leader of the cub pack Darien. These two children offer the reader the vision of the poor princess plucked from obscurity to rule a kingdom and how she shapes that place and her own destiny but also the sacrifice made by her brother to ensure that her future is ensured at the risk of his own life.
Cubs in Toyland is a welcome distraction to the fold, a story told with honour and patience, a tale in which the imagination takes centre stage and in which the hero never knows just what they have achieved; a cracking piece of writing and delicate artwork.
Fables: Cubs In Toyland is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall