Part of an ongoing series revisiting graphic novels and collected editions from days gone by....

March of the Wooden Soldiers is the fourth collection from the Vertigo series Fables, which was one of my favorite monthly books back in the day and has sat too long unread on my shelves. Starting at the beginning, I have decided to refresh my memory of the series, a task long overdue. The first three volumes having previously been reviewed, it falls to me now to start the process anew with the fourth.

Wooden Soldiers begins with The Last Castle, a stand-alone story (originally printed as a short graphic novel outside of the ongoing series) that tells of the last defenders of the Fables' homeland and their desperate final defense against the vast armies of the Adversary. (You can read more about that tale in a separate review here, first published in 2008.) The regular storyline then resumes, with Prince Charming still clawing through the late Bluebeard's riches while preparing a bid to unseat King Cole as mayor of Fabletown, and Bigby (Big Bad) Wolf and Deputy Mayor Snow White still dealing with the pregnancy resulting from a magically induced tryst.

But then a Fable long believed to be dead escapes from the Adversary's clutches, and a trio of wooden operatives makes inroads into the New York City neighborhoods surrounding Fabletown. Soon, an all-out war seems inevitable in the streets of the Big Apple. It's not a bloodless battle, either -- some well-liked characters will fall.

As an aside, I'm beginning to notice that the characters' relative "plot armor" -- in this case, their ability to survive damage based on how popular their stories are among the "mundy" crowd (aka, us) -- seems to vary a bit with the writer's whims. Coincidentally, late in this book, a powerful fairytale witch with a taste for gingerbread -- who has been a minor character up 'til now, but is seemingly growing in importance -- muses briefly on the same subject.

In any case, I am reminded with every page why I enjoyed this series so much. Writer Bill Willingham has done something truly clever with characters -- familiar and esoteric alike -- from fables and folklore, nursery rhymes and ancient legends. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.