Fables, Vol. 11

75 issues is a big milestone for a Vertigo series. Sandman, Lucifer, and Preacher all ended at 75 issues, and with Fables reaching their 75th issue in this collection, it's fair to say they're continuing that tradition, ending ‘volume 1' of the Fables story.

To recap the story so far: All of the characters from fable and myth are real. They've been driven out of their homelands by a figure originally known only as The Adversary, and have settled new homes in New York City and Baghdad, but with plans to eventually retake those homelands.

War and Pieces is the story of the retaking of the Homelands. I've read some reviews where readers have complained that the war goes too easily, and that there's little true conflict as a result. I can see where those people are coming from, but I have to disagree; I think a lot of people were seeing this volume as the climax of the Fables story, but I think that the actual climax was the Fables coming together and turning themselves from a bunch of people living together to a true Community - War and Pieces is actually the denouement of the story, wrapping up all of the pieces so that volume 2 can start nicely in issue 76.