"He's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage: Chapter Four of Homelands" is the fortieth issue of Fables.
Publisher's summary
After three long years of teasing and misdirection, the Adversary is revealed in the fourth amazing chapter of the "Homelands" saga. Now the action picks up as we follow Boy Blue in his quest across the Homelands, learn how close he came to rescuing Red Riding Hood, and discover how the Adversary came to power.
Plot
Boy Blue wakes up and finds himself caged and face to face with Geppetto, Pinocchio's father. Boy Blue discovers that he is not the emperor, but the Adversary himself. Boy Blue tells him that he can destroy the cloak and everything in it, including Pinocchio, by saying the trigger words. Boy Blue demands the real Red Riding Hood, Geppetto's side of the story, and a final goodbye from Pinocchio. He tells Blue that he was lonely and made more children since Pinocchio was always leaving him. When the feudal lord demands too much from the people, Geppetto accepts the offer to make a wooden replica of him. He then replaced all the kings in the worlds over time. Geppetto says that he got in too deep to get out, and he eventually captured the Blue Fairy for infinite blue magic. The real Red Riding Hood is awakened to met Boy Blue. Geppetto uses some blue magic and revives Pinocchio. Pinocchio questions where he is, why Boy Blue is in a cage, why is he naked and who is the weird old man.
Trivia
When Geppetto speaks to Boy Blue about his power over a multitude of thrones, we see an illustration of a monarch sitting on a throne with a man standing next to him holding an upside-down a piece of paper. That piece of paper reads "Irma + Bucky," as an homage to the artist Mark Buckingham and his wife, Irma. Rose Red's design was largely based on Irma.[1]
References
- ↑ Truitt, Brian. Fairy-tale 'Fables' finishes 13-year run, July 20, 2015, USA Today. "Buckingham has worked half his career on Fables, and putting finishing touches on was tough for the artist because of the personal investment. The look of Rose Red was based to a great extent on his wife Irma, he says, “so drawing her for the last time was difficult because that was a poignant thing for me.”"