Fables 7

The Guns of Fabletown: Part Two of Animal Farm
Cover date	January 2003
In store date	November 13, 2002
Reprinted in	Fables: Animal Farm Fables: The Deluxe Edition Book One
Writer	Bill Willingham
Penciler	Mark Buckingham
Inker	Steve Leialoha
Colourist	Daniel Vozzo
Color separation	Daniel Vozzo
Letterer	Todd Klein
Cover artist	James Jean
Assistant editor	Mariah Huehner
Editor	Shelly Bond
Creator	Bill Willingham
Preceded by	"Fables 6"
Followed by	"Fables 8"

“	The glorious day has arrived at last. The call has gone out. Arm yourselves!	„
	~ The Old Woman to her children

"The Guns of Fabletown: Part Two of Animal Farm" is the seventh issue of Fables, with a cover date of January 2003. It was published on November 13, 2002.

Publisher's summary

Something truly horrible has happened up at the Farm, and this time there's no Bigby Wolf on hand to investigate ? No one to find answers to all of the deadly questions that keep mounting. Why is there an unmarked grave in the woods, and who's in it? Why is Reynard the Fox on the run from everyone from Shere Khan to the Bandarlog Host? Why is Snow White in deadly peril and by whom? Why's the monkey drunk and what has that got to do with the sudden prophecies of doom from the Forsworn Knight? And finally, what's with all of the guns?

Plot

The story opens the morning after the previous issue. Snow questions Dun about Colin's murder and wants to call Bigby to the Farm to investigate it. Dun refuses, saying that Bigby is barred from the Farm, and that as the leader of the community, he'll conduct the investigation himself. Dun dismisses Snow's objection that he's involved in the case and her ongoing suspicions about Weyland Smith's absence. Posey speaks to Rose about her joining their movement to retake the Homelands. Rose objects that the Adversary's forces are too powerful. Dun shows Rose that they have a cache of modern weapons.

Meanwhile, Goldilocks and the Three Bears are burying Colin's body in the woods. Goldilocks is revealed as a violent militant leader of the conspiracy who made the decision to display Colin's head. Reynard the Fox observes the burial, and Goldilocks orders her followers to hunt him down and kill him so he can't denounce them. Goldilocks is pushing for an open revolution. As leader of the uprising's forces, she'll use this as a reason to push aside Dun. Goldilocks sees the attempt to return to the Homelands as secondary to her desire to take control of the Fable community on Earth.

Back at the business office, Bigby and Boy Blue listen as the still-drunk Forsworn Knight starts telling prophecies. The knight says that the children of the north will attack the children of the south, and sister will fight sister. Bigby dismisses the warning.

At the Farm, Snow is trying to contact the New York City community but finds the phones aren't working, and the truck keys are missing. Rose hints that Snow is not seeing how much danger she's in, but then says Snow will be safer remaining ignorant. Rose then leaves to join the uprising. Reynard is almost caught by Bagheera and Shere Khan, but escapes and arrives to warn Snow they must flee because the revolutionaries will be coming after her next.

Appearances

Characters

• The Adversary (mentioned)
• Bagheera (first appearance)
• Bandarlog (first appearance)
  • King Louie
• Bigby Wolf
• Boy Blue
• Brer Bear (first appearance)
• Br'er Gator
• Br'er Rabbit (as "Brer Rabbit"; first identified)
• Bufkin (mentioned)
• Dickory
• Duck (first appearance)
• Forsworn Knight
• Johnny, Donny and Lonny (mentioned indirectly)
• Goldilocks ("Goldy") (first appearance)
• Kaa (first appearance)
• Mister Sunflower
• Mr. Toad
• The Old Woman and her children (first appearance)
• Playing cards
• Red Cap the Troll (first appearance)
• Reynard the Fox
• The Rhinoceros (first appearance)
• Rose Red
• Shere Khan (first appearance)
• Snow White
• The Three Bears
  • Boo Bear
  • Mama Bear
  • Papa Bear
• Three Blind Mice
  • Leland
  • Prescott
  • Thaddeus
• Three Little Pigs
  • Colin (corpse)
  • Dun Pig (first identified as Dun Pig)
  • Posey Pig (first identified as Posey Pig)
• Weyland Smith (mentioned)

Fictional species

Multispecies

• Fable
  • God

Species

• Flying monkey (mentioned indirectly)
• Dragon (mentioned)
• Giant (mentioned)
• Redcap (first appearance)
• Troll (mentioned)
• Wind (hybrid)

Locations

• Homelands (mentioned indirectly)
• Mundane world
  • New York City
    • Fabletown
      • The Woodland Luxury Apartments
        • Business Office
  • The Farm
    • The giant shoe
    • The main house
      • VIP guest room
    • Three Little Pigs' house

Other

Mundy

Continuity

• There's an unusual time gap between the previous story and this one. In Fables #6 — "Road Trip: Part One of Animal Farm," we saw that it was nighttime and Snow White and Rose Red were just going to bed when they spotted Colin's head on a pole outside their window. When this story starts, it's now morning and Snow is telling people to take the head down "this minute." So it appears that after seeing Colin's murdered remains, Snow and Rose went to bed and got a good night's sleep.
• While the Forsworn Knight is telling his prophecy, Bigby remarks that he killed himself in the thirteenth century. Bigby also says that Snow and Rose have been fighting for centuries.