| “ | Ways you never imagine you'll be killed: death by a thousand paper cuts. | „ |
| ~ Rapunzel |
"The Hidden Kingdom, Chapter One: Big in Japan" is the eighth issue of spin-off series Fairest.
Publisher's summary
Rapunzel's fast-growing hair is the least of her problems. Her adopted witch mother thinks she's a slut, origami birds carrying a sinister message are attacking her window — and now, she has to defy Bigby and Snow's orders to travel from New York to Tokyo and resolve a mystery from her troubled past. Hungry ghosts, talking cats, vengeful lovers scorned and monstrous yakuza await under the hot neon lights as Rapunzel seeks answers...and vengeance. Don't miss this exciting jumping-on point to the best-selling Vertigo series which features a star-studded cast of Fables including Frau Totenkinder, Jack of Fables and many others!
Plot
Rapunzel has been living at New York's Woodland Luxury Apartments, where Fables can go unnoticed, so long as they can pass for normal. Some Fables though, like Rapunzel herself, are more inconvenient. Her hair grows at a rate of at least four inches per hour. As such, she has a personal hairdresser named Joel who has to cut her hair several times a day. All of that excess hair has been providing them with a source of income, as they can sell it to wig manufacturers. Unfortunately, so much hair makes the buyers suspicious, and they often have to switch.
One day, as Joel is giving Rapunzel another haircut, thousands of origami paper cranes crash through the window of her penthouse. Horrified, Rapunzel unfolds one of them, and finds a disturbing message written in Japanese kanji: "your children." Memories of her troubled past flood her mind.
Meanwhile, Jack Horner has run afoul of the Fat Man, whose plans for a casino in Fabletown hinged entirely upon the veracity of a series of lies that Jack told him. As such, he has decided to make Jack dead. Rather than allow that, Jack leaps into the bay and swims for his life.
Rapunzel heads to the Deputy Mayor Snow White's office for permission to go to Japan to search for her past. The origami managed to get through Frau Totenkinder's magical barrier, and the kanji written on it is from the Hidden Kingdom, which means that one of the gates to the Homelands has been opened, despite their all having been closed by the Adversary, long ago. The message, though, means that someone is still in the Hidden Kingdom, and that someone knows where Rapunzel's children are. Though those children were officially lost during childbirth, Rapunzel is sure that they were stolen from her. Bigby suggests that he will look into it, forbidding Rapunzel from checking it out, given her inability to mix well with mundys.
Rapunzel and Joel conspire to get to Japan anyway, and they head up to Frau Totenkinder's apartment, where the old woman — the woman who kept Rapunzel locked in a tower for years — offers a trinket that will prevent her hair from growing so fast. That trinket comes at a price though. While in Japan, she must retrieve a magical artifact, and give it to no one but her. Hastily, Rapunzel grabs the trinket.
Unfortunately, the only person Joel could think to go to for fake passports was Jack Horner, and while Joel himself is air-sick for the whole trip, Rapunzel is treated to the sound of Jack banging his way through the flight attendant staff for thirteen hours.
Tokyo is crowded, but even so, Rapunzel spots a crane floating in the breeze. A disheveled man approaches her and calls her by a name she hasn't heard in a long time: Okiku. He urges her to follow him, as they are in danger. Moments later, a strange looking woman with a mask on steps out of the crowd with a gun and wonders if Rapunzel remembers her. Joel and the homeless man try to drag Rapunzel away as the woman removes her mask to reveal a horrifying, toothy grin. She shoots the homeless man through the head, causing water to spray everywhere.
Finally, a car drives up and the driver commands Rapunzel to get inside, with Joel and Jack rushing after. Rapunzel knows that her past is waiting for her, somewhere nearby.
Appearances in this issue
Featured Characters
- Rapunzel
Supporting Characters
- Joel
- Jack Horner
- Totenkinder
Other Characters
- Rose Red
- Snow White
- Bigby
- Flycatcher
- Boy Blue
- Thumbelina (Cameo)
- Posey (Cameo)
Locations
- New York
- New York City
- Fabletown
- Woodland Luxury Apartments
- Fabletown
- Brooklyn
- New York City
- Japan
- Tokyo
Continuity
- This issue takes place before Fables #1.
Trivia
- The issue's title, Big in Japan, is an expression used to describe Western musical groups who achieve success in Japan, but not necessarily in other parts of the world.[1]
- The three movies being shown at the theater are the 1965 thriller film Bunny Lake Is Missing, the 1971 thriller Don't Look Now, and the 1975 mystery film Picnic at Hanging Rock. Rapunzel later compares the flying origami bird attack to Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 horror film The Birds.
- In Rapunzel's flat, there is a poster for Stanley Kubrick's dystopian crime film A Clockwork Orange, and a reproduction of the painting The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse.
- In Frau Totenkinder's apartment, there is a painting called The Three Witches by Henry Fuseli.
References
- ↑ Lynskey, Dorian (March 22, 2010). What does it mean to be 'big in Japan'?, The Guardian.