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

When War & Pieces begins, Fabletown is about to launch a military strike on Geppetto's evil empire, but the Fables living in New York have some details to iron out before the attack can begin. First, residents of the upstate Animal Farm, where non-human Fables are required to live, are given the option to relocate to the Frog Prince's new Haven, a safe kingdom in the Homelands. Second, Prince Charming abdicates his position as Fabletown's mayor, ceding the title to his predecessor, King Cole, who in turn names him as Director of Homeland Recovery, a new post that puts him in charge of the coming war.

Boy Blue, war hero or not, fumbles his romantic approach to Rose Red, and so heads off on a vital mission full of deflated angst. Charming and Sinbad team up, and Bigbt Wolf digs in. Meanwhile, Fabletown's superspy Cinderella must recover Pinocchio, Geppetto's defiant but favorite son, from a team of the emperor's operatives led by the sinister Hansel.

And then the war begins. The long fabled war, an all-out effort to regain the Homelands once and for all. And, as expected, it's full of sound and fury, with massive losses on both sides, as well as an innovative use of both ancient and modern weaponry, sorcery and technology, to give the Fables a fighting chance against the vast legions of the Emperor. There are dragons and magic carpets, bombs and cursed arrows, a flying ship and a hidden beanstalk, a magic cloak and a Vorpal Sword, culminating in a desperate last stand and a heroic sacrifice.

And yes, there are unexpected losses.

It all comes to a head by the close of this volume, which marks the 75th issue of the long-running Fables series. (The 75-issue benchmark is, by the way, the endpoint of Neil Gaiman's groundbreaking run on The Sandman, which in many ways defined DC Comics' Vertigo line.)

The 75-issue mark does not signal an end of the series in this case. There is plenty more story to tell, but it closes the storyline that has dominated the book since its inception. I will say again that creator/writer Bill Willingham had a clever idea with the genesis of this series, and he has executed it to this point with an amazing level of creative genius. This is, if memory serves, the point at which I stopped reading the comics (no offense to Willingham; circumstances led me to stop reading most comics at that time), so I am eager to keep going now with these collected editions to see where he takes us next.

The war is over, after all, so I imagine it's all sunshine and roses from here on out. Right?