Bit of a weak week in panels (at least for what I bought) but I liked this kind of badass but quiet panel from Fables #98 of the young (again) Frau Totenkinder matter of factly drinking her tea and making her plans to kill Mr. Dark.
All of this would be much more badass and interesting (and somewhat revolutionary for comics) if Totenkinder hadn’t made herself young again and she was still her awesome old self getting these things done, but it’s still some good stuff. And thank the gods I have something good to say again about Fables which has been in a horrible lull for months as we waited for Rose Red to get over her depression (and getting over it was inevitable). Note to Mr. Willingham: Depression and mourning? Not a page turner.
From Fables #98 by the always superior Mark Buckingham:
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Well, I don’t know about her still being an old crone would be better. I feel it works quite well that she’s more vital when she goes out questing herself and directly faces the enemy rather than directing things from behind the scenes.
This issue also seemed to hint at other reasons for the change. As well as some potential drawbacks. But that’s still to play out of course.
Who want to bet that the Frau will end up as the next Mr Dark?
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NB: They can dress it up all they want – and they may even have some decent justifications/explanations for making her young again, but I’m afraid all my feminist addled brain can see is that it’s impossible for a woman to star in a comic without being young and beautiful. It bums me out horribly.
Frau Totenkinder was AWESOME when she battled it out with Babba Yaga in all her old lady glory…I don’t know why she couldn’t have done the same or similar with Mr. Dark. It would have been kind of revolutionary to see. Instead we’re going to see yet another beautiful girl kicking ass. Now, I’m all for that…but it feels like a unique opportunity squandered to me.
All that said, excited for things to come, with Fables finally picking up steam again.
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Y’know, I loved Totenkinder as an old crone, knitting in her rocking chair and manipulating events to reach the outcome she desired. She was smart and crafty, she relied on her wits and there’s something FAR more intimidating about an old woman knitting and shooting people those looks than there is about an attractive young woman doing it. Age generally means experience and those looks usually suggested that VERY bad things would happen to the people on the receiving end.
Moreover, there’s a long-standing tradition that dismissing the elderly as weak and incapable of action can turn out ASTONISHINGLY badly for the people involved. How many kung fu masters hobble around on canes only to hit a nerve complex with a single finger and completely incapacitate a foe? What about !@#$%&*!@#$%& YODA, fer !@#$% sake? And, lest the counter-argument take the form of, “Yeah, but that doesn’t happen in real life,” I’ll point out that this is a work of FICTION, a COMIC BOOK no less, and that sort of thing happens all the time.
Yeah. Totenkinder as a young hottie? Not so much. Totenkinder as the knitting old crone? It’s about as bad-ass as Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven and Gran Torino. You know all hell is going to break loose sooner or later and you just hope you aren’t around when it happens.
Also, on a related note, I can’t wait to see Red. Helen Mirren with a sniper rifle. John Malkovich running around wearing a vest packed with explosives. MORGAN FREEMAN. I’m sure that more win could have been forcibly injected, but it would have just leaked right back out.
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@Puckett: Totally.
And while Helen Mirren is an excellent exception to the role (although she’s still a bit on the hot side if you ask me) your example of Clint Eastwood kind of beautifully illustrates how frequently we see badass older dudes…but it’s hella rare for the ladies…because if we’re not beautiful and sexually appealing (and those things usually come hand in hand with “young”) then we’re of no interest…but this doesn’t apply to men from Clint Eastwood to Charles Bukowski…it’s a terrible double standard…one I was excited to see “old crone” version of Totenkinder blast all to hell.
I guess I’ll have to wait for another day… SIGH.
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