Comic Book Reviews: Fables, the Ballad of Rodney and June, by Bill Willingham

The Fables story arc The Ballad of Rodney and June takes place over issues #46 and 47 of the comic book series. It is included in the graphic novel Arabian Nights (and Days), which also includes the arc of the same title (issues #42-45).It begins as a stereotypical, even dull, love story narrated by Rodney, a wooden soldier who has fallen in love with a female wooden puppet named June. The story takes an unexpected twist, however, which ties it back into the main Fables storyline of the war against the Adversary. adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1');

Rodney is portrayed as odd, even slightly perverted, for his interest in humans and human emotions. He and June confess their feelings to each other - something that the wooden soldiers are not supposed to have. Because of their wooden bodies, however, they are unable to experience sexual pleasure, and so Rodney writes to Gepetto to ask that they be transformed into humans as Pinocchio was.

The letter is read by Rodney's commanding officer, who lectures him about putting such classified secrets as the Adversary's identity into a letter which could fall into enemy hands. However, he takes pity on the couple and sends them to Gepetto to ask him directly.

Here is where the story suddenly becomes dark: Rodney and June are granted their wish, but only as part of the Adversary's master plan. Part of the human transformation is a magical tie to the Adversary which forces them to be loyal. They are then trained how to survive in our world and sent to live near Fabletown as spies. While the first issue and a half of the story seems like a pointless, feel-good diversion from the main storyline, the ending makes the whole thing worth reading.

The problem, however, is that their characters are not put to enough use later in the story. They serve as spies and occasional assassins, but ultimately do no harm to Fabletown, and they settle and have a baby with few problems integrating into the local culture. They appear again briefly when Pinocchio convinces them that they must surrender to the Fables in order to help Gepetto. While they are not incredibly interesting characters on their own, their circumstances could have provided some more bumps in the plot for the Fables. Only time will tell if the characters of Rodney, June, and their child get to play a greater role in the story ahead.