FORGOTTEN BOOK: DOWN THE MYSTERLY RIVER

 Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham  (2011)

Max the Wolf found himself walking through a great forest with no memory of where he was or how he had gotten there.  This was a bit disconcerning because, although he was not a real wolf (that wa just a nickname he had been given), he was a crackjack Boy Scout and, as such, was aways prepared.  Until now.  Even though the woods were not his native Seattle, he was at least somewhat prepared because he was wearing his Boy Scout uniform, less his cap, and he had his Boy Scout knife in one pocket.  Max faced his situation calmly.  Although it was a mystery, mysteries were meant to be solved and who better to do that than Max, who was also a boy detective.  (Max's many adventures in detection had been chronicled in a series of 37 novels by writer Lawrence Swift.)

His best bet, he decided, was to walk downhill in an attempt to find some water.  While going through a dense area of underbrush, a voice warned him, "I don't think either of us would like it if you stepped on me."  The voice belonged to a very large badger (Taidea taxus).  Since badgers did not talk in Seattle (or anywhere else), Max thought he might be hallucinating, especially after the badger told him that both of them were dead.  Max did not feel dead.  He could feel pain and he was hungry -- two things that were not supposed to happen to dead people.  It turns out the badger, whose name was Banderbrock, had also mysteriously found himself in the forest, decided he had to be dead, and believed that somewhere nearby was the Great Sett, the endless communal badger warren where every good and noble badger went after dying.

In the meantime, not far away, McTavish the Monster was trying to escape from two vicious dogs and their human master.  McTavish was a barn cat but no one could be faulted for believing that he was a "might be a cat."  He was big and battle-scarred with one eye and a snaggletooth; his tail was missing its tip and was broken at an odd angle.  He had little of his original fur left.  He was a tough, mean cat.

  Max and Banderbrock had set up camp for the night.  McTavish saw their campfire (Max was a Boy Scout, remember) and headed for it and ran right past them, hoping to confuse the dogs chasing him.  The dogs stopped before the two and the human caught up.  It was Lord Andor and he carried a large sword made of blue metal.  When he found out who Max was. he told him that he did not belong here, but that others elsewhere were looking for him.  He tried to threaten Max by cutting a six-inch thick tree with just one sweep of his sword, advancing to capture the boy.  Suddenly, Banderbrock leapt from the nearby trees onto the two ravining dogs and a huge fight began.  Max ran off outside of the fire's light and gathered some rocks to defend himself.  He conked Lord Andor a good one, but that made the man angrier.  Andor pinned Max to the ground and was about to smash his head with rock when McTavish came out of nowhere and landed on his back, clawing him painfully.  Anndor ran off, calling his dogs after him.  Only one dog, severely wounded, followed; the other had been killed by Banderbrock.

McTavish also had no memory of how he had come to this place.  For the last week, though, he had been chased by the relentless hounds.  He was sure that the human would be back with more dogs and that they should get away from there as fast as possible.  And so the band was three.

They came across their fourth member on a narrow cliff-side path.  This was Walden, a black bear, who was the sheriff of the Grand Green.  He was trying to find his way back, stopping to eat fish and honey and berries and to eat honey and berries and fish and to eat berries and honey and fish and to take an inordinate amout of naps -- which was pretty much what he also did as sheriff.  That, and try to catch the trickster Rake the cougar, who was the closest thing to a criminal that the Grand Green had.  Walden was on his way to find Prince Aspen, who was supposed to be a great oracle who could answer all their questions.  Prince Aspen, it turned out, was just that -- a large aspen tree who had been a dryad prince of the royal sapline.  He was not an oracle, but he did know many things.

What about Lord Andor?  He was a member of the Blue Cutters, an evil group dedicated to finding those talking animals that had somehow been tranferred to the giant forest.  They liked to kill but they could also Cut -- wounding their victims with small cuts that removed their past memories, an excellent way to gain information.  Andor's chapter of Blue Cutters ws led by Lady Kerris, who charged the ambitious Diana with leading a large group of Cutters to capture Max, Banderbrock, and McTavish, not realizing that they had been joined by Walden.  Diana's men then captured a marmot and, using the Cutting, she discoverd the location of  Prince Aspen.  If Max was an important prize for the Blue Cutters, then Aspen was the grand prize, the most sought-after fugitive in the entire realm.  Capturing Max and the others would be good, but capturing Aspen would ensure that Diana take Lady Kerris's place as the head of the chapter.

And there's a mysterious man in green who is following both our heroes and the Blue Cutters for his own purposes.

To save his friends and solve the mystery of where they are and why they are there will take all of Max's detecting skills, as well as the leadership training he has learned as a top-notch Boy Scout.

" 'The main thing to keep in mind,' Max said, as they walked along, 'is that most detection is simply a process of elimination.'

" 'You think better after you poop?' McTavish said.  'Me too!  Maybe I could be a detective.' "

Down the Mysterly River is a wonderful, inventive, and funny thrill ride suitable for kids my age and younger.

Bill Willingham (b. 1956) is best-known as the writer and creator of the Eisner-winning comic book Fables, which chronicled the adventures of fairy tale and folklore characters hiding in exile nin New York City after their Homelands were destroyed by the powerful Adeversary; those Fables unable to blend in with human characters are hiding in the Farm located in Upstate New York.  The varied characters with their strengths and weaknesses provide a rich tapestry for exceptional storytelling.  The Fables universe has expanded to include other comic book titles, notably Jack of Fables (fifty issues), as well as miniseries Fairest, Cinderella, and Everafter, a special twelve-issue followup to Fables.  A sxi-issue team-up featuring Batman and Fables sheriff Bigby Wolf, A Wolf in Gotham, was issued in 2012.  Fables has twice been optioned for televion and for the movies. 

Willingham has also been an artist for TSR Games, illustrating a number of their role-playing games.  In the comics industry he has wroked on Green Lantern, The Sandman, Robin, House of Mystery, Justice League of America, and others.  Among the comics he has created are Elementals, Ieonwood, Pantheon, Proposition Player, Shadowpact, and Salvation Run.