Fables    By Bill Willingham Release Date: Buy it Today! Vertigo Ratings Action Romance Characters Overall Purchase on Amazon. Purchase at Powell’s. Find independent bookstores near you.

All the fairytales you’ve ever read are real. Existing in a hundred worlds, from the Emerald Kingdom to the Arabian Nights, and of course the European Fairytales. These worlds were threatened by an enemy known only as the Adversary, and the citizens of these worlds found themselves fleeing to a mundane little place called New York City.  Now they live in an area of the city called Fabletown and do their best to keep their existence a secret.

Old King Cole is mayor-for-life, while Snow White takes care of the details of running Fabletown. Bigby Wolf heads up security and Blackbeard is one of the wealthy and elite few who managed to keep his wealth while fleeing. Snow White is long since divorced from man-slut Prince Charming, who also went on to marry Briar Rose and Cinderella, and is now back in town causing trouble and sleeping around with anyone who will give him a place to live.

These comics have been going on for over four years and are still in production. The first eight collections are out, and I’m eagerly devouring them. The story begins with the murder of Snow White’s twin sister Rose Red and serves as a great introduction into the world.  I always wanted to write reviews of good YA fantasy comics and manga, but unfortunately I’ve come across very few to really recommend.  This book is in a similar category to The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Ella Enchanted, where fairytales are real and expanded upon.  These comics are darker though, really intended for mature readers, as in, over sixteen. There is sex, there is violence, but none of it is quite as graphic as an R rated movie might be. The first comic reads kind of like a noir detective book. 

Originally, the book that was recommended to me was 1001 Nights of Snowfall, a side book to the Fables series, because I made the mistake of entering a comic book store and getting recommendations. Give me anything that has retellings of fairytales, and I’ll be happy. This book takes place before the normal storyline. It consists of Snow White ending up in Scheherazade’s place and entertaining the sultan with tales for a 1001 nights, the tales being some of the truths behind stories we already thought we knew.  It’s a great addition to the Fables books, but it could certainly be read on its own. The art is absolutely gorgeous, with different (very fitting) styles for the various stories she tells. I would recommend at least this book to any fairytale lover.

It’s not only fairytales, though. In the later books, more and more characters take part in the stories, from the cast of The Jungle Book, to the Br’er family of animals, and more.  Basically, any book that is out of copyright is fair game in the world of Fables. And that is part of why the books are so interesting, because of the way that Willingham weaves these tales together. The artistic medium translates this well, giving us a chance to see things that might have taken pages to describe.

After reading the first book, I’m hooked.  I told myself I couldn’t buy the rest until I wrote a review and got some work done, since as soon as I have the books, there goes the rest of my evening. Unfortunately, they are in the classic reprint trade paperback size, meaning they are much bigger than the books we are used to, and a tad more expensive. The books average $15 a piece, though the first book is only $10 to get you hooked. If your library carries them, that might be a good place to start. A lot of comic book publishers are starting to reprint their books like manga–using that format as a basis for size and pricing.  Still, many comic books are still printed in traditional TPB style, so I doubt the price will be going down on these books any time soon.

Ratings Reasons:

Action 5 – Sword fights and murder, these books have enough action in the two books I read to make me sure that the other volumes will continue the trend.

Romance 4 – The basics were set up in the book for a few different pairings, and I know from reading summaries of later books that at least one of the pairings I like will get together. There is also a realistic take on the fairytale romance, with problems between Beauty and the Beast.  How do you stay married to someone for over a hundred years and remain happy?

Characters 5 – The cast comes alive in the pages, through illustrations and dialogue.  Part of the characterization does rely on us having some idea of the fairytales, but even without that basis, you will come to understand the stories.

Overall 5 – Even after not reading comic books in years, this one is enough to make me give them all a second chance. As I mentioned, I’m going to be buying all the volumes (and spending all my book money for the month) as soon as I get done writing this.

Extras:

There are the normal recommendations, Ella Enchanted, The 10th Kingdom, Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and so on.

Like many comic books, you might be interested to read some of the other stories that you might not have already known.  Lesser known tales make their appearances along with the classics like Snow White.  Some of these lesser-knowns are Bluebeard, Cúchulainn, the Jersey Devil, Snow White and Rose Red, and The Golden Bough.

Two more comic series that have been recommended to me with similar ideas behind them are The Lost Girls and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, both of which are by Alan Moore.  Now I haven’t read either one, but I know they are also for more mature audiences.  I plan to read Lost Girls, which features the adventures of Alice, Dorothy, and Wendy.  These books also go off of the theory of “these classic tales are real,” though they stick more to books that have taken place in the last few centuries.

Parents:

Age 16+ This is one of those books that I certainly would have read at around thirteen, but since this rating is for parents’ knowledge when buying books for their kids, I should mention that there is sex, violence, and all those things your kid is probably embarrassed to read in front of you. The sex is all strategically placed sheets, but it is there and obvious, as are the references to it. Violence isn’t exactly gory, but again, people are dying, and there is a war going on in their homeland. Then again, many of these original tales were pretty violent and sexy, from the Arabian Tales all the way to Snow White.
Here is an example of the goriest the books get, though this is an extreme example.
And here is an example of the sex in the books.  … Prince Charming uses the term “cockmanship” – how can this comic not be great?

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