About this title: The world of storybook and nursery rhyme characters who live side-by-side with humans is thrown into turmoil when Rose Red's house is found in shambles and covered with her blood and suspects range from Jack of beanstalk fame to Blue Beard.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vertigo
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781563899423ISBN:1563899426
Description: Very Good+ 1563899426. Edges sharp; interior contents are clean; binding tight. A fine copy. Graphic Novels. Pasadena's finest independent new and used bookstore.; 0.4 x 10 x 6.5 Inches; 128 pages. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Dc Comics
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9781563899423ISBN:1563899426
Description: When a savage creature known only as the Adversary conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairy tales, all of the infamous inhabitants of folklore were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of modern-day New York, these magical ch... read more
"I don't read many comics or graphic novels, but this one was a blast. It takes place after "happily ever after." The famous folks of legends and fairy tales are living in exile in New York after being forced from their lands by and evil creature, the Adversary. The characters who can disguise themselves as normal mundane humans live in an exclusive apartment building; the ones who can't live on a farm in upstate. The trouble starts when Jack, of beanstalk fame, reports a crime. Rose Red is missing and probably dead, judging from the blood in her apartment. Snow White, the deputy mayor, and Bigby Wolf, the detective formerly known as the Big Bad Wolf, need to get to the bottom of the mystery.
This was a fun read. We meet lots of familiar characters, but each is now dealing with real-world problems. The dialogue is funny and full of one-liners, the art is well-done, with a few little details that add to the enjoyment.
The mystery isn't that suspenseful. The conclusion is fairly obvious. The story is about the characters, the setting, the dialogue, not necessarily the plot itself. I will definitely be reading more volumes of Fables."
"I've heard good things about this series and have almost picked it up many times over the past year or so. I finally broke down and grabbed a copy a couple of weeks ago and I'm really glad I did.
I've enjoyed a lot of the "fairy tale retelling" stories that have been coming around lately, some more than others. What I found even more fun about this premise is that the fairy tale characters have been dislocated from their fairy tale worlds and are now living in our world...trying to 'fit in' but also striving to maintain their own identities.
The character development and presentation was excellent. I loved the adult depth given to these characters that are otherwise fairly 2-dimensional. Seeing Jack (of Beanstalk fame) as a conniving, lying, scheming, unsuccessful con-man of sorts was great. Snow White as the semi-snobbish clean cut acting-leader felt a little flat at first, but as the story went on and we saw more into her personality, she became even more intriguing. Prince Charming was great as the over-confident schmoozer. But my favorite had to be the portrayal of "Bigby" (as in "Big Bad" Wolf) as a sort of noir detective for the fairy tale folks. Having just recently read Red Harvest, I had a feel for the hard-boiled detective and really liked Bigby's portrayal.
The art in this novel was well done and a lot of fun. The central art was clean and nice and helped the story along....while at the same time, the artist had a lot of fun along the periphery by adding in small details that added humor or tension to the scenes and may not even be picked up on (I'm sure I missed a lot of the subtleties).
The story was engaging and very interesting. At the heart of this particular book (the first in the series), there was some focus on introducing us to the characters. By doing it through the course of a murder mystery, it allowed the author to provide backstory without it sounding like contrived monologues. The mystery itself was a lot of fun and very engaging. I wish I could say I had it figured out before the very end...but I can't. I did suspect something along the lines of what happened, but not exactly as it played out, which (in my opinion) is the way a good mystery novel should be framed (the reader shouldn't be able to figure things out too easily, but should feel like they came just inches behind the detective).
I was a little turned off by the amount of swearing in the book (I would love to have been able to share this with my kids, but the language will definitely make me keep it out of their hands for at least the next few years). There were a couple of scenes of violence which were a little over the top (especially for young readers), but weren't overly graphic or offensive. And the one "sex scene" and the couple of suggestive panels we in the PG to PG-13 range. Overall, a movie version of the book would probably receive a PG-13 rating, possibly pushed to R if they decided to overplay the language/violence or expound on the sex. If the language was toned down a bit, it could probably be a solid PG.
Overall, this was a great read and a very fun world filled with wonderful characters. I'm definitely planning to follow this series (from the B&N shelf, it looks like there are 10+ books already). I may have to increase my book allowance so I can catch up more quickly.
"This is a good comic, but not as good as the rest in the series. I’m glad I read 1001 Nights of Snowfall first. I think my favorite part of this book was the prose at the back, “A Wolf in the Fold.” That’s not in comic book format like the rest of the book, but it is illustrated and I really loved the art of those pictures, not to mention the insight into Bigby’s personality and his history with Snow."
"My friend Garand, who seems bent on getting me to read every graphic novel in his not insubstantial collection, loaned me the first few of this series after failing to get a rousing response to the last one he tried, Star Wars Legacy. Well, the second time was the charm, as this series, at least as far as I've read, is fantastic. The premise is simple: an assortment of fairy tale characters have established an underground society in New York after being driven from their various homelands by a powerful enemy known only as the Adversary. And of course they have to keep their magical natures secret from the outside world while trying to deal with the wide variety of beings and factions living in such close proximity.
This first book takes the form of a whodunit mystery; Snow White's sister Rose Red is missing and presumed dead, and it's up to the Big Bad Wolf, reformed and turned Fabletown sheriff, to solve the case. The story itself is not very deep; the mystery is fairly transparent and is hurried along to its inevitable conclusion, but the chief aim of the story arc is to introduce the characters and the corner of the universe which they inhabit, and this regard it succeeds admirably. We're all familiar with these characters, but the author has taken each of their central essence, and extrapolated it out into the setting, with sometimes predictable but nonetheless charming results. For example, Bigby Wolf is gruff and irritable, but seems genuine in his resolve to keep even the least likable of his fellow Fables safe from each other, the mundane world, or worse.
True, this sort of thing has been done before (Gaiman's Sandman comes to mind), but that doesn't mean it's any less fun. Author Bill Willingham's remarkable talent for characterization renders each of the principles instantly sympathetic, even as they're substantially more modern than their picture-book counterparts. Even if this particular story line isn't tremendously exciting (they get better, trust me), the promise of spending more time with these characters is more than enough to earn this wonderful introduction a favorable rating. For those of us for whom childhood fairy tales were an introduction to a lifetime fascination with fantasy literature, this series resonates with a very foundational part of our imagination."
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