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A Love Letter to the Fables Graphic Novel Series

4/18/2013

12 Comments

 
Fables covers
A  month or two ago, Heidi from Bunbury in the Stacks and Alyssa from Books Take You Places convinced me to try the Fables graphic novel series by Bill Willingham. Boy, am I ever glad they did. I usually trust those two with fantasy recommendations, but with this one they just hit it out of the park. I put the first few on hold at the library and as of last month, I’ve read all eighteen trade paperbacks to catch up with the series. Honestly, I was a complete newbie when it came to graphic novels so I did not know where to go after I found out how much I liked them. I am a bit embarrassed to say that I basically thought my brother and several of my guy friends from college were pretty lame for reading comic books. I chuckled at my younger sister for watching Sailor Moon and reading some manga. This post is basically me doing an intervention on myself:

Dear Flannery, 

You were a complete idiot. Comics and graphic novels are amazing, or at least they can be. You were stupid to ever think people who read them were not really reading and anyone else who still thinks something along those lines is also an idiot. There might not be as much text going on but when done right, there is just as much story, the characters have just as much (if not more) personality, and you get the absolute bonus of seeing a visualization of so many aspects of a book.  

Sincerely,
Flannery

But I’ll head back to Fables for now, so you can see if this series might also work for you.

Fables illustration
Bill Willingham has imagined a world inside of our world, where characters from fables and folklore exist alongside us. The “Mundies” (us) are unaware that a section of New York City is actually Fabletown, with (at the beginning of the series) Old King Cole as mayor, Bigby (the Big Bad) Wolf as sheriff, and Snow White as head administrator. There is a farm in upstate New York where all the non-human Fables or those who are unable to blend into normal society live, from the three blind mice to Baloo and Sheer Kahn from Kipling’s The Jungle Book to Orwell’s maniacal pigs from Animal Farm. Willingham writes the entire series so the voices remain constant and for the most part, the artistry is consistent. Because each of the trade paperbacks compiles several of the issues, there are usually several smaller story arcs and one or more larger arcs going on in the 250-odd pages in each installment. The first edition, Legends in Exile, opens with Jack (of all the Tales—Jack Horner, Jack Be Nimble, Jack Frost, etc.) alerting Bigby that Rose Red, Snow White’s sister, has disappeared. Her apartment is completely ransacked and covered in blood. We are introduced to several characters as the mystery unfolds and I actually found the mystery to be far less predictable than some so-called mystery novels I have read in the past.  But in the larger scheme of the series, the first installment is probably somewhere in the middle of the spectrum in terms of quality, in my opinion. It must be hard to introduce a rather bottomless cast of characters while solving a crime in such a contained amount of space and text so I just went with it, but I can see how it might be a challenge to keep up with everyone and always know what's going on. In addition, the sense of humor and occasional swearing and sexual content might not appeal to some fairy tale fans. (One of the library copies I read had the sex scenes ripped out, bahaha. I hope there is a tween boy somewhere with them folded up under his pillow.) As the series went on, I was more and more invested in the characters, their backstories, and their interconnections to the point that I was giddy when I saw issues devoted to certain characters and audibly groaned when I saw others pop up. (If you're wondering, I love the cubs, Bigby, Flycatcher, and Rose Red and I don't really care about Pinocchio, Gepetto, Jack, Beauty and the Beast, or Bluebeard.)
Fables intro page
Each installment highlights the characters who will play major roles in the story arcs
Fables intro page
They obviously get more complex as the series goes on...
Example of art and page from Fables series
It is hard to review an entire series, as I do not want to give any spoilers away, but I will say that my favorite installments of the eighteen have been March of the Wooden Soldiers (#4), which deals with an impending war in the Fable Homelands, The Good Prince (#10), which deals with the Frog Prince, and Rose Red (#15), which tells about a lot of said character’s background. The only total miss for me was in Volume 16, The Great Fables Crossover, when Willingham attempted to bring Jack’s offshoot series (unsurprisingly called Jack of Fables) and the regular Fables together. Jack’s character is a womanizer, a schmoozing con-man and oftentimes a total jackass. A lot of readers seem to dislike him or love him. I  am generally apathetic  but I would rather read about no less than thirty other Fables before I read about him so I have only read the first Jack of Fables installment. (The (Nearly) Great Escape) The crossover edition was hard to enjoy as readers unfamiliar with the storylines in Jack’s series (read: me) have no idea what was going on. Characters in that series made less sense to me even after I read one installment—there seems to be another hidden Fable community containing the usual fairy tale-ish characters, but also Literals, characters who are part of the writing process—the Pathetic Fallacy, Revise,  Genres etc. I had/have a harder time getting my head around the idea of those characters existing alongside the Fables in the real world. As in a few other books I’ve read in the past, most notably Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, Fables are kept alive by their popularity. A popular Fable is harder to kill and more likely to come back to life, whereas a lesser known Fable might disappear forever. It is confusing to me where characters like Revise and the Genres come from and who, if anyone, is perpetuating their existence. 

At its worst, Fables volumes are three star reads, but it is very consistently four star (and even five star) fun reading for me. I cannot wait for the next trade paperback to come out. Or, perhaps I should just suck it up and venture into a comic book store for the first time in my life. If you are looking for an entry point to read graphic novels, this was mine and it absolutely got me hooked. I do not recommend just picking up any later installment as you will miss character and story development and I imagine you would be pretty lost. Start at the beginning and give it two editions before you decide on whether to continue. In other news, stay tuned for several posts about the eighty or ninety graphic novels I've read so far this year since starting this series. No joke. 

Here's my roundup of ratings for each installment (and a few offshoot books):

Fables Legends in Exile cover
Volume 1: Legends in Exile
4/5 stars
Fables Animal Farm cover
Volume 2: Animal Farm
4/5 stars
Fables Storybook Love cover
Volume 3: Storybook Love
4/5 stars
March of the Wooden Soldiers cover
Volume 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers
5/5 stars
Fables The Mean Seasons cover
Volume 5: The Mean Seasons
4/5 stars
Fables Homelands cover
Volume 6: Homelands
4/5 stars
Fables Arabian Nights cover
Volume 7: Arabian Nights
4/5 stars
Fables Wolves cover
Volume 8: Wolves
4/5 stars
Picture
Volume 9: Sons of Empire
3/5 stars
Fables Sons of Empire cover
Volume 10: The Good Prince
5/5 stars
Fables War and Pieces cover
Volume 11: War and Pieces
3/5 stars
Fables The Dark Ages cover
Volume 12: The Dark Ages
4/5 stars
Fables The Great Fables Crossover cover
Volume 13: The Great Fables Crossover
3/5 stars
Fables Witches cover
Volume 14: Witches
4/5 stars
Fables Rose Red cover
Volume 15: Rose Red
5/5 stars
Fables Super Team cover
Volume 16: Super Team
3/5 stars
Fables Inherit the Wind cover
Volume 17: Inherit the Wind
4/5 stars
Fables Cubs in Toyland cover
Volume 18: Cubs in Toyland
4/5 stars
Werewolves of the Heartland cover
Werewolves of the Heartland
3/5 stars
Fairest cover
Fairest, vol. 1: Wide Awake 
3/5 stars
Have you read any of this series? What are your favorite graphic novels? 
Readventurer F Signature
12 Comments
Bonnie link
4/18/2013 04:21:24 am

I've never heard of this series before but it does sound like a lot of fun. I LOVED comic books when I was a kid and have tried the occasional graphic novel but haven't found a series I really enjoy. I tried The Walking Dead series and Locke and Key by Joe Hill but didn't love them as much as I'd hope. Going to add this to my list and give it a shot. :)

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
4/18/2013 04:37:08 am

I have Locke & Key to read as well and I plan to eventually read The Walking Dead as I really like the television series. (but I hear it is completely different. Almost everyone in the book series is dead!) I absolutely recommend Gunnerkrigg Court as a GN series to get into, or Y the Last Man. I think my absolutely favorite one so far has been Saga. I can't wait to see what comes next in that series.

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Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
4/18/2013 05:06:47 am

Just put the first one on hold at my lib. I am always up for some graphic novels. They are so quick to read. And trust me, there is a variety of graphic stories, for every taste. Many associate all graphic novels with comics, when they are not like that at all.

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
4/18/2013 06:16:13 am

I wonder what you will think of it, T? I can see you flying through them all...or 2 starring it and telling me it is trashy:) I am SO anxious to hear what you make of it.

Reply
Creative Mind link
4/18/2013 06:18:07 am

I also want to read these comics! And I think you made a great choice by starting to read comic books and graphic novels!! :-D

Reply
Heidi link
4/19/2013 02:17:56 am

Grrr...I'm STILL on the waiting list for Cubs in Toyland at my library. It's killing me!! Why my system bought ONE copy of what is one of the most popular ongoing series I have no idea (that's one copy for 54 libraries).

BUT THAT ASIDE...I am SO FREAKING HAPPY that you devoured this series and loved it so much, Flan! My favorites were The Good Prince, War and Pieces, Red Rose, etc, which you seemed to love as well. I really didn't dig The Great Fables Crossover, and it pretty much confirmed for me that I shouldn't bother reading Jack of Fables.

This is the second time this week that Jasper Fforde has been brought up to me and obvs I need to go there. The keeping alive by belief thing also made me think of American Gods.

One of the characters I most loved that we never saw much of was Kai...The Snow Queen has always been one of my favorites, and I just found poor Kai so disturbing. I love Bigby and Snow (the only incarnation of Snow White I do love), and the cubs, Fly Catcher, etc.

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Alyssa link
4/20/2013 03:51:54 am

AHHH I am sooooo glad that you loved these!!! I just ordered the newest addition last night :] Bigby and Snow are my FAVORITE and I liked Fairest better than Werewolves of the Heartland. I have yet to read any spinoff series but I think I will very soon, probably Cinderella and not Jack, though. I was confused with The Great Fables Crossover and found it to be kind of MEH. I am running to GR to check out your other graphic novels because I LOVE THESE.

P.S. I am also reading Gaiman's Sandman series right now. LOVEEE!

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Rachel link
4/20/2013 04:41:16 am

I've only read one graphic novel, but I loved it. You don't need many words to convey the story when you have the pictures that give so much.

These illustrations are gorgeous and the stories sound amazing. I had to laugh about what you thought might have happened to those missing pages. Let's home someone is getting some enjoyment out of them! ;)

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VeganYANerds link
4/20/2013 08:01:37 pm

I remember seeing these on Heidi's blog :) I would probably never have thought to read graphic novels but I have a friend who loves them and he's given me a few, all of which I've enjoyed: Pride of Baghdad, Stardust, and The Gunslinger (Dark Tower).

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Maggie, Young Adult Anonymous link
4/22/2013 06:43:03 pm

So that's where you've been hiding. Faith Erin Hicks got me into graphic novels and I've only read hers, but I love me some fairy tales. I'll put the first two on hold at the library. The gnome's look of horror is cracking me up.

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technical investigator link
11/22/2017 02:38:07 am

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