
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.

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):
Volume 1: Legends in Exile 4/5 stars | Volume 2: Animal Farm 4/5 stars | Volume 3: Storybook Love 4/5 stars |
Volume 5: The Mean Seasons 4/5 stars | Volume 6: Homelands 4/5 stars | Volume 7: Arabian Nights 4/5 stars | Volume 8: Wolves 4/5 stars |
Volume 9: Sons of Empire 3/5 stars | Volume 10: The Good Prince 5/5 stars | Volume 11: War and Pieces 3/5 stars | Volume 12: The Dark Ages 4/5 stars |
Volume 14: Witches 4/5 stars | Volume 15: Rose Red 5/5 stars | Volume 16: Super Team 3/5 stars |
Volume 17: Inherit the Wind 4/5 stars | Volume 18: Cubs in Toyland 4/5 stars | Werewolves of the Heartland 3/5 stars | Fairest, vol. 1: Wide Awake 3/5 stars |