WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
“Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Book One” by Bill Willingham is a collection of ten first issues of “Fables” comic book series. In this award-winning series, famous and infamous characters from numerous fairy tales are banished to the modern day world. The humanlike Fables live in the NYC-based secret community called Fabletown, while the nonhuman characters are hiding in the private upstate New York Farm.
The first five chapters comprise “Legends in Exile,” a typical whodunit in which detective Bigby Wolf, aka Big Bad Wolf, is investigating the apparent murder of Snow White’s sister Rose Red. The latter five chapters belong to “Animal Farm,” a story starring nonhuman Fables which start a revolution to throw off the exclusively human government of Fabletown and to organize an invasion of The Homelands occupied by The Adversary.
MY THOUGHTS:
Before reading “Fables,” I knew nothing about this comic book series except that it features fairy tale characters living in the modern day world. Naively, I hoped that “Fables” would resemble my beloved TV show “Once Upon A Time,” which is based on the same concept. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed. Although both series twist traditional tales in unique and ridiculously creative ways, the similarities end right here. While the characters in “Once Upon A Time” still posses the qualities - kindness, honor, and unconditional love - for which we love them so dearly, personages in “Fables” are adulterated with earthly vice. I might be among the minority, but I hate to think about Snow White as a mean, bossy, foul-mouthed bitch, and Prince Charming as a manipulative and narcissistic man-whore. Oh, and forget about their everlasting love: they got DIVORCED! I guess I am not a fan of the overhumanized fairy tale characters, the key selling point of “Fables,” which boldly suggests that HAPPILY EVER AFTER DOES NOT EXIST.
The main concept aside, I still wasn’t impressed by “Fables.” The first story is whodunit, but not the best of a kind. Although it is entertaining, well-thought-out and full of hilarious lines and smart references, I found it a little bit too obvious and just not captivating enough. The second story was quite different, but the style didn’t change: still not gripping enough, still lacking a bigger message…
The only thing I genuinely liked about this book was the illustrations. They are so detailed that it blows my mind just imagining how much time and effort (and talent!) each panel took.
VERDICT: 2 out of 5
The main concept of the overhumanized fairy tale characters did not sit well with me, the storyline did not impress me… Apparently, “Fables” wasn’t my cup of tea. Well, at least I enjoyed the artwork :)
01/02/2017 UPDATE: 2.5 out of 5
Gave Fables a second chance, this time without high expectations or comparisons to Once Upon A Time (TV show). Unfortunately, still not captivated enough to continue with the series, although I think I liked it a little bit better this time. At least the fact that the fairy tale characters are "adulterated with earthly vice" didn't bother me anymore, haha :)