From the Bookshelf of She-Geeks…

Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile

Bill Willingham (Writer),

Lan Medina (Artist)

Start date: December 1, 2012

Finish date: December 31, 2012

Discussion: Comic Books

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What Members Thought

Apr 29, 2012 Ronyell rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, strong-hero, my-blog-reviews, strong-heroine, graphic-novels-comics, modern-age-comics, fairy-tales-folktales, bill-willingham, vertigo-comics

Characters of Fairy Tale land, meet the crew from CSI!

CSI

At least, the plot of this volume seems like something you would see out of an episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation!”

Brief Introduction:

After I have been hearing so many good things about the “Fable” series, I just had to check this series out for myself! So, I picked up the first volume of “Fables” called “Fables: Legends in Exile” and I must admit that this volume did have me interested in reading more from the “Fables” se ...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Marissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: comix

I started out reading Fables as kind of a dorky guilty pleasure. It reminds me a lot of the kinds of comic books I was really into as a teenager. Admittedly modern reworkings of fairy tales have been done to death and there's not too many especially clever interpretations here, but the series really does draw you in. I really enjoy comic books which focus on an ensemble team, as an old school X-Men fan and someone who enjoys BPRD more than Hellboy on his own. Fables fit into this really nicely, ...more

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Apr 12, 2009 PurplyCookie rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, mythic-fiction, comics-series, graphic-novel, fairy-tale

"Fables" continues the mythologically rich tradition that was Gaiman's Sandman series. Here Willingham deals with various characters from fairy tales and folklore--referring to themselves as "Fables" – who have been forced out of their "Homelands" by a mysterious enemy known only as the Adversary.

They have traveled to our world and formed a clandestine community in New York City known as Fabletown, living amongst the "Mundys". Fables who are unable to blend in with human society (such as monste "Fables" continues the mythologically rich tradition that was Gaiman's Sandman series. Here Willingham deals with various characters from fairy tales and folklore--referring to themselves as "Fables" – who have been forced out of their "Homelands" by a mysterious enemy known only as the Adversary.

They have traveled to our world and formed a clandestine community in New York City known as Fabletown, living amongst the "Mundys". Fables who are unable to blend in with human society (such as monsters and anthropomorphic animals) live at "The Farm" in upstate New York.

The main characters of Fables are public domain figures from folklore, mythology, and literature, although most of the characters seen so far are from European stories. I can't wait until Willingham decides to use Eastern & Norse mythological creatures. He has already started incorporating Arab figures in the latest volumes in this series.

The covers are done by James Jean (in subtle ways changing the appearance of the more famous characters so that it becomes hard for the reader to guess the current story arc protagonist). The majority of the interior work has been done by Mark Buckingham, who reportedly will be given the reins to the story if Willingham becomes unable to continue it. Other artists include: Bryan Talbot, Lan Medina, P. Craig Russell, Mike Allred, and Linda Medley. And of course it features lettering by the master, Todd Klein.

The first volume of the collected issues #1-5 gives us an introduction to Fabletown, of who's really running the reins of government (it's certainly not the man who's just there for glad handling purposes), and of the different characters that will capture our attention and imagination from here on. It was delightful to realize that a lot of beloved characters didn't really live happily ever after (given the marital problems of Beauty & the Beast; the divorce between Snow White & Prince Charming; the angst of Pinocchio at being transformed into a real boy, albeit too literally by the Blue Fairy, etc.). The focus of this story arc is that of Fabletown's Sheriff Bigby Wolf investigation of the apparent murder of Rose Red, Snow White's estranged sister. Who killed Rose Red? Was it Jack of the Tales (of the Beanstalk legend), her boyfriend? Was it her betrothed, Bluebeard (the one who has an appetite of killing off his wives on their honeymoon night)? Or was it Snow White herself, who has a grudge since it was the arrival of her sister into her married life which caused the divorce?

This volume also includes a short story wriitten & illustrated by Willingham, titled "A Wolf in the Fold." It tells the story of how Snow White & Rose Red (as well as countless Fables over the centuries) were able to escape into the mundane world, as well as how the members of Fabletown were able to convince Wolf to become Bigby, the Sheriff of Fabletown. There's a brief appearance of Feathertop (the scarecrow from the short story of Nathaniel Hawthorne) as companion of Snow White, as well as a clue to the wolf sightings in Transvylvannia.

Book Details:

Title Vol. 1: Fables: Legends in Exile
Author Bill Willingham
Reviewed By Purplycookie ...more

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Dec 08, 2012 KWinks rated it really liked it

Awesome, loved it. Read for book club 12/12

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Dec 06, 2012 Fran rated it it was ok

Shelves: graphic-novels, 2013-c-gn

Started reading these because of the Unwritten/Fables crossover that's just started. Want to know something about the characters of Fables so it'll make some sense. So, I guess that crossover is doing it's job and bringing a new reader to Fables! Wasn't a great start, but I'm going to give it a go for a while. ...more

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