Fables - review

[andrewducker]

Many thanks to laserboy for lending me collections one through eight of the comic Fables. I was dreading it slightly as I'd read the first collection a few years back when it first appeared and hadn't been at all impressed. But it's won a few awards and people had been raving about it so I thought I'd give it another go.

The basic idea is very simple - various characters from myth and legend are forced out of their homelands by an invading army and have to try and survive in the "mundane" world. We join them in the present day, a few hundred years after they first arrive. They already have their societal structure in place but are about to be hit by some big changes - a setup which gives maximum story potential.

The first book is a slog, a lot of the dialogue is horribly clunky and the introductions of the various characters could have been handled better. Thankfully it then improves dramatically, and although we still have occasional hiccups of in the early books the writing comes together very quickly, the characters become more three dimensional and the plots take some fascinating twists and turns. Writer Bill Willingham clearly enjoys plucking characters from fairy tales and giving them a new spin and it's this, mixed with the rotating cast of characters that never cease to grow and change in ways that surprise you.

It's not high art, and it never reaches the levels of, say, Sandman or even Lucifer, but it kept me up late for a couple of nights because I wanted to read the next issue. And I'll be reading the next trade when I can get my hands on it.

Comments

[pennski.livejournal.com]

I found these to be "comics as comfort reading" almost. Although I could have done with more plot. And banging certain characters' heads together.

[andrewducker]

Oh, definitely comfort reading. I went through them pretty darn quickly. But they're good comfort reading, at least.

And I find that I spend a lot of time wanting to bash people's heads together - fictional or not :->

[thadrin.livejournal.com]

If you want something very silly in the same series, I've been collecting "Jack of Fables", which is very good. Currently on its second storyline.

The Jack in question is the fable also known as Jack Horner, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack frost, and so on. Its definitely adult themed, but its putting a grin on my face.