Fables: Legends in Exile

Title: Fables: Legends in Exile

Author: Bill Willingham

Publication date: 2002

Book's setting: Alternate modern New York City

Random facts: Issues 1-5 out of a grand total of 106.

Plot summary: All our favorite fairytale characters were living happily in their sprawling fairytale land when then were invaded. A few of them including the iconic Snow White, Beast, Little Boy Blue, and King Cole, escaped to modern day New York City. (Think Narnia, Ingary, etc.) Here they must learn to live and get along while waiting till it is safe to return to their beloved lands. There is tension, anger, and jealousy between the characters from Fabletown, but they need to stick together, or they'll be found out. This volume holds the first five issues and first story arc from the every popular and ongoing comics series. This story focuses on the disappearance of Rose Red and her villainous fiancee, Blue Beard.

Favorite aspects: The characters were just so well done. Visually they were stunning. However, more importantly, their characterization was really good. I think my absolute favorite part was how Cinderella and Snow White had been married to the same Prince Charming. In a graphic novel or comic series there is very little room for explanation or exposition, but I didn't have any questions about the authors universe, and there were basically no holes in the plot that I wanted filled. My biggest qualm with graphic novels is that very often they are just hard to follow. Too many characters, too many dead end plot lines. Fables had none of these problems. It was a tight-knit, well told, interesting, fun, beautiful story.

Least favorite aspects: Red Rose being Snow White's sister, who was obviously the same Snow White from the more popular fairytale of the same name, confused me a bit at first. This is really my fault for having an inadequate knowledge of fairytale characters before starting. I had to google Red Rose to find her fable... it's a lesser known German one. This isn't really a fault of the author or anything, but if you meet any character you don't immediately recognize from your childhood story books or Disney films just stick with it. Also Wolf was not at all what I would have expected... not sure if I like him or approve of his noble personality.

Other works it reminded me of: Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack by Shannon, Dean, and Nathan Hale; Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Sadie's merciless break-down: I love television. I might be a serious reader but I can not deny the love I feel for my tv. Every now and then I get this uncontrollable urge to watch television EVERY SINGLE DAY. I just want to pull out my X-Files and Doctor Who dvds and flop on the couch and never think an original thought ever again. It's at times like this when a graphic novel comes in handy. This makes me sad because I should read graphic novels for their own individual beauty, not because I feel stupid and want pretty pictures. But my motives aside, I can not deny the quality of Fables.
Above I compared it to Watchmen... which is really only true as far as the illustrations and page setups go. Really it was more comparable to a sexed-up and grown-up Rapunzel's Revenge. (Okay, not that sexed-up, lest you think me a perv.) Basically it was everything I like in a graphic novel. Of course, out of the fourteen sequential volumes that have been published... the BPL only has two.
Being a comics fan when your sole source of literature is the BPL is hard. The BPL is lazy when it comes to comics and graphic novels and orders copies really late or not at all. Or even worse, they've got volumes missing from a series so it's impossible to read them in the correct order. Basically I'm screwed. I've got three options as a comics fan. First of all, I can just not read any. Or I can buy them all from Amazon.com and go broke in the process. The third option is my favorite option and one I use all too often. I can skulk into Barnes and Nobles and read the next thirteen volumes in the store, hiding in a corner, where no one can find me. Then I just wipe the guilt off my face and saunter out. Of course, this is why book stores are going extinct, and I'm not helping any, but I'm running out of viable options.
How does one afford to be a true comic book fan? How does one keep up with the constant flow of issues and volumes and spin-offs? I'm not cut out for it.

Recommendation rate: If you love comic and graphic novels but aren't really a superhero fan then you should try these.