Author: Bill Willingham
Fables was my gateway into comics!
Years ago all your favorite fairy tale characters were attacked by a mysterious force called “The Advisory,” a dark lord gathering magic.
Fleeing their homelands, the Fables ended up in the one world without magic, the one world they hope the Advisory will overlook: our world.
They live in a small community in New York City, where they all signed a compact that absolved them of past crimes, so even though everyone knows about the crimes of Blue Beard and the Big Bad Wolf the past is the past. Of course, that doesn’t absolve them of current crimes.
Snow White’s sister, Rose Red, is missing. The reformed Big Bad Wolf (Bigby) is on the case to find her, but what happened? Why is her appeasement covered in blood? Where is her body? With Snow White, Jack Horner, Prince Charming, and Blue Beard as suspects, Bigby has to unravel this mystery as soon as possible.
Snow White may have issues with her party-girl twin sister, but she throws herself into Bigby’s investigation and when the deputy-mayor pushes for answers, she tends to get them. On top of trying to find her sister Snow has to arrange the annual fundraising ball and deal with her playboy ex-husband, Prince Charming.
I love folklore and mythology. There is just something about these centuries-old stories that are appealing to generation after generation that fascinates me. This was my gateway comic and I love it. ABC’s Once Upon a Time is suspiciously like this series. The Peter Pan story line is almost exactly like Willingham’s original plan for the Adversary, but public domain characters are public domain.
Willingham’s ability to create a lived-in world, that continues after the “happily ever after” is great. I particularly like the combination of tales. We all know that the princess always ends up with Prince Charming. . . so Willingham imagined him as a charming womanizer with a string of ex-wives!
Life is a fairy tale. . . written by the Brother’s Grimm.
Odd Librarian Out 