This Ain’t Disney
Posted on | June 29, 2005 at 10:49 pm | Comments Off
If you had told me that I would become totally engrossed in a comic book featuring Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Jack the Giant-Killer, Little Boy Blue, Pinocchio, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, etc., I would have told you that you were smoking something. Nevertheless, it has happened. A few years ago, I read the first 13 issues of the DC/Vertigo title Fables. I recently caught up with the title and finished off the last two years worth of issues of this continuing series (along with the graphic novel The Last Castle). And now I really want to know what happens next.
When I first heard that this title was coming out, I wasn’t too keen on the concept: that characters from fairy tales, folklore, legends, and fables are living among us in modern day society, having escaped to our world to avoid being enslaved by a mysterious “Adversary” who has taken over their home dimensions. But I’ve been a big fan of writer Bill Willingham ever since his old Elementals series for Comico redefined just how intense you can get with superhero comics in relation to violence, sex and religion. Willingham really likes mixing things up to come up with something different and a little out there. So I decided to give it a try, and I’m glad I did.
In the world of Fables, these characters from folklore have been living among us for a few centuries in a neighborhood of New York City that they call Fabletown (except for the fables who can’t pass as human, such as the Three Little Pigs – they are exiled to an upstate facility called The Farm). They are hiding out from The Adversary, who has conquered what they refer to as “The Homelands” and who has enslaved the fables who were not lucky enough to escape. As the story-in-progress started out, Old King Cole was mayor of Fabletown, but most of the day-to-day operations of the society (which in large part consists of keeping the true nature of Fabletown hidden from the normal people, or “mundys” as they call us) fall to deputy mayor Snow White and to sheriff Bibgy (aka Big Bad) Wolf (who assumes human form most of the time). Snow and Bigby have an obvious attraction to each other but don’t really act on it, mostly because Snow is a bit uptight and takes her duties seriously. (Please note that I wrote this synopsis before reading the similar Wikipedia entry for Fables…)
The series starts out with smaller stories (murder mystery, politics, etc.) which define the parameters and characters of Fabletown and The Farm, and then moves into deeper territory as the cast is put into danger by the Adversary and his minions, who has not forgotten about those who got away from him. One storyline, “The March of the Wooden Soldiers”, culminates in an intense all-out battle in the streets of Fabletown. One plus is that the status quo actually changes, and things are much different now than when the series started – most of the characters are in different places, doing different things. Some pretty unexpected things happen to central characters Snow White and Bigby Wolf (and their relationship) over the course of the series. The current story arc, “Return to the Homelands” has Boy Blue going back to the Fables’ home dimension and trying to single-handedly bring down the Adversary and rescue his one true love, Red Riding Hood (neither Blue or Red are very “Little” these days), who may or may not still be alive. Supposedly, the true nature/identity of the Adversary is going to be revealed in this storyline before the end of the summer, thus solving one of the central mysteries of the series.
Willingham has written every issue of the series, which provides for great continuity. There have been a few different artists helping him out, with Mark Buckingham (of Miracleman fame) doing the lion’s share of the work. The art is usually pretty clean and not quite as cartoony as you’d expect for a fantasy series like this, which makes sense, since Willingham is trying to ground it in the real world to some extent. And as part of that, this is one of the Vertigo “Suggested for Mature Readers” titles, so there is the requisite violence, sex, and profanity that accompanies said label (although I don’t think it’s ever really gone overboard, especially compared to something like Preacher, another great Vertigo series). Still, it’s not for children. And I suppose that juxtaposition of the fairy tale characters doing these real world type things is part of the attraction. The series is fairly dark in spots, but is also filled with humor and nice character moments.
Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella bitch about ex-husband Prince Charming. Copyright ©2004 Bill Willingham and DC Comics.
The series is continually collected in trade paperback form by DC and is up to five volumes so far, all of which can be had for around $10 each. Well worth it! Recommended. If in Denver, go see my buddy Ray at All In A Dream and buy ‘em from him.
Latre.