Fables, vol. 1: Legends in Exile

Centuries after being driven from their individual magical homelands by an unknown Adversary, various characters from folklore and fairy tales (and a few classic children's books for good measure) are living in relative peace and quiet in New York, in a community they call Fabletown.  The Big Bad Wolf (now in human form) is the Sheriff; King Cole is the mayor; Snow White (long since divorced from Prince Charming, who turned out to be all style and no content) is the deputy mayor who actually gets all the work done.  In the first collection of this ongoing comic book series, Bigby Wolf is dismayed when Snow White inserts herself into his investigation of a Fable's disappearance and possible murder, but even he has to admit she has reason to take a special interest; the victim is her sister, Rose Red.

I love this series.  I used to be a minor comic book geek: I collected a couple of superhero titles (in mylar bags with cardboard backing), but I had pretty pedestrian tastes.  It really wasn't until well after I got thoroughly X-Menned out and gave up on superhero comics that graphic novels as a format really took off in this country.  They're doing amazing things in graphic storytelling these days, in every genre from the traditional superhero fantasy to tell-all memoirs.  This series is straight fantasy without the superheros (though Bigby Wolf gets to save the day in dramatic fashion a few times) and it's great stuff: Brilliantly written and excellently drawn.

Originally posted at MySpace 3/30/07