Cinderella, Vol 2 - Fables Are Forever

I read this last week and haven't had time to jot down my thoughts.  What I like a lot about this is what I miss about the Fables series in general.  It's got a real sense of fun and mixing with characters - the characters in Fables currently just don't feel like they're all that connected to the original material all that much anymore, and I miss it a touch.  But here we've got a James Bond-esque story with Cinderella as our super-spy, and it's so much fun.  This story juxtaposes the past and present showing her going toe-to-toe with one of her greatest foes and I won't ruin who that is for you here. 
The story plays with a bit of a twist near the end, which is tremendous fun, but I question if the logic of it stands up at all.  If you're into Fables you'll want to check out this series, it reminds you what you loved about the world in the first place.

Fables #17: Inherit the Wind

It probably speaks to how long it took me to getting around to picking this up as to where my enthusiasm with this series is.  This was easily one of my favourite comic series for quite a while, and if I'm honest, I stick around because I've invested so much time in it already.  So there's that.  This volume didn't help that so much in that it was a big hallway towards what's hopefully to come - and I get that books have to do that - but when there's such a huge wait between instalments, I just need a little more to hang my hat on to keep me going.  The storyline with the cubs was fine enough, but the only real thing that got me excited in the entire issue was Rose Red's Christmas story and what appears to be Boy Blue telling her to get her shit in gear and figure out a way to revive him from the dead.  Sweet lord I've been looking forward to that for… geez… five or six volumes now…
So if you're a huge Fables nerd, you'll want to get this just because - but do NOT start here - it'll just confuse you. 

Fables #16: Super Team

I'll be honest, I hate the title for this volume - I get why they use it, but it just feels odd for the Fables universe to go here in the superhero parallel - mostly because it opens up a bit of a hornet's nest to me... because how Fables works is that the characters are from works of fiction that runs the gamut and the globe - anything and everything is up for grabs so long as it's a created character, really... so technically Superheroes are Fables as well in a way... am I right?  I don't think that Fables are subject only to fairy tale characters... although I guess it's pointless to hang onto this... I digress...
So this volume finds our friends getting ready to take down Mr. Dark for once and all, and Pinocchio takes a page out of superhero comics to assemble the perfect team to do so.  There's some fun to be had in it, but it doesn't really amount to anything and it's really just a way of filling time until the (anti-climatic) show-down.  Being that this is the sixteenth book of a series I think I'll have to throw down the SPOILER WARNING and talk more in depth about the volume below...

First off, I quite liked this volume.  I liked the story between Bigby and his father and the set-up to what's to come down the pipe, however I feel a bit cheated... if the North Wind could have come in and defeated Mr. Dark so easily at any time, why did it take this long?  It feels like for all the set-up and devastation that it was a really easy fix.  Although who knows... maybe that story isn't quite over... after all the (now smoking hot) Mrs. Spratt is still kicking around and maybe she's got something up her sleeve.  I'm still enjoying these books but I can't help but feel like we're getting to a point where they're not going to have anywhere interesting to go... I hope that Willingham has some new core-conflict up his sleeve to propel us into the next big arc(s), but it's feeling like it's going to start retreading.  Gepetto is going to try and start another uprising, etc... Right now the series is quite good, but I want it to be great again... Here's hoping...

Jack of Fables #9: The End

If I'm honest, this is a series that I've supported long past it's due.  As a spin-off of the main Fables comic it originally followed Jack of the Tales (Jack Horner) until his story was resolved in the Great Fables Cross-over and then it essentially handed the mantle over to his son, Jack Frost - and while those stories were fine - they were nowhere near as entertaining as watching Jack run around.  So now the series has come to it's conclusion, and despite it's "epic" finale, it's just kind of... meh.  It didn't feel like it really mattered, like it just had to happen.  I'm glad it's over to be honest.
So here's my advice to those just getting into Fables - pick up the beginning of this series and read alongside Fables, but once you get to the cross-over, you can probably just keep up with Fables.  No offense Jack, you just fell flat at the end.
Jack of Fables Vol. 9: The End

Jack of Fables #8: The Fulminate Blade

I'm behind on this one (just realized that the next, and thankfully, finale book of the series is actually out next week).  I was a big fan of Jack of Fables, but I really feel like this series came to it's rightful conclusion with the Great Fables Crossover and that it's petered out ever since.  This volume was interesting enough, and a bit refreshing following Jack Frost instead of his father, but it really just felt like a tangent.  I'm happy to know that this series has come to an end and I do look forward to seeing how they rap it all up.  To people getting into the Fables world, at this rate, I'd almost recommend you not bother with this series following the cross-over (although after I read the finale volume I reserve the right to change my mind!
Jack of Fables Vol. 8: The Fulminate Blade

P.E.I.: Day Nine

So above is the photo of the Summer House where we're currently staying, associated with Blue Crest Cottages.  The owner, Thelma, was awesome and gave it to us at the same price as the cottage as it wasn't booked and she thought it would be a better place for a family with a  small guy.  Can't argue that - the extra room is amazing.  It's easily as large as our place in Toronto (minus a basement), and it's kind of cool to have a yard where Ephraim can run around in.

Today was nice and tame, a nice way to celebrate mine and Emily's fourth anniversary as a married couple.  We had planned for rain, but the forecast changed (it does that here…) and apparently we're in for nothing but lovely weather for the next few days!  Huzzah!!!  So our back-up rain plan is put on hold until further notice.  We decided to spend the day in Charlottetown and poke around, so we took our sweet-ass time getting ready and headed out.  We got lunch at what is probably the only Thai place in Ch'town, possible the entire island.  Very different style from any I've had, but it was tasty - Ephraim sucked it up with glee as well.  After that I wanted to check out a comic book store, The Comic Hunter.  I've only been reading comics for the last few years, and it was when we were in P.E.I. last that I stopped into this store and bought a copy of Watchmen, and with it came an insert advertising other titles, Fables, Y: The Last Man, etc…. and the rest is history.  So I owe this store a great deal of gratitude for throwing me into an amazing storytelling medium.

While on Queen Street we hit Cows to try to knock off a few more flavours.  I don't think we're going to bother trying to do the whole list.  In fact, I think I've had my fill of Cows ice cream.  Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it, but I'm kind of over it.  The ice cream itself is tasty, as it should be when it's got a ridiculously high butterfat percentage.  But my main issue is that the flavours are kind of lazy.  Of their 34 flavours I'd say that at least 80-90% of them are simply the vanilla base with a variation of the same dozen or so ingredients thrown in.  I like flavoured ice cream, not sugary inserts.  When we were at Shipwrights they served us ice cream from the local dairy ADL, and it was damn tasty stuff, so I think the next time we need a fix, that's where we'll go.  Nothing personal Cows, but that's just the way it is.

We stopped off at a playground and then a farmers market and bought Ephraim's weight in fruit, then returned home for a nice simple supper.  Tomorrow is Canada Day so we're heading back to Ch'town, the birthplace of confederation!  Should be cool.  And also, as you'll note in the photo below, our dear Ephraim has finally made a friend here on The Island...

Fables #15: Rose Red

I've been following this series for quite some time now.  It's exciting to see it reaching it's 100th issue - and not only that but it has a spin-off series that's just reached it's 50th issue.  With a novel, and a television series in development with ABC it's safe to say that Fables has found it's place within the mainstream - and so it should.
For those just joining in Fables is the story of all of the fairy tale characters living in our modern day world - at least that's how it started out - and they've come a long way from there.  I really enjoyed this volume, and I think that Fables has done a pretty amazing job of keeping this series going with fresh life.  They could have easily ended it several volumes ago, but they had a lot more up their sleeve than that.  So far the only mis-step this series has taken was the ridiculous cross-over - but luckily you can just pluck that out.  The first volume to be directly named after a character I was happy to see one of my favorites get their groove back and just in time for shit to hit the fan - again.  If you're a fan of this series then you're going to pick this up anyway - but if you've never heard of it I promise you that it's worth the read.  It's ridiculously clever, lots of great humor to it, and every and then it just grabs you and takes on an emotional spin.  Of all the comics I've given for gifts, I think the first trade of this ranks amongst the top - and so it should.
Fables Vol. 15: Rose Red

Fables #14: Witches

As an be seen above the artists that do the cover work on Fables are just fantastic. I'm sure by now there is a collection of the covers out there and I might pick it up one day if the series ever comes to an end and I can have the whole set. It would make an awesome coffee table book.

So here we are at book fourteen of Fables. For those who don't know about the series it takes the idea that all of the fairy tale characters from all of time are real (and more or less immortal, which has a lot to do with the way we remember and continue to tell stories about them) and they existed in a place called the Homelands. Someone called The Adversary (whose identity I won't reveal here) created an Empire and so many of the Fables fled and decided to take refuge here on Earth (or in The Mundy, as they call it - us humans being Mundane compared to them). Now, to bring you up to speed, the Fables slowly but surely struck back against the Empire and the Adversary, casualties on both sides occurred, and the Fables were successful in defeating the Empire. And so, wouldn't you think that it would be happily ever after following that? If that was the case, the series wouldn't even exist in the first place :) What followed that huge story arc was the decision to show, what happens when an Empire falls, and what does the fall out mean? Two volumes ago we were introduced to Mr. Dark, the pure embodiment of all evil, and he's decided to take down the Fables, and he's doing a pretty damn good job of it so far. The last volume of the series was a bit frustrating in that it put a big pause on this storyline just at a time when we wanted it to keep moving. And then comes along this new volume and, well, the frustration continues to some degree. I realize that there has to be a lead-up to a great battle, and I wasn't expecting the Mr. Dark storyline to be resolved in this volume, but it just felt like they didn't really get anywhere with it. Baby steps, really. It's all entertaining and great, don't get me wrong, but it's not Fables at it's best. There is a nice side-story at the end involving Flycatcher that's really quite lovely, he finally seems to be getting over the grief of his wife with another Fable whom I'm had a crush on since she was first introduced.

So not a bad book by any means, but I want more to be happening at this point. It's taking it's time, and perhaps for good reason. The next volume, I believe, is called Rose Red, so I look forward to getting her back in the main storyline... and I wonder if it being about her means that a certain boy in blue might finally make his return...

(*** as a post script, I started reviewing comics late in this blog, so at some point I'll circle back and write up my thoughts on the previous volumes of this series)

Kill Shakespeare

I love lit-comics. Fables is one of my all time favorites and I pan it off on others as much as possible. In general I quite enjoy the idea of playing with established worlds and characters - we've seen it a lot these days, it's almost a genre unto itself. And here we have it being done to Shakespeare. It's a brilliant idea, the kind that most people are probably scratching their head and saying "Why didn't I think of that?"

As a rule I don't think it's fair to compare things when reviewing them, however in the case of this comic they've specifically written on the back:

What Fables does for fairy tales, Kill Shakespeare does with the greatest writer of all time.

This isn't a quote from a review, this is what the creators and/or publishers themselves are saying about the book - and therefore, in my opinion, it's completely fair game to compare. Fables succeeds in a large way because of it's scope. It encompasses ALL fairy tales in all cultures, and it does so under the guise that the stories that we've all grown up hearing are just versions of their stories - therefore Willingham (the creator of Fables) gives himself proper license to do, more or less, whatever he damn well pleases. He follows a set of rules and it makes sense. This is just the beginning of where this book fails. Seemingly we're in an alternate universe where all of Shakespeare's plays take place. Awesome! I can SO buy into that. The book starts off at the ending of Hamlet. Sweet - I'm in. Instead of Hamlet going back to Denmark he's sidetracked and grabbed by Richard III, okay... I'm with you. But then... we continue... and we start to be surrounded by other characters from other works... Juliet is among them... but she's not a teenager which means... what exactly? She's alive? WTF?! And now, I'm officialy confused, lost, and... out. What's the logic of the world? What are the rules? Where are we in these stories? This is just the beginnings of the problem with this book.

The writers claim to have done their research, what that consists of, I don't know. Shakespeare is known to be boring as a cliche, and they don't seem to do a lot to help that. I've seen and read enough Shakespeare to know that he's a funny guy, he's entertaining, and then man knows how to spin a story. I've seen productions of Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet that are downright hysterical, but this is played dry as bones. And the writing in this is pretty bland and obvious. Iago appears on the villains side, and then is later seen switching to the good guys side, and then the big twist on the final page is... he's double crossing the good guys! What a surprise given that he's Iago! Come on! Do something original, make it Othello that's playing the sides this time. Maybe the next volume will show that Iago isn't actually double crossing, but it doesn't matter 'cause I can't imagine I'll continue on with this series.

When Darwyn Cooke spends the majority of his introduction writing about how difficult it is to create comics, as opposed to how exciting and interesting the story we're about to read is, you know that you're in trouble. I'm sorry, but I just can't recommend this.

Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love

I'm a big fan of Fables so the mere mention of this made me pretty excited. We've seen very little of the Cinderella character in the past so it was nice to see a complete mini-series devoted to her. She's very much the James Bond of the Fables community. This series appears to take place in the extremely short period of time between the end of the Great War and the destruction of Fabletown, but I can buy that no problem.

Like all great Fable arcs this include characters from other stories and it does it well, it also pits Cinderella against some people from her own past and cleverly integrates them in it. The artwork takes a little getting used to, and the writing doesn't feel that far off of Willingham's, so kudos to that.

Fables is a series that could have unlimited spin-offs so I respect how few they do, and how great they are so far. I've still got the Fables novel gathering dust on my shelf - I swear I'll get around to it ASAP.

If you're into Fables you'll dig this a lot - if you're new to the series... I'm not sure how well this stands alone...

Jack of Fables #7: The New Adventures of Jack & Jack

I have absolutely no idea what this book was trying to be. It's a hallway for sure. The last cross-over book figured in the ending of the major story-arc that had been going on since the beginning of this spin-off series, and so this is kind of a reboot/new beginning kind of thing, and... I don't know. The Jack Horner story is... lame... and they spend far more time on Jack Frost in a story that's - okay. I like the idea of now having to see Horner grow up and be a father-figure, but they don't seem to be interested in that just yet.

I'm intrigued to see what they do in the next book based on where they left this one off - but I have to say, if it doesn't set something really interesting in motion they may lose me as a reader.

I always pitch this series to my friend as this - if Fables is the hour long HBO/Showcase show, than this is the half-hour brother.

Step it up Mr. Willingham, I know you've got it in you.

Fables #13: The Great Fables Crossover

So before I get into my thoughts on this, I have to wonder why this last issue of this arc came out last July and the trade just came out last week. That's like seven months! I guess they're trying to get people to keep buying the single issues. If the trades came out right away there would be no incentive to wait. Huh. I guess that makes sense.
So this cross-over was more to do with the Jack storyline than the Fables one, really, and for that I'm really glad that I read the Jack-line all the way through. In all reality you could probably pull this story right out of the Fables line and I don't think it would make that big a difference. Besides their world potentially coming to an end, nothing... really... happened. NOW, that being said, it changed EVERYTHING in the Jack of Fables storyline in that the slate is wiped, pretty much, clean. It could go anywhere, do anything, and that's kind of exciting...
I'd be lying if I didn't say I didn't feel a little concern about the future of both Fables & Jack. It feels, to me, that their greatest battles have been fought and won and... what's left? Fables started off on a pretty interesting path - the idea of how you have to deal with the fall-out from war... but where can/will it go with it? Time will tell.
So overall - I enjoyed this. What was most fun was seeing them mixing the tones of the sillier Jack books with that of Fables - mostly evident in the treating of Bigby. All-in-all a decent book, but I don't think you'll get the full appreciation of it if you haven't read the Jack series. And now... I just have to wait... good thing I've got a stack of things to keep me busy.

Jack of Fables #6: The Big Book of War

I blasted through this. Even though my body is weak as hell from this flu that's kicked my ass my mind is pretty alert and I HATE wasting time. Couldn't watch anything - just... felt... weird... so I hunkered down with some comics. So this one was a blast, and, for now, the end of the Bookburner arc, I believe. Although now that Thorn has his pen back.... huzzah!
Some very interesting reveals at the end of this book. I'm extremely excited for the cross-over book which starts.... now!

Jack of Fables #5: Turning Pages

I spent today in bed with a nasty-ass flu. So inbetween sleeping and trips to the throne I was able to sneak this in. I like this series more and more as I read it. It doesn't have the weight of the Fables main line, but it does things that it can't do. This book in particular is more of a hallway to get us to a bigger story - but it's a really nice hallway. There's a large tangent at the beginning that shows us a version of Jack back in the days of the old west. And it's a savage, different Jack. Which is bizarrely refreshing. And then for the second half of this edition the book does something really interesting - it tells the current story through the window of the three Page sisters. And it's GOOD. It's nice to have a little window into them, helps to see their perspective of this world. So one more trade to get through before I can dig into the Fables cross-over book. Should get to it this week... and then... not sure. I've got a stack of stuff I've picked up over the last few months as well as a bunch of indie comic titles that I really want to give a shot. But my comic supplier Scott apparently has some stuff for me to check out. Who knows. I just can't believe I was never into comics as a kid.

Jack of Fables #4: Americana

Jack completed the trifecta! For those who read this book you'll know what I mean, for those who don't - the above gives a pretty good clue. This series continues to be fun and more or less light. Which is okay. It never tries to be anything grander so that's fine by me. Of course, having said that, there seems to be a strong story shift now that The Literals are coming out of the woodwork - I know that the upcoming cross-over issue of Fables is about that coming to a head (picked it up today). So I've got two more of these Jack books to dig through before I can sit back and dig into the big-ass crossover.
All in all this book was good - some meandering going on, but lots of fun. I continue to enjoy the random humor.

Jack of Fables #3: The Bad Prince

So what I'm starting to realize (and be okay with) is that this series is intended, I believe, mostly to just be a side dish. It doesn't have a super strong or important storyline (although they are flirting with the Kevin Thorn stuff that's been in Fables for quite sometime - and so that's the meat to this particular stew). This all being said, it's fun. I like Jack for better than I ever thought I would be - he's entertaining because of those around him and the way that they mess with him and his ego. I'll continue to read this book probably even after the cross-over, but it's not something I get super excited about. It's mildly entertaining, but I think that's all that they're really shooting for. What I like the most about it is that it has these moments of wonderful randomness. It's almost like this is the Fables people's outlet to just fuck around and have fun, while they keep the strong story stuff to the main Fables line.

Jack of Fables #2: Jack of Hearts

I never thought that I would be enjoying this series as much as I am. Jack was never one of my favorite characters in Fabletown, but he's definitely the character with the most back-story, being that every fairy tale that features a Jack, is, at least he claims, about him. So there's a wealth to draw from - more, probably, than any of the other Fables (excluding perhaps Bigby).

There's some interesting stuff going on in this series, and they're definitely setting it up for the long haul. The most fun is just the idea of Jack's ego and how that plays into the narration of it. I'm probably going to take a little break from this series to catch up on some other reading - but I'll be back to it shortly as The Great Fables Crossover (Fables #13) comes out this week and I want to catch up on both sides of the story before reading it.

Jack of Fables #1: The (Nearly) Great Escape

Because the next Fables book (due out soon) is a cross-over issue with this series I decided it was high-time I caught up on the adventures of Jack Horner. Jack was never my favorite character and so I was never super interested in this book, but I have to admit, if they continue to be this entertaining it won't be a chore to get through. What was most interesting about this book was realizing how many characters the other Fables series still hadn't used. Amazing really. There was a surprise return from one of the old villains that was a pleasant surprise. Looking forward to where they head with this series, and hope it keeps interesting.

Fables: The Dark Ages

I'm not a big comics guy. I had cousins who were big into comics when I was little, but I was a casual enjoyed of them at best. In fact, I kinda sorta feared them. Especially when it comes to the bigger characters. There's just so much goddamn story, and where the hell do you start?! I'm the kind of person who needs to start at the beginning and there's just not enough time in the day to do that when it comes to your Spidermans, Batmans, and the like.
And then I discovered Vertigo: A DC off-shoot label. I have to admit that my discovery back into comics came when I finally bought a copy of Watchmen a few years and inside of it the comic-clerk slipped a little "50 must-own comics" document. So in reading it I discovered that there was more to the comic world that the old standbys and more importantly I found two titles that interested the hell out of me Y the Last Man and Fables.
I realize I'm getting sidetracked here, but if you're even remotely interested in comics, and if you like a smart, funny, entertaining story then you need to run to your local comic shop, hell most big bookstores carry them now too, and pick up the entire run of Y the Last Man. There's ten collected books and the run is over. You could easily read the entire series over a weekend, and you probably will. It's that good.
But to what I came to write about: Fables.
I a am a big fan of fucking with established stories. I love the idea of mucking around with ideas that have been around forever, and the kid in me loves the old fairy tales. In highschool I co-wrote a play messing with fairy tale characters and more recently my writing partner and I have written a feature spec about a little girl who finds a portal into a world that houses all of the fairy tale characters. So Fables is something that's directly up my alley. It's smart and playful. Funny, yet intense. These are the characters of myth, but they're real. They have flaws. They win, they lose. They become heroes, they have their hearts broken, and yes, some of them even die. I'm not going to get into specific plots here because I believe in being spoiler free - but if you're even remotely interested in comics and have a love of fairy tales then I beg you to do yourself a favor and start collecting the Fables series. There's twelve books in total thus far. I can't even remember how many times I've bought the first volume as a gift for someone. And I have to be honest, while even the first volume is quite good it doesn't even come close to how great it becomes. The first two volumes merely introduce you to the world of Fables, starting at volume three the real story kicks into high gear - and it's a wonderful ride with some wonderful tangents of it's own.
Apparently ABC is developing a pilot for a television series. How much would I love to get a gig writing on that show. It would be intimidating and fantastic all at the same time.