Review:
Bill Willingham's ground-breaking Fables series ran from 2004-2015. The critically acclaimed series won more than a dozen Eisner Awards. Its fantastic premise brings fairy tale characters into new relationships with one another and transposes them into modern-day communities, most notably in a New York City neighbourhood.
The opening chapter of this third volume of the original series follows Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and his adventures back in the civil war. While these Fables characters are not immortal, they are long-lived. It is a playful tale with bayou poker, a magical sack, a reprieve from the Grim Reaper and more. Opening the volume as it does, it very much sets the tone of imaginative situations, gory violence and sexuality for the chapters to come.
It is followed by a two-part tale in which a sensationalistic reporter is sniffing around for their secrets. Putting together several clues, historic photos and some modern-day paparazzi stalker skills, he correctly deduces their extremely long lives. His conclusion? Vampires! Bigby Wolf's scheme to destroy evidence and shut him up leads to a heist-film feel involving Sleeping Beauty and a little table-turning blackmail of his own.
The title tale, 'Storybook Love,' is a four-part thriller drama as Blackbeard and Goldilocks scheme to kill Snow White and Bigby Wolf. Charming them and sending them away on a remote camping adventure on the West Coast gives Goldilocks plenty of opportunity to hunt them down and kill them. But Bigby Wolf is more than a rugged and dour security head - he is the Big Bad Wolf, seventh child of the North Wind, and he turns the tables, although it is ultimately Snow White who saves the day.
Meanwhile back home, Prince Charming duels Blackbeard to the death, proving they are not immortal and one main character will die.
Mark Buckingham handles the art duties in this story arc, and he delivers tremendous work! His turn in these chapters led to becoming the primary artist of the series. Especially remarkable are his creative layouts, with plane-shaped panels while Snow White and Bigby Wolf fly back home, or the shield-shaped pages during the sword duel.
The whole collection is filled with loads of gory violence, no matter the artist, as well as some sex and nudity thrown in, earning the volume's Mature rating.
This book gives us gorgeous visuals, a brilliant premise, intense drama, major character developments, even if some of them do feel flat and uninteresting.
Description:
A new Softcover collecting the acclaimed FABLES #11-18, including the 4-part "Storybook Love." Also included are the 2-part "A Sharp Operator" and the single-issue tales "Bag o' Bones" and "Barleycorn Brides." Don't miss this amazing third collection, topped off with a stunning new wraparound cover by James Jean
Collects: Fables #11-18
Authors: Bill Willingham (Author), Mark Buckingham (Author
Artists:
Published By: Vertigo
Published When: May 1, 2004
Parental Rating: Mature
ISBN: 978-1401202569
Pages: 192 pages
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