Stores
All the places to find your funny books.

Forum
Comics, Comics, We all love Comics.

Reviews
Glorifications & Executions of the latest issues.

Fanboy Art
Put your penciling on display. Risk kicking ass or sucking it.

Order
Track down those hard to find comics from yesteryear.

Calendar
A comics related calendar. Covers release dates, conventions etc.

Fables: Storybook Love

Creators: Bill Willingham
Publisher: General

Reviewed by Rob Manuel

What happens after everything ends? No, not that kind of end. I'm talking about the ending of story books - riding off into the sunset, happily ever after, and the "The End." As it turns out, fairy tales live on long after the story ends. In fact, your favorite imaginary characters of the past could be facing their biggest threat yet. No one knows how many years Cinderella, the Three Pigs, or other Fables walk among the Mundies of this world. At one time, our worlds were separate - that was before the Adversary drove the Fables from their home. Not everyone made it across. After solving the murder of Rose Red and foiling the coup at the Animal Farm, Snow White faces her greatest challenge yet - one of her own is out to kill her.

Bigby Wolf, the local Fable sheriff, and Snow White, the second-in-command, disappeared sometime during the night, and no one is out looking for them. Why? Since the beginning, sparks of romance started bouncing off these two Fables. It was only a matter of time before they fell into temptation, embraced their forbidden love, and ran off into the night. Tonight, however, was not that night. Waking up in the middle of nowhere, Snow and Bigby must survive the wilderness and a gun-toting Goldilocks. Back in the city, other plans are under way to take control of the Fables. Will Prince Charming save the day, or will Blue Beard finally receive the power he seeks? In the Real World, happy endings are never a guarantee.

You'll have to forgive me when it comes to reviewing Fables - I love fairy tales. You know the ones, the old, old fairy tales that you would never tell a child today. Tales like Bair Skin and BaBa Yaga are stories filled with enough violence, sex, and beauty to last for generations. If you want to know the ending of any story today, read any fairy tale. What Bill Willingham has done for fairy tales is the same thing Moore has done for superheroes - reinvented them. It is refreshing, to say the least, to read the work of a writer who truly understands the roots of storytelling and the mythology of fairy tales.

Storybook Love is not my favorite volume of the series, but still beats most trades on a bad day. Fables has always been a mystery story, even at times when this mystery was only hinted at. In this new volume, the story takes a twist - more romance, more action, less mystery. I can't really complain that much since I still enjoyed Willingham's little ride through the forest. With the fourth volume not even out on the shelves, I'm predicting another near perfect rating from this series.

One of the more brilliant characters in this book never makes an appearance. I'm talking about the Adversary. Who's the Adversary, you ask? That's seems to be the big question on everyone's lips. You could have geek arguments that could last until the wee hours of the night on just speculation alone. Let's face it; you haven't had a discussion like that since "Who has the biggest rack in the DC Universe?" (My Answer: Power Girl - no contest) Willingham teases loyal readers in saying that all the clues are there - you just have to put them together. Whoever it may be - it will make for a perfect story. If you happen to like a lighter Sandman or a good fairy tale, then Fables is the comic for you.

... and if a certain Adversary turns out to be a boy who never grows up, you owe me a dollar.

Rating: (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)

Want to discuss this, and other topics, with fellow fans?
Post your thoughts in the SJ Fanboy Forum now!