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Fables is a comic series by Vertigo - remember my entry some weeks ago, where I talked about "The Wolf Among Us?" - and as I found out it will end its thirteen year long run this summer with issue number #150, which is absolutely not what I wanted to hear in fact I was searching for a bundle of cheaper issues on ebay when I stumbled across these news cause ever since I read the first volume, I can't get enough of it! So enjoy the pretty pics and my ramblings. I am not going to talk about the storylines in great detail, as I can't really stay clear of spoilers if I do, and will mostly talk about my love for Snow White and Bigby.
This is the first volume and I am sorry for the terrible picture, but you should be used to that by now. xD
This is the back and I must say that I am in love with the whole design! The way the more traditionally dressed are running from those monsters only to blend into the modern streets and buildings of New York is amazing!
The first volume is a rather typical introduction of the setting by way of a murder mystery, in which Detective Bigby Wolf is summoned to a horrible crime scene to find out who killed Rose Red. Snow White, who is in charge of running Fabletown's administration helps him with the investigation - and we get to meet at lot of recurring characters: Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, Boy Blue (why do they all start with B, wtf), Jack, Prince Charming (horrible asshole), Flycatcher and many more. It's curious or at least it was for me to see that they they morphed Schneeweißchen und Schneewittchen into a single person here: Snow White is Rose Red's sister but she is also not very fond of the seven dwarves (who have yet to make an appearance... this can only end well XD) and there are some characters like "Boy Blue" that I had to google (character from an English nursery rhyme),
All in all, it's a rather typical detective story, but the tone of these issues is very tongue in cheek: The last chapter is called "The Parlor Room Scene (without the parlor)" (as it takes places in and around a swimming pool) and Bigby spends half a page convincing everyone that they absolutely need to listen to how he figured everything out, because most detectives never get their own parlor room scene and he is going to drag this out to the very end.
He does and it's wonderful - he even outright asks the reader whether they have already put together all the clues! I didn't of course, because I was waaaayy too invested in the art and the relationship between Bigby and Snow White and all the background information about how and why the Fables were forced to flee their Homelands (in short: big bad guy killed lots of people, they were too slow to form an army and had to flee to the mundy world).
I mean look at these idiots AWWW:
Bigby, you are such a big fluffy idiot, urghs. NONETHELESS I LOVE THEM TO DEATH AND I AM RATHER HAPPY THAT THE COMICS FOCUS SO MUCH ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP <33333
Snow is as tough as nails, highly intelligent and gets angry really fast and Bigby usually behaves gruffly and threatens to bite everyone - but he is total putty in her hands. Aww.
(He betrayed her really badly some pages before that scene and she just found out. Idiots).
The art style is rather nice, I must say, especially the designs for the female characters. Bigby himself is... okay, most of the time (they prettified him an awful lot for the game and it shooooows, dear God), but then you have panels like this
where I am seriously questioning WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING, ILLUSTRATOR GUY, FOR REAL, DUDE. Especially when you look at Snow in the panel right next to that and she looks absolutely fine?? There is a difference between "older guy with a stubble" and "DOESN'T EVEN HAVE EYES OR A FACE", Jesus Christ, people. XD
There is of course some broken spine going on:
This is Cinderella training with Bluebeard by the way (she is going to work for/with Bigby later on, but I haven't read that particular issue yet, gnah, I can't wait!). Bluebeard and Bigby have an amazingly dark and twisted relationship (one of them made the other cry!) and I really want to see more of them.
The second volume "Animal Farm" introduces us to the non-human looking fables living on the "Farm" and the title tells you everything you need to know about the plot: yes, they are staging a revolution and Sher Khan tries to eat Snow White (she gets better) and they even found the greatest explanation ever as to why nobody stays dead for long in this universe: the fables draw their life force so to say from their popularity with the mundies meaning Snow White can survive a head shot herself while in order for Boo Bear to survive/continue to exist his mother has to get pregnant again (it makes sense in context I swear). So nobody can be dealt with forever and for good. I like this sort of explanation even if it is a bit silly and I prefer it over the usual convoluted messes (like that one time the gun shot didn't kill Captain America but "froze him in space and time"... come on guys, really?).
In "Storybook Love" (vol. 3) Bluebeard sends Bigby and Snow away on a camping trip for reasons of rebellion and corruption but I am convinced he is just an really avid shipper of SnowWolf and he wanted them to get a move on.
He even had Goldilocks follow them to make sure everything is super romantic and stuff - yes with a gun, shut up, they need this.
Here are some of my favorite covers from the first four volumes:
Not entirely sure why they gave Snow White pigtails in this picture, she looks waaay too young with them but the washed out colours are superb (and all the great details like SPOILER and SPOILER! =D).
Bluebeard and Cinderella again, and by God I wish they would keep this style instead of the brighter colors and blander backgrounds (yeah yeah, I know, costs and stuff, BUT STILL). I adore the Nosferatu vibes we are getting from Bluebeard here.
This one is from "Animal Farm" and I don't even know exactly why I like it so much but the whole arc and especially the argument between SPOILER and Snow White at the end were so damn intense - and yeah I like it when my favourite characters are badly hurt and in bandages, yeah okay, I'll admit it. =D
"March of the Wooden Soldiers" aka volume 4 also has amazing covers. This is (a very pretty version of) Bigby talking to Kay from "The Snowqueen" in case that wasn't obvious enough with the little snow flakes. The no-smoking sign is also kind of a running gag with Bigby - when he and Snow were talking at an airport once, there were "no smoking" and "no dog" signs everywhere. Dawww. I am here for people calling Bigby Snow's bitch and I am not ashamed to admit it.
Soo, will I go on with reading those comics? You bet, I will. I am so invested in the characters and the mysteries and the different takes on the fairy tales characters (Bo Peep is an assassin! There is a raven who breathes fire! The mouse police! Q___Q).There are some spin off series (Jack of Fables and Fairest) but I don't think that I will ever read the first one cause Jack is such an asshole and his first stand alone story (Bag o 'Bones, issues #11) was so ... URGHS (idiotic sex scenes and zombies). Gnah, new fandom here I come.