#Review: Fables Issue 1
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @KryptoDies
Beauty and The Beasts’ marriage is on the rocks. Prince Charming is an @$$hole who prides himself on his “cockmanship” in bed. Snow White is the Mayor’s right-hand-woman and gets scandalous with the Seven Dwarfs. The Wolf is a detective who smokes like a chimney. Jack is being arrested for murder. What’s caused all the childhood fairytale characters to go bad? Ultimately it’s Vertigo Comics and Bill Willingham. In the story, all of the “fables” are forced out of their homeland and stripped of any possessions and wealth they have. Thrust into the 21st Century, the “fables” are trying to blend in and live their lives alongside “real people” (for lack of better words).
The overall plot of the novel involves Snow White’s sister (Rose Red) being murdered (or taken from her home nicely, while someone pours buckets of blood around). The Big Bad Wolf is trying to find the murderer and suspects Bluebeard (Rose’s ex) and Jack (her current boyfriend). With this plot alone, the comic might have a lot left to be desired, but it’s not so simple. Beauty and The Beast are having an EXTREMELY hard time keeping their secret hidden. As Beauty gets angrier and angrier at The Beast, his “curse” (transforming into a…well…beast) comes out. The angrier she is, the hairier and toothier he becomes. The two approach Snow White for help only to have her coldly turn them down. Prince Charming uses his charm and looks to get by. In his first panel, he’s eating a steak dinner in what looks to be a pretty nice restaurant. He blatantly says that he’s been flirting with his waitress all evening, wants to go home with her, and oh…can’t afford his dinner. He’d planned on dining and dashing until he finds out that he is “minutes away from doing wonderfully nasty things” to his waitress. His final scene in the comic is of him in bed with the waitress, talking about how good he is at his…sport.
I think I particularly find this comic interesting because the fables all experience life in a new place with very different situations than they are used to. It’s funny to see how they see society and how they survive. Willingham takes the characters as he sees them in traditional stories, puts their personalities on steroids, and adds a dash of drama and scandal.
I’m definitely going to be reading the other five issues in the series.
Creativity of Art: 4/5 I think the art looks great and a lot of attention to detail is apparent. What I like about it is that it still has the very basic, traditional comic style that earlier comics exhibited. When your eye is supposed to go to a certain place or person, the unimportant aspects are washed in a grey-purple color, leaving the center of attention in its colorful glory.
Creativity of Writing: 4/5 I think the idea of taking beloved children’s characters and having them lead scandalous, opposite (of what they’d lived before) lives is genius. Because children’s stories tend to be shallow and void of specific details, seeing the fables lead complicated lives is delicious.
Casual Read Rating: 4/5 Everything about the comic captures my attention and it all works together awesomely.