Being one of the few people left on planet Earth (Fable or otherwise) that hadn't yet tackled Fables, I thought it prudent to begin my long journey of 80+ issues, a spin-off series and an ongoing crossover with the Fables: Deluxe Edition Book One hardcover that releases this Wednesday, September 30. Collecting the first ten issues of Bill Willingham's acclaimed series, the first volume of this slightly oversized hardcover collection is a great way for the unacquainted to dive right in. The only problem with doing so is that I promise you won't be able to wait another year for the next hardcover (the time frame given by Willingham in his introduction), and you'll end up splurging on the trades, guaranteed. While it's a shame that the hardcovers won't be released in closer proximity to one another, particularly with so many issues behind them, any way you can move this story from the page into your brain is okay by me.
For a writer like Willingham, who has shown his love for fantasy and magic a hundred times over in things like House of Mystery and Shadowpact, Fables must undoubtedly his favorite book to write. Let alone it being his own creation, Fables is a wonderful mixture of fairy tale adventure, politics, fantasy and satire. It's clear from page one that Willingham has a love for these characters, age-old creations that he gets to reinterpret and make his own, which is perhaps the key ingredient to the book's success.
Fables takes classic fairy tale characters (Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, etc) and transplants them into modern day New York City, where they have established a small, hidden town for themselves amongst the mundys (humans). Think of it in a similar vain as Harry Potter's wizarding world to the Muggles. Eons ago, the Fable characters were forced from their storied homelands by a conqueror known only as The Adversary, forcing them to build a new home in NYC. The non-human looking Fables, like The Three Little Pigs and the Jungle Book characters, are relegated to a large farm in upstate New York, in an effort to keep the Fable's existence a secret from the mundys.
The first two storyarcs included in this collection are gripping introductions to many key players of this world, and quickly establishes the hierarchy, history, relationships and discontent within the Fable community. You can't help but shake your head at the obviousness of some of Willingham's reinterpretations of these characters, as they are so clever in their obviousness it's remarkable. Big Bad Wolf as Fabletown's detective, Goldilocks as a revolutionary extremist, and Rose Red as the undervalued social prostitute sister of Snow White are all well-thought placements for these characters in their version of a modern society.
