Even sixteen years after its inception, Vertigo is still pushing the boundaries of comic book publishing, and this time they did it by not publishing a comic at all. The highly promoted debut of Fabletown's residents in prose-form is upon us, as Bill Willingham ventures to bring his characters into a brand new medium with Peter & Max: A Fables Novel. It's an interesting experiment that deserves to be held on a pedestal for its clever accessibility, but will it deliver to those who can't get enough Fables in their lives?

I would say the answer is a resounding "yes". The biggest draw here is not the fact that the story is in the novel format; rather that the story explores new characters and territories that were previously unknown or peripheral characters in the monthly series. Peter & Max is a family tragi-drama at heart, telling the tale of the Piper family, of which the titular characters are a part, and how one brother's diluted jealousy of the other forms their paths in life, both in the Homeworlds and the mundy world alike. The Pipers are essentially a traveling musical act, with Peter Piper being their premiere musician. Max Piper, the elder brother, is not only severely jealous, but quite simply, mad. The tale that Willingham weaves astutely mends a selection of fairy tales together, tying them together quite securely for so little to go on, the most effective of which is depicting Max's decline into becoming the legendary Pied Piper.