Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love (2010)

I'm so glad we got a mini featuring this character! Among the wider storyline of Fables, some of the more interesting characters' stories get lost; this one was worth taking the time to tell it. And another mini is on the way! ( )

From Fabletown With Love is a collection of a 6 issue standalone Fables related series starting Cinderella. It's the first Fables related project I've seen where the writing duties have not been handled by Bill Willingham. Novelist Chris Roberson handles the words in this one. I think it may have been his pet project. The pencils are provided by Fables regular guest artist Shawn McManus.

As indicated by the title Cinderella of glass slipper, Fairy Godmother, pumpkin coach fame, is Fabletown's version of James Bond. Cindy has been a secret agent for over 200 years, she was initiated by Fabletown's long term sheriff Bigby Wolf. As you can imagine with a couple of centuries to hone your skils you can get pretty good at something.

Cindy's espionage activities are not known to the Fables at large, only a select few are aware of what she does when she's not in Fabletown, the rest think she's a gadabout, shoe shop proprietress. The shop is amusingly enough called The Glass Slipper. During its owner's frequent absences the shop is managed by the much put upon Crispin Cordwainer.

The current sheriff Beast (yes the same one that married Beauty) gives the missions out to Cindy and the community's most proficient and dangerous magic user Frau Totenkinder (remember all those wicked witches in the stories? Hansel & Gretel, etc.... that's Frau Totenkinder) provides Cindy with some sort of magical gadgetry, kind of like an old female version of Q, with knitting.

The mission detailed in this series takes Cinderella to the Arabian Nights homeland, where she's paired up with Ala Al-Din, or as we know him, Aladdin. The two are trying to find a cartel that is selling magical artefacts to Mundy's in exchange for high powered automatic weapons.

The story in the here and now is intercut with shorter episodes from Cindy's past, ranging from France in the early 19th century to East Germany in the 1960's.

There's also a side story in Fabletown involving Crispin's attempts to make a name for himself in the magical shoe industry by making a deal with elves. This has hilarious consequences when, as expected, the elves maliciously cheat the naive clerk.

It's a well written addition and a worthy one. If for whatever reason Willingham cannot write the book he's got a ready-made replacement in Chris Roberson. It was a great story, very funny at times with plenty of pop culture references and while it also references other Fables books, events and characters it stands well enough on its own for the reader not to have to have read the main book. There's also a well handled relationship between Aladdin and Cinderella.

This is one I'd advise anyone who has read Fables to get and enjoy.

The Fables universe has long been one of my favorite continuing comic stories. The depth and breadth of the characters, the fantastic storylines, and the imagery is absolutely fantastic. And then I heard about this spin off of Cinderella into her own short little series and I was hesitant. It wasn’t Bill Willingham writing it...would it be good? Needless to say my fears were unfounded as Chris Roberson creates a fantastic story for Cinderella, Fabletown’s ultimate spy. The story is well written and the art is fantastic. So hang on for an adventure with a spy.

When artifacts from the Homelands start surfacing in the modern world only one fable can find out what’s going on. Cinderella, Fabletown’s top secret spy and their best dressed agent. But she may not be the only agent on the case. And there are rumors...dark rumors of a powerful magical force lurking about in surprise. So not only does Cindy have to go out and find out what’s going on before Fabletown is exposed, she also has to worry about Crispin and her shoe store! Seems that he thinks he should run things. What’s a girl to do? Kick butt, take no prisoners, and save the world of course.

Just like the regular series I love that the characters are turned on their head a bit. While Bill created the character of Cindy as super spy, Chris’s story has really brought her to life. He gives her a backstory, letting readers see the amount of depth that the character really has. The story itself is well told super spy story, ala James Bondish...except I think Cindy is a much better spy than James Bond. I mean after all who would expect a simple shoe store owner to be able to kick that much butt? I’m sure Bill signed off on what Chris was planning (Bill does have to keep writing the Fables universe after all), but Chris adds some really nice twists and turns in this story making use of some classic Fables misconceptions. I also really like the addition of (minor spoiler) Aladdin as a foil for Cindy to play off of. The one downside to the story...the Crispin aspect. I’d have prefered to see that as a separate story almost than one mixed in with what Cindy is up to. It just interrupts the flow of the rest of the story a bit.

The artwork is classic Fables capturing the characters in all of the style and elegance they deserve. Shawn draws a number of action sequences in this collection, with Cindy kicking butt seemingly every other page and the details that he gives to the characters are absolutely perfect. Hair flying in the breeze, skirts/dresses billowing out, and I can believe that the characters are really fighting. I also really enjoyed the depiction of Aladdin’s all powerful genie. Its only one panel, but its a fantastic image. The one weak point of the artwork, for me at least, are the depictions of the animal characters. They just appear too cartoony next to the human characters, the Marquis De Carabas in particular. It’s just a bit jarring. Luckily they don’t show up that much in the collection. I also want to make mention of Chrissie Zullo’s covers for the series. I love her art style that captures Cindy as almost vulnerable, but an edge of hardness. She really plays up the James Bond aspect of Cindy.

I really enjoyed this collection and it’s a great addition to the Fables Universe and I can’t wait to see what the next volume is like. I recommend this collection to and fan of Fables and if you haven’t read Fables yet (why the heck not?) this is pretty good introduction to the series. ( )

Cinderella, one of the more delightful side characters from Fables sets out on a mission to find who is selling magical artifacts and why. Cindy appears like a socialite only interested in fashion, but secretly she's one of Fabletown's most effective spies. The book is a James Bond -like caper story, even down to it's name. I really like Cindy and like learning a bit more about the character and her past. I wouldn't mind reading further adventures with her. ( )

From those zany guys (or, well, mainly the mind of Bill Willingham) comes another off-shoot of the Fables Universe. This time it is Cinderella’s (aka Super Spy, fashionista, and shoe-whore [I mean that in the nicest way]) – time to shine. Cinderella is like a mythical, magical, beautiful, feminine James Bond and this graphic novel is a great addition to the Fables canon. I really enjoyed this spin-off! It’s a fast-paced, rollicking good-time of a story of espionage and lots of adventure – the kind of thing you expect from Fables. The combination of Cinderella and Aladdin was inspired. The art was as gorgeous as you would expect and I LOVED Chrissie Zullo’s cover. I can’t wait for more of this spin-off. ( )