Bill Willingham

Volume two picks up exactly where the last one let off. Rose Red and her accomplice/boyfriend are working off their community service hours for their antics in Vol. One. Red’s sister Snow White is about to make a trip to The Farm, where the non-human fables live, and she decides Red needs to come along for the ride. At the Farm, the sisters quickly realize something is wrong. A revolution is happening and they’ve arrived at the worst possible moments. In the midst of the chaos we meet show more Goldilocks, the three little pigs and a slew of characters from The Jungle Book.

The second volume is less about introductions and more about developing the established relationships, especially between the two estranged sisters. Their history is a complicated one and makes more sense with each new revelation. I particularly love the fact that from these first volumes, the author doesn’t rely on romantic relationships to drive every story. The two strong women at the forefront of the story are interesting enough on their own and the author trusts the reader to appreciate that.

BOTTOM LINE: I’m sold. I think the series is so well done. I love the variety of characters that are featured. It could rely completely on the novelty of such characters in each new volume, but instead it takes the assumptions that we have and tosses them out the window. Each character is given new life in the Fables series and I’m excited to see what happens next. show less

Summary: There is a house that sits between worlds, where folks of all sorts may stop in for a drink. The first drink is on the house, but all others must be paid for, and the coin of the realm is stories. Most patrons come, have some drinks, share their tales, and then return to their lives, but an unlucky few are unable to leave the house's confines unless a mysterious coachmen comes to take them away. When architecture student Bethany "Fig" Keeler is chased by a mysterious duo known as show more the Conception into the house, she's not ready to deal with what she finds within. Not because of the unusual clientele, but because the House has been haunting her dreams for her whole life, and now she's stuck there until she can figure out the reason behind it all.

Review: Metafiction fans, rejoice, because you've got another series to lose yourself in. Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham are the creative team behind the Jack of Fables comics, but House of Mystery is a very, very different beast - apart from the underlying theme of the power of stories, and some similarities in the way the narration vs. dialogue is handled, I would never have put the two together. Perhaps that's because House of Mystery draws much more heavily from the Sandman tradition, both in its tone, its structure, and quite a few of its details. I'm not going to call it a Sandman spinoff, since it's perfectly understandable without having read the former series, but Cain and Abel and the Dreaming do show up (albeit quite briefly), and the House of Mystery is either the same as, or extremely similar to, The House at Worlds' End (it's been long enough since I've read Sandman that I can't say conclusively).

The frame story (which is the bulk of the pages, actually), is certainly intriguing, and I really like the conceit of using guest artists to illustrate the short (usually 4-6 page) stories that are being told by the patrons of the house - it really gives each of them an individual feel and the whole thing a unique flair. The whole thing's pretty dark, with more than a few nightmarish qualities to it, but there are also plenty of interesting character moments, and more than one place that made me laugh out loud. I'm excited to see what the rest of the series will bring. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Fans of the Sandman series and The Unwritten, or possibly of some of the darker elements of Fables, and fans of metafiction with a horror twist, should all check this one out. show less

Red Riding Hood manages to escape from the hands of the Adversary and to Fabletown - the first person to successfully leave the homelands in centuries. But in quick pursuit are a trio of strangely wooden brothers with a penchant for violence. Bigby Wolf smells trouble brewing from a mile away, and the residents of Fabletown batten down the hatches for a battle they fear is coming sooner rather than later.

This book picks up a little bit after Volume 3, with a now very pregnant Snow White show more continuing to oversee the Fabletown government for King Cole, who is being challenged for his mayoral position by Snow's ex-husband, Prince Charming. Author Willingham provides a helpful who's who at the beginning of the book to bring readers up to speed / refresh their memories. As with the other three volumes, I quite enjoyed Willingham's humor, including the play on words, as well as the fun he has with updating and changing fairy tale characters to serve his purposes. Once again, I was happy with the small hints of romance for my Bigby-Snow ship. This book had a lot more action (i.e., fight scenes) than in the previous volumes, and these were surprisingly captivating for me, as someone who doesn't usually enjoy long action sequences. As with the other books in this series, this title sort of stands alone in that the story is fairly self-contained but it definitely harkens back to the previous title and leaves open some storylines that hopefully will be continued in Volume 5. I for one am excited to keep reading this series and see what happens next! show less

Plot Synopsis
New York City has its fair share of unusual people, but none more so than the group of refugees comprising a wide variety of fairy tale characters. Forced from their home by a powerful adversary, they have set up an underground community complete with government, which they call Fabletown. But now one of their own is missing, possibly dead, and the Big Bad Wolf is on the case. He is aided by Fabletown's second in command, and the victim's sister, Snow White.

My Thoughts
Now comes show more the point where I gush like a thirteen year old girl. Except screw Edward/Robert Pattinson, the object of my newfound obsession is Bill Willingham, the creator of the Fables graphic novel series. I don't know what he looks like, how old he is, actually, I can't even positively identify that he is a he. But I don't care. I love him. I love this world he has created. And my checking account is in serious trouble as I plan on running out to buy the other twelve books in the series as soon as possible. And from what I understand, more will be following these first 13 books. Be still my geeking out heart!

Okay, to the meat of the matter. First, how much fun is it to have characters from fairy tales and folklore smushed together in a new story? I adore the use of known characters to create new worlds; the combination of familiarity and mystery excites me. Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Aslan, the three freaking pigs, Prince Charming, Rose Red, Beauty and the Beast, I could keep going here. It's too cool.

Outside of this, however, Fables has a lot to offer even if you have no freaking clue about the origins of the individuals. The plot-line entertains, the relationships interconnect, the personalities are complex, the artwork is intricate, and the world is believable. If I were to focus on everything I loved about this graphic novel, I would need an entire blog dedicated to it, so I'll try to limit my gushing to what you should know before reading.

Foremost, pay attention to the artwork. I know that I sometimes have a problem doing that with graphic novels; I'm so used to reading text that I skim the images and focus on the words. But in Fables, the minutiae of the story are clearly presented in the pictures, some of which are so unbelievably detailed, I could spend a large chunk of time exploring the frame. I adore details like this in a graphic novel as I feel it helps to develop a world the reader can fall into. A gently curling smoke trail, a clear and bright tear drop, a tensing of the neck muscles, these small intricacies add so much. Then there are frames that just have so many intertwining figures and actions that they present an entire story unto themselves. Wonderful.

Final recommendation: I read this in one sitting and already I'm wondering how I can go about hiding 12 new graphic novels in the house. So I'd say it's a definite need-to-read book. show less