Shawn McManus

Summary: Ali Baba, the Prince of Thieves, is looting a war-ravaged city of the fallen Empire when he runs across a magic bottle. In it is not the genie that he'd hoped for, but instead a bottle imp who cannot grant wishes, but does have a special skill at knowing things. He leads Ali Baba to a goblin camp, wherein lies a powerful weapon: a sleeping princess who can only be awakened by a kiss. But once Ali Baba sneaks into the encampment, he finds not one but two sleeping women: Briar Rose, show more and the Snow Queen. He wakes the princess, but almost as soon as they escape from the goblins, they find themselves in the clutches of the also-freshly-awakened Snow Queen... the same Snow Queen responsible for centuries' worth of terrible deeds at the right hand of the Emperor himself.

This volume also includes a one-off noir detective piece in which Beast is out in the Mundy world, tracking a femme fatale who's a bit more fatale than the typical variety.

Review: The various spin-offs of the main Fables story arc have had varying degrees of success (at least, if we measure success in terms of how much I liked them), with Peter and Max among the best, and the recent Werewolves of the Heartland not really working for me at all. But I think one of the best things about the Fables universe in general is that it offers such seemingly endless possibilities for storytelling; that the universe is fertile and rich enough to provide material for the spin-offs in the first place. I'm not entirely sure how this volume overlaps with the main series - we've of course met Briar Rose and the Snow Queen before, but it's been long enough since I read the main arc that I don't entirely remember how they wound up in the goblin camp. (Or whether or not we even know how they got there, to tell the truth.) But the good news is, this story stands on its own quite well, and manages to present both a solid re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty origin story, as well as an interesting "modern-day" story in which the Fables from different stories overlap and interact. Plus, there's just as much action and humor and true love (or maybe just true love's kiss, which is a whole different matter) as you could wish, plus a Firefly joke or two thrown in for good measure.

I also absolutely loved the artwork in this volume. There's some creative panelling and great use of color, and the action sequences and battle scenes in particular are very creatively drawn. But most of all, I absolutely love the issue covers. I would hang a framed print of the picture with Sleeping Beauty and the spinning wheel in my house without a second's hesitation. Just beautiful. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: This volume is perfectly understandable without being up-to-date on the main Fables series, although fans of one are obviously going to enjoy the other, and fans of fairy tales in any form should certainly be reading these books. show less

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 show more 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. show less

What elevates this volume for me is its elegant reshaping of the Persephone myth within the Swamp Thing arc. Abby’s descent to Hell during Arcane’s supernatural winter, and her ascension to Earth during natural spring, are clear parallels. Moore folds the ancient myth into a modern mythology in which Earth itself, through its elemental agent, wards off death, retrieves life from Hades, and renews itself in the consummation of spring. At its heart, this volume is a parable of panentheism, show more in which the new Eve eats of the new Adam’s fruit in a final rite that unveils Moore’s knowledge of good and evil: that the cosmos is all divine and all one. Life and death, love and hatred, God herself/himself, all are reversible patterns of the single deified reality that renews itself in an eternal cycle of horror and grace. Sure, we slogged through some purple prose and grotesque imagery to get here, but I can appreciate the artistry of cramming all this into a DC comic premised on a man turning into a plant. show less

Okay, so I was kind of right... Crane was behind some of the drama that began in the last book, but it goes so much deeper than that. The mastermind behind it all is the Crooked Man (an interesting character if I ever saw one), but the real problem isn't just his criminal empire which ranges from prostitution to loansharking to murder. The real problem is Fabletown itself; no society functions entirely without rules and safeguards, and an integral part of most functional modern-day societies show more is a social security net that distributes wealth so that everyone has a reasonable quality of life (even if it doesn't work entirely, obviously). This kind of concept is entirely foreign to the residents of Fabletown, who largely come from very classist systems (often feudal, sometimes even more hierarchical) where the rich have little to no formal responsibility to care for the poor. The central theme of the book is obviously much more than a 2 volume series can handle (much less a video game), but I think it serves its purpose to get readers thinking about some of the political goings on in the Fables community. Willingham did not create a fairytale series that was all peaches and cream, afterall, so the writers' focus puts this series squarely in line with the original themes - bravo! show less