Cinderella: Fables are Forever

While this graphic novel is missing the linguistic and storytelling flare of Fables creator Bill Willingham, Roberson and McManus appropriate a style that mimics that of Ian Fleming which is very apropriate to the spy-style action. The narrative is very plot-driven, but they manage to get inside Cinderella's head enough so that the story is more than just the "good spy vs. villain" plot with added Fables characters and magic.

A few details worried me though; weren't Dorothy's slippers red? According to the internet, the slippers were ruby in the film, but silver in the book, which implies that the writers were staying true to the original material, but I'm sure many readers were as confused as I was. The ruby slippers from the film have show more changed the popular view of Dorothy's footwear, and they are arguablly more fitting to her character. Throughout Cinderella's battles with Dorothy, she is working for the Russian set of Fables, who subscribe to the Communist ideals propagated by the Russia where they made their home after escaping the Homelands. If Dorothy's code name was "Redslipper" rather than "Silverslipper" it would be a subtle nod to who her main employers are, but also to her rebellion against the Fabletown charter and to her rather bloody personality... show less

Description: Fabletown's favorite secret agent and bon vivant Cinderella is back on the job again in this follow up limited series to CINDERELLA: FROM FABLETOWN WITH LOVE. Someone is killing sorcerers out on the Farm, and all signs point to Cinderella's archnemesis from the old days. The only problem is, Cinderella has always believed that her nemesis has been dead for years.

Thoughts: I can always count on a well timed graphic novel to pull me out of a reading slump. Maybe it's because they are so short and finished quickly, giving me an instant sense of accomplishment. Or maybe, because they are so short, they just leave me needing to read more. Whatever it is, I certainly appreciate the bump. And normally, Fables are my favorite show more instant gratification.

Especially Cinderella stories. The first spin-off for secret agent Cinderella, From Fabletown with Love, was a whole lot of fun, earning 4 stars from me. It was nice to see one of the female fables get all the spot-light for a little while since the last several Fables books have been more meta and dealing with forces acting against the whole of Fabletown (and a lot of menfolk going to war and whatnot)- ever since Snow White had her kids and Rose Red had that little emotional breakdown, the series hasn't had a lot of time for sexy, kick-ass heroines. So I was super excited that another Cinderella book was coming out.

Unfortunately, this second one wasn't as much fun. The plot was a little... sparse. From the description, I expected this to be a bit more involved, but it was actually pretty straight forward with VERY little exploration. And "Someone is killing sorcerers out on the Farm" is a HUGE false lead: someone kills one sorcerer, a complete throw away character, and it's like 2 whole pages worth of importance. It's just a device to get the story moving and really disappointed me. NOT that I wanted to see a bunch of the 13th Floor killed off, but a bit more involvement would have been nice.

I did like the backstory for Cinderella's nemesis- it definitely gave said nemesis a lot more presence. But the whole nemesis thing felt really weak... like bad cartoon weak. No real explanation, no real battle, just some fights. I don't know, it just didn't excite me the way it should have.

The Cinderella stories are going to be folded into Fairest, which I am still eagerly anticipating, so hopefully her next adventure will be back up to scratch. Sorry, Cindy.

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[b:Cinderella: Fables are Forever|12308801|Cinderella Fables are Forever (Vol. 2)|Chris Roberson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375409516l/12308801._SY75_.jpg|17101486] in a nutshell:



Basically, it's the story of Secret Agent Cinderella and her rivalry with her 'dark' counterpoint: Dorthy of Oz. Because of course.

Man it's a crazy ride. A touch of spy versus spy, a touch of Fables magic, and a touch of girl power all blended up into an outright rediculous (and yet fun) story.

Also:



Spoons. Oz is weird.

That is all.

I enjoy these Fables spinoffs, and i think what they did to Cinderella by making her an awesome spy was a really cool thing to do to their character, but I just can not give this book 5 stars, it was lacking in something that I can not quite name. Not only that, but the twist with the Russian Fool made me go WTF. It definitely was interesting seeing her and Dorothy Gale against one another, and I liked the story here. A good collectible for any Fables fan.

In general, I've liked the premise of the Cinderella books—Cinderella as master spy—but the stories haven't lived up to my hopes. With this one, I just didn't find the antagonist to be all that credible. For all that we're told that "Silver Slipper" is a mercenary, it seems more that she just enjoys killing people. She doesn't come across as all that emotionally stable—in fact, I find her pretty interchangeable with Goldilocks—which seems like it would be a handicap in her chosen profession. Indeed, Cindy keeps beating her when they meet because Cindy can still think and strategize, while her counterpart just loses her temper and reacts. I liked the art, however, and how the plot was able to work in a few more non-Western show more Fables, albeit only in passing. show less

This one was much better than the first volume because Cinderella fights Dorothy Gale from Oz throughout the book! Dorothy is a bad ass in it and it's awesome! I'm disappointed this spin-off series isn't continuing but there are more spinoffs to read. Excellent read!

The Fables universe has long been one of my favorite continuing comic stories and I just finished reviewing one of the spin-offs, Cinderella: From Fabeltown with Love. And now I’m back with the second collection, Fables Are Forever, again featuring super spy Cinderella and playing off aspects of the James Bond universe. Just like the last collection there are some twists and turns that even the most experienced Fables reader won’t be able to imagine (and in some cases I’m not sure they would want too.) But it’s a wild ride and the story is a great addition to the Fables universe. In this miniseries a foe Cindy thought long dead reveals herself to still be alive...and gunning for Cindy.

Cinderella, Fabletown’s master spy, has a show more new mission. One that may prove even too deadly for her. Every spy has one ruthless archnemesis and Cindy is no exception. Her nemesis is a rogue American Fable known as the Silver Slipper. Cindy was sure she was dead...but there's been a murder at the farm and the Slipper's calling card is left behind. Cindy is lead on a journey that even she may not be able to come back from. But she'll follow the clues wherever they may lead, talking to past enemies, and even going back to one of the homeworlds all in her quest to end the reign of the deadly Silver Slipper.

Just like the regular Fable series I love that the characters in this miniseries are turned on their heads and take different paths than what we expect them too, especially the big bad in this series The Silver Slipper. Just like Gepetto from the regular series, the Silver Slipper is a Fable that I'm not sure anyone would ever have pictured taking a walk down the dark side. But wow, is she a fantastic character or what? Chris really gives her depth, dimension, and a great back story to explain where it all went wrong. And I absolutely love Cindy's character she is the perfect females James Bond type super spy. The one thing that I do wonder is that The Silver Slipper is kept in a mysterious holding facility, seemingly built for Fables and I wonder...who runs that facility? Perhaps we’ll find out one day but it’s the one unanswered question that I have from this miniseries. I also wish that the last story in the collected edition wasn’t just a reprint issue from Fables, but instead was something new. Yes it features Cindy, but I would have liked to see sketches or a little short story...something different. But that’s a minor gripe.

The artwork is classic Fables capturing the characters in all of the style and elegance they deserve. Shawn’s action sequences are some of the best that I’ve seen in the Fables universe and I really enjoy seeing his design on popular characters, such as The Silver Slipper. Just as before 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 Cowardly Lion in particular. There are also times where certain characters appearances change drastically from one issue to another such as the Silver Slipper, even though it’s the same artist drawing them. It’s just a bit jarring to see them look so drastically different. Thankfully it doesn’t happen often. Overall I enjoyed Shawn's artwork in this collection.

I really enjoyed this collection and it’s a great addition to the Fables Universe and I can’t wait to see if Chris comes back to the Fables universe (although he did recently announce that he was stepping from the comics industry due to philosophical differences.) I recommend this collection to and fan of Fables and if you haven’t read Fables yet (why the heck not?) go read the regular series and then come and read this spinoff. show less