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Fables: The Deluxe Edition, Book One (HC)

Bill Willingham (Author), Lan Medina and Mark Buckingham (Illustrators)

DC Comics/Vertigo (Publisher)

Review by Diana Guild

The recent popularity of adult-oriented fairy tales in movies and TV continues unabated. Before such shows as Grimm and Once Upon a Time, DC’s Vertigo comics explored this genre with great success. Fables is an award-winning monthly comic which began in 2002. Its premise is that fairy-tale characters have lived among us in secret for hundreds of years. These self-named “fables” fled their home dimensions to escape the brutality of the Adversary, who is conquering their worlds one by one. The fables who can pass for human live together in Fabletown, a contained community in mid-Manhattan. Those who cannot pass—animals, giants, etc.—live on “The Farm” in upstate New York. Book One in the Deluxe Edition collects the first ten issues and tells two story arcs: “Legends in Exile” and “Animal Farm.” In the first arc, Snow White and Bigby Wolf attempt to solve the bloody murder of Snow’s sister, Rose Red. In the second, Snow White uncovers a plot by Goldilocks to take over the Farm. Both are filled with a great mix of mystery, humor, and soaring imagination. The volume also introduces an extensive cast of characters who often confound reader expectations, including Prince Charming, Pinocchio, the Three Pigs, and Bluebeard.

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