Fables: Legends in Exile, Animal Farm, and Storybook Love, by Bill Willingham and company….

Genre: graphic novel series

These are not for kids!!!! There are reasons for that “mature” rating…specifically violence, foul language, and gratuitous comic book sex. What’s funnier than gratuitous comic book sex??

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s get down to it. Fables is a series about traditional fairy tale characters forced out of their homelands and into two new homes. First, there’s a secret society of fairy tale characters living in New York City. There is also another colony of fairy tale characters (those that can’t be passed off as humans) living in upstate New York on a large, magically protected piece of land know as "The Farm." Back in Fabletown (the NYC group) King Cole is the mayor, Snow White is his assistant that does all the work, and Bigby (Big Bad) Wolf is, more or less, the chief of police. Other fairy tale characters that come into the mix on a regular basis: Beauty and The Beast, Prince Charming, Goldilocks, Little Boy Blue, Jack (of beanstalk fame), Pinocchio, Bluebeard, Snow’s sister, Rose Red, and a host of others.

I’m not going to give you a run-down of the ins and outs of plot in each book, but simply a very short blurb and how they stack up over all.

Fables: Legends in Exile – Fan-freakin-tastic!! The first book is the best book, in my opinion. Rose Red is assumed dead, lots of suspects, and Snow and Bigby have to figure out who did it.

The illustrations turned me off at first glance. They seemed too typical…too cheesily “comic bookish.” Luckily, as I read along I became engrossed in the story and the illustrations. These are such traditional characters, that they could easily be cheesed, but the rich color in the illustrations helps bring them to life, and Willingham has done a great job giving them distinct, interesting personalities through dialogue.

I found the first book very interesting and suspenseful. I’m not much of a mystery reader or lover, so others might’ve guessed the outcome sooner, but I was blissfully unaware.

Fables: Animal Farm – I expected this one to be my least favorite. I wasn’t jiving with the whole idea of having the comic made up mostly of animals, but it turned out to be pretty darn good. The animals on The Farm decide to revolt. They want their homelands back and start to engineer weapons, etc. Snow is center stage again as she tries to fight her way out of the clutches of the animals-gone-wrong with the help of some oh-so-fabulous rescuers. This one was non-stop action from the beginning; it's definitely one of the most exciting.

Fables: Storybook Love – Love is in the air in Fabletown! I won’t say who…. although you can probably guess from the cover. This was the longest of the three, which I enjoyed, but still not quite as enticing as #1. Mystery, love, scandal, you name it. I loved the interplay between many of the characters in this book. We get to know much more about Prince Charming, Snow, Bigby Wolf, and Goldilocks.

Special features: Each book has some special feature included. In #1 it’s a story from Bill Willingham called “A Wolf in the Fold.” This was the least appealing special feature, in my opinion.

#2: Original sketches for the individual comics as they were released in single format, and the original sketch for the cover of the graphic novel. These were beautifully presented in a large format…lots of detail.

#3: An extra story called “BarleyCorn Brides” told in comic strip format. My only hang-up with this one…and it’s a big hang-up…the illustrations were done by a different person, so it didn’t match the rest of the novel. DROVE ME CRAZY!!! But fun all the same.

In conclusion, there aren’t any huge, philosophical messages here, just ordered chaos.

Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers will be released on October 27, 2004. Look for it!