A Tall Tale?

Fables is a comic book by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham. It’s published by Vertigo Comics, an imprint of DC Comics (the guys who publish Superman). This book was foisted upon me some six years ago by my comic shop’s owner’s wife. For some reason she thought I would be interested in a book that was populated by characters from fairy tales. Turns out I was. I really ought to thank her for that.

The central theme of Fables is that all the fairy tale characters, such as Snow White, Prince Charming, Pinocchio, etc, were real and came from a fantasy realm where the lands were broken up into different kingdoms, each themed around the more popular fairy tales. Thousands of years ago, though, there arose the Adversary who went around and conquered the lands, forcing many of the Fables to escape to the Mundane world (our world) where they have been living for quite some time in New York, in their community called Fabletown.

That is the book in a nutshell. But there’s so much more to it.

The book is populated with fascinating little nuggets and intriguing theories. For example, Prince Charming is the same Prince Charming in the Snow White tale, the Sleeping Beauty story and, of course, Cinderella’s love story. Turns he was quite the womanizing cad. Just can’t help himself, falls in love women at the drop of the hat. He is the original love ‘em and leave ‘em. Snow White and Rose Red? They’re actually sisters. And Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk? He’s the original con man. All the Fables appear to be ageless, or as least aging very slowly, but the more popular they are in the Mundane World, the less susceptible to injuries they will be.

Yes, this is a fantasy book, but it’s no Lord of the Rings. Willingham has flushed out these characters from their original fairy tale origins, not the silly Disneyified versions of them. This is a mature look at these characters. They have their positives, they have their negatives. Pinocchio wished to be a real boy, well he got his wish but he never grew up! He’s been a prepubescent boy for thousands of years, but he talks like a grumpy old man who’s been deprived of all the benefits of being an adult. It’s both sound and amusing.

Willingham’s first storyline was a murder mystery, which, quite frankly, seemed a little mundane (pun intended) for the characters. But after that it seemed like the characters themselves took over the book. This is a book filled with politics, intrigue, romance, and war! This is not a book where peoples stay static for issue after issue. No, this is a book about change.

Snow White hooks up with the The Big Bad Wolf(his name’s Bigby, get it?)! The same Wolf who terrorized the Three Little Pigs and ate Red Riding Hood’s grandma. He’s reformed now and is Chief of Security for Fabletown.

Even the overarching plotline of When Will the Fables Return to the Homelands has been resolved. Naturally, when something like that is finished it usually signals the end of the book, but not here. Apparently, Willingham has plans that could see this book go for another 80 issues. He is not resting on his laurels here.

I should say a word about the art. There are usually three kind of comic readers: There are the one’s who are interested in the writers, the ones who are interested in the artists and the ones who are interested in the characters. I am a writer guy. But Mark Buckingham is one heck of an artist. He was not the original artist when the book launched, but he has certainly made it his own. The success of Fables can be equally attributed to both Willingham and Buckingham. He doesn’t merely draw what is written, he lays out a page like it’s an individual piece of art, separate from the other 22 pages. I’ve never considered owning original art before, but after seeing some his on display, I may change my mind.

ABC has commissioned a pilot based on Fables. It will undoubtedly pale in comparison, but I will be interested in seeing how they adapt it to the small screen and for the general masses.

Jason Krumbine is an writing and posts regularly at www.jasonkrumbine.com.

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