Since I went to BICS last month and got a free sketch of Flycatcher by Mark Buckingham, I wanted to find out more about the character and comics he was from and see more of Buckinghams work, so a couple of weeks back I ended up buying the first two trade paperbacks of Fables by Bill Willingham and have to say I was not at all disappointed.
As the title suggests, the comics are about fables (or rather the characters therein) but it’s done in such an interesting and well written way that helps you recognise ‘familiar’ characters and accept them in a new and more grown-up light, in completely different and unusual (or should that be normal?) circumstances and the direction and pace of the storytelling is great. The current story run is centred on the ‘Fabletown’ community who now (and for the last few centuries) live in an area of New York (and also an up state farm for those who are too inhuman not to draw attention).
Whilst looking to buy the third collected instalment though, which was out of stock at the shop I was in, I decided to pick up 1001 Nights of Snowfall and again am really glad I did. It’s a prequel story (or collection of stories) set out of normal continuity that give a new take on the origins of the characters we know (or thought we did) set either before or after the fables remembered from our childhoods, and as well as tying this altogether in the guise of the original 1001 Nights storyline, and packaged in a hardback book that’s set out like, and captures the feel of, the best classic fable style storybooks I remember getting me interested in reading in the first place as a child.
If you like to read the odd comic/graphic novel (or even if you don’t) I recommend getting hold of a copy, just if you have kids don’t get it mixed up with their books by mistake.
