Book / Week 33 - FABLES Vol 1
Legends in Exile. 2024/11/15
Fables Vol 1: Legends in Exile
Writer: Bill Willingham
Penciler: Lan Medina
Inkers: Steve Leialoha and Craig Hamilton
Colourist: Sherilyn van Valkenburgh
Letterer: Todd Klein
A quick turnaround for this one as I’m going to see how many of these posts I can get out before the end of the year. Or at least before the crazy holidays start. If I had strictly stuck to my 52 books a year schedule, calendar-wise I should be around week/book 45, but because I’m lazy, and have other competing hobbies, I’m only at 33, and next year presumably starts the count over again? Who makes the rules for these things? Anyways, we shall see what number I can reach by year-end. I don’t have any drawing to distract me after all.
This week’s pick is Fables which is a long-running series I’ve been slowly collecting for quite some time, but never actually committed to reading. I’d previously read volume 1 and 2 and have collected up to volume 11: War and Pieces. I’ve also read Batman vs Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham. And I have The Black Forest 12-part new story that started releasing in 2022, that picks up after
volume 22 ended. This new story started to release just in time for the 20th anniversary of the initial launch, back in 2002.
All that said, I figured I’d restart, since I didn’t get very far in my first go-around. Starting with volume 1: Legends in Exile. And then, continuing next year in 2025, as part of this column, I will do a shorter version recap of each volume going forward. Once a month. On top of the planned weekly books, until I fully wrap the series. Hopefully this doesn’t have me flying too close to the sun.
Synopsis
When a savage creature known only as the Adversary conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairy tales, all the infamous inhabitants of folklore were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of modern-day New York, these magical characters have created their own peaceful and secret society within an exclusive luxury apartment building called Fabletown. But when Snow White's party-girl sister, Rose Red, is apparently murdered, it is up to Fabletown's sheriff, a reformed and pardoned Big Bad Wolf, to determine if the killer is Bluebeard, Rose's ex-lover and notorious wife killer, or Jack, her current live-in boyfriend and former beanstalk-climber.
Story
The overarching story of the first volume is a murder mystery. Jack (from Jack and the Bean Stalk fame) rushes to Bigby (the big bad wolf from the Three Little Pigs, and Red Riding Hood? I Think? Are they the same wolf?). Jack informs Bigby that Rose Red, Jack’s girlfriend, is missing and there’s blood all over her apartment. The two of them proceed to inform Snow White, that then kicks of the story for the rest of the volume.
Ok, so a few initial notes here. This iteration of the folklore fables has them all living in modern-day New York in a large magical apartment building they’ve called Fabletown. The story goes… that “The Adversary” went to war with the fable land creatures and conquered their land, and now the survivors are all exiled. Human-looking fables get to live in the city, and animal / magical creatures live upstate on The Farm (think the Three Little Pigs).
Snow White is the Director of Operations of Fabletown, and Bigby Wolf is Head of Security. Rose Red, presumably dead, is Snow White’s sister. We are also introduced to Prince Charming, who is now Snow White’s ex, and Bluebeard. Bigby kicks off his murder investigation by arresting the number one suspect, Jack (it’s always the boyfriend/husband, right?"), and then continues by interviewing other known parties that might have been involved, including Bluebeard who was Rose Red’s ex, and who has a history of murdering his wives. Red flag, there.
One item that gets brought up during this initial volume is the Great Amnesty. After the exile of all the fables, to have a clean slate start-over in their new lives in New York, all past crimes, actions, character flaws, were forgiven in the great amnesty. They didn’t forget things happened, but they are not supposed to talk about it, as it was in the past. Like Bigby’s run-in with the pigs, or Snow White’s history with the dwarves.
Concluding in the final issue, Bigby gets his big parlor room scene, where he gets to reveal who did what, how they did it, and how he found out.
Between the pages
In my collection of Bill Willingham, I only have Fables, and Batman vs. Bigby, but that in of itself it quite a lot of work. This is also the only work I have by Lan Medina, and this first arc was the only work that Lan did in this long-running series. I say only, but he won an Eisner for it.
As I mentioned earlier, this series has been going for twenty years now, and has been collected in 22 trade paperbacks, 15 deluxe hardcover editions, and 4 compendiums. There is also a 20-year anniversary box set. There have also been quite a few mini-series spin-offs, including a Batman tie-in: Batman Vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham, and a video game.
At the end of 2023, midway through releasing the new 12-part story, The Black Forest, Bill Willingham appears to have had somewhat of a falling out with DC Comics over the publishing and media rights for Fables, and announced that he was putting his Fables series into the public domain. DC quickly replied saying that they are the full owners of the Fables IP and will protect their IP. Interesting to see where this will lead, if anywhere. The 12-part series did finish releasing, but there’s been no mention of any follow up.
Thought bubbles
I really like the premise of this series Of following and learning about these fables and fairy tale creatures after their initial fairy tale has ended.
One thing that initially caught me off guard when re-reading this book is the mature themes. Not just the murder, but also the relationships and sex. Prince Charming, when introduced, is “charming” in a way that he can basically convince anyone to sleep with him. No wonder Snow White left him.
There is also a fun scene between Beast and Beauty who have been married now for a thousand years and had to leave their lands and riches when exiled. When Beauty is unhappy, Beast starts to revert from his human form to his beast form, and there’s a funny conversation between Beast and Snow White, where his big teeth have started to come in, but his mouth is too small, so he can’t talk correctly.
The art in the first volume is really well done, but it’s obvious that the style and level of detail would not be sustainable over a long running series. Mark Buckingham takes over after this first arc, and his style is very similar to Lan Medina’s, but the level of detail is scaled back slightly. The inker, Steve Leialoha also stays on board for the majority of the series. This is also similar to other long running series I’ve collected, like Invincible and The Walking Dead, where the first arc releases with one artist to help with the initial sales and getting the book off the ground, but then deadlines play a larger role when you want a monthly book for the rest of the series, and some sacrifices have to be made. You have all the time in the world to release the first arc. Image is a little bit more lenient as a publisher, as it is creator driven, so books like Saga can get away with breaks in-between arcs.
Lastly, one thing I really appreciate about this first volume is that it feels like a complete story in of itself, but with lots of world building to continue the overarching story of the exiles and the adversary. I can’t really speak to the rest of the series, but I hope this is the case for the next books. Where the next chapters focus on a select group of characters and continue the world building.
I am re-energized and look forward to continuing this series monthly starting next year. I’ll have to ask my LCS if volumes 12-22 are out of print or can still be ordered – I’d prefer to keep the format the same across the whole series (trade paperback) and not switch to compendiums or digital. But I got a while yet before that’s a concern…
Next read:
Book 34: SNOWFALL (Joe Harris, Martin Morazza, and Kelly Fitzpatrick)
Previous read:
Book 32: Watchmen
Book 31: Bear Pirate Viking Queen
Book 30: Far Sector
Book 29: The Roman Stars Vol 1
Book 28: Fatale