Vertigo

It's been a good few weeks to be a fan of Bill Willingham's storybook send-up Fables. Not only did the series finally get the Deluxe Edition treatment (well, the first ten issues did anyway), but Willingham and frequent series contributor Steve Leialoha put together the first-ever prose novel based in the Fables universe. In so doing, Fables joins a pretty short list of DC properties to be brought to prose without first getting a movie or TV deal.

The story of Fables revolves around a group of mystical, mythical characters living in a small, hidden block on New York's Upper West Side. The Fables' name is very descriptive of what they are—they're characters from old fables, bedtime stories and fairy tales, immortal and living in exile from their homeworlds, which were conquered by a vicious dictator known as The Adversary. By now, regular readers of the monthlies will know that The Adversary is—well, nevermind. I won't spoil it here. At any rate, the identity has been revealed and the Fables of Fabletown and numerous other earthly encampments have already undertaken to combat The Adversary. But for the purposes of the two books reviewed here, that identity remains shrouded in mystery, the battles unfought and, frankly, even some of the relationships that have driven the series for fifty issues largely undealt-with.

Read the full article about PETER AND MAX: A FABLES NOVEL and FABLES DELUXE EDITION VOL. 1!