Willingham, Bill: Fables: Deluxe Edition: Book Four
Fables: Deluxe Edition: Book 4 (2012)
Written by: Bill Willingham
Illustrated by: Various
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 296 pages
Why I Read It: Finally caught on on Fables. Not with the series itself, mind you, but with the hardcovers that have been released to date. Which is a refreshing thing, though I wish the hardcovers would come out faster, so that I wouldn't be SO FAR BEHIND in this series. Oh well, I guess I'll find other methods to satisfy my craving for modern-day fairy tales. But first, a review of deluxe edition #4, which is an odd little collection…
The premise: ganked form BN.com: Bill Willingham's hit series FABLES continues here, as issues #28-33 are collected for the first time in hardcover, along with the original graphic novel FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. As stated above, this collection binds issues #28-33 along with the graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall, so if you aren't caught up to that, skip to "My Rating." Everyone else, onward!
The Story: This volume is divided up into three pretty distinct sections, so I'll just go and break it down here into the same sections:
War Stories: this two-issue arc was pretty fascinating, showing a little bit of what Bigby was up to when he fought in the second World War. We'd gotten a tidbit previously, simply by learning he fought, but this sheds a little more life and adds a bit of a twist in the introduction of the Frankenstein monster, which was pretty cool. My husband said that when that was revealed, he nearly dropped the book to do a giddy clap, because Frankenstein is his favorite book ever. The introduction of the monster also introduces an interesting question: just how wide is the world of Fables? I'm getting the impression that anything that's fairy or folk tale, anything with an expired copyright law and whose characters are therefore considered fair use, is up for availability in this world that Willingham is crafting. It also raises the question once more of the Adversary: if the playing field is so large, it makes guessing the identity of that Adversary that much more difficult. My hubby wonders if, perhaps, the Adversary is the Wizard of Oz. He also had another theory, but I'm blanking on the other one. At any rate, I don't have a concrete theory. I have little guesses (I'm waiting to see how my guess of Geppetto plays out, but now that we've expanded into horror characters, is it too easy of answer to think it might be Dracula himself?), but nothing I'm married to, nothing I'll fight to prove. I don't know if the Adversary has been revealed yet in the current numbering, and since I'm so far behind, I'll just have to wait and see.
Anyway. The story itself was good, though sometimes the art meant I was confusing some characters for another, which made me misinterpret certain events. I also wish the Frankenstein monster itself had been a bigger part of the story, but I liked the end, where he was a head in Fabletown, that he and Bigby seemed to be good buddies. The story did make me wonder though: would the Nazi's plan to infect soldier's with Bigby's blood have worked? I know he's not a true werewolf, so probably not, but I did wonder what, if anything, would actually happen.
The Mean Seasons: These four issues take place over the course of a year. We start with summer, with the birth of Snow's litter, and we end with Spring, when Snow discovers she had a seventh child, a child that's harmful to others and needs to be banished. As a rule, I rather like things that are divided up by seasons. It can be as circular as it is linear, and that really appeals to me (see Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet or the 2003 film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring), but this set of issues felt really lacking. For example, I get why Snow moved to the Farm. But the breaking up of her and Bigby felt abrupt and unearned. It hurt, because I've spent so many volumes rooting for them to stay together, and I wish we'd gotten to spend more time with them as they argued and debated the best things for themselves and the children. As it stands, I don't believe this is the end of Snow and Bigby, but it made me sad.
I loved meeting Bigby's father though, and Blue's sudden departure of Fabletown to go back to the Homelands was surprising as it was inevitable. It was also fascinating to see Charming, Beauty, and Beast in Cole's, Snow's, and Bigby's roles. I'm not sure how I feel about that particular plot development, but I'm rolling with it. People and situations in stories have to evolve in a series, so we'll see how all of this plays out.
Last but not least…
1001 Nights of Snowfall: Fact: I've not read The Arabian Nights, nor am I very familiar with any of that kind of folklore, short of what's been Disney-fied. So I don't know how clever or lame this spin was, but I have heard of that particular story, the Sultan who wed a different woman every night, bedded her, and then executed her the next morning. I really, really liked the structure of this too: it reminded me a lot of A Flight of Angels (perhaps Guay was inspired by this?) in which you have a frame story and several little tales within. And there's so many fantastic little tales in this.
"Fencing Lessons" was a rather disturbing and compelling title. The idea that perhaps Snow, driven by revenge, was at core responsible for her marriage's breakdown? Thought-provoking. The origin of Bigby? Wonderful, with ridiculously adorable art. The Frog-Prince story was short and sweet and tragic, and did I mention how much I loved Bigby's origins? SO MUCH! He's so cute as a little puppy! "Diaspora, Including: The Witch's Tale" was really great, and King Cole's story was really compelling. He kept expecting him to go corrupt, but he never did, and the actions he did take that were frowned upon weren't made due to greed, which makes him getting voted out of office all the more tragic.
Really, this collection of snapshots into the world-building do wonders to expand the history of the world and these characters. More than enjoyable!
The Art: Nothing much to comment here: the art in War Seasons, as I mentioned before, sometimes led to confusion about who was who. I loved how in 1001 Nights of Snowfall, there was a different artist for each story (interesting that in "Fencing Lessons," Snow White has a more Asian look), which again reminded me of Guay's A Flight of Angels. Overall, I was pretty happy here, though Billingham still hasn't won me over for his sections.
My Rating: Good Read
It's probably the most choppy of the volumes, but it's still utterly fascinating. I wish Mean Seasons had been fleshed out more, but all the bits of history we get in 1001 Night of Snowfall more than made up for it. I'm ready and willing to continue reading, partially because the comic series itself over 100 issues long and I can't help but wonder how all the stories develop. Looking forward to Deluxe Edition #5 in June, but I'll let my hubby read it first, so he won't get grumpy. At any rate, reading Fables has sparked a renew interest in fairy tale stories, so guess who's downloading episodes of Once Upon a Time to watch? Yep, you guessed it, that's me! The good news is that I'll get to compare fully, and that will be fun. At any rate, fans of fairy tales really need to start reading this comic book series if they aren't already. Read in order, be it the hardcovers like me or the trade paperbacks (which are farther along, the bastards), but seriously, get started. There's rich, wonderful stuff in these pages, and I look forward to continuing the series.
Cover Commentary: I love this one. It's so moody and atmospheric, and there's something inherently sad about Snow White on this cover, which makes all the sense in the world once you read this book. Also, Bigby! Yay, Bigby!
Next Up: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld