Review – Fables Vol.1: Legends in Exile By Bill Willingham

This is my first review for the Telling Tales Reading Challenge 2012 and The Graphic Novel Challenge 2012.

Bill Willingham’s First graphic novel of the Fables series is absolutely brilliant. Based in a fictional place known as Fable Town within New York City many of the much loved characters of beloved fairytales live seemingly normal lives. Or at least they attempt to live as normal lives as are possible given their pasts and abnormal characteristics. The investigation of Rose Red’s murder headed by Bigby, more commonly known as the big bad wolf takes us in to the live of many of the best known fairytale characters showing an inspirational world where fairytales and reality live quite comfortably in unison. In Willingham’s world fairy tales really do come true, in the most literal sense, and we see the undesirable consequences of many of them. We see our fairytale stars manipulated and equipped with adequate human dilemmas so that they fit semi-seamlessly in to modern society. Beauty and the Beast need marriage counselling, Prince Charming is a broke and failing con-man and snow white, little miss ‘fairest of them all’ is 2^nd in command under the lovable mayor king Cole. This graphic novel is genius, fantasy set in reality, with a gory subject matter like the true stories that hide behind the happy clappy Disney films that have stolen their lime light. I really enjoyed reading this and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.