Book #33
Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham
In the Fables' world,
there isn't a lot of happily-ever-after to go around. As refugees from
the lands of make-believe, the Fables have been driven from their
storybook realms and forced to blend in with out gritty, mundane
reality. But that doesn't mean they don't have any room for
romance—or the pain, betrayal and jealous rage that goes along with it. In
fact, love may be blooming between two of the most hard-bitten,
no-nonsense Fables around. But are they destined for happiness— or a
quick and untimely death?
This may
be my favourite Fables chapter yet. It was thicker and more colourful
than its predecessors, and definitely kept me a bit more engaged. There were a
good few sub-stories going on throughout this one, and I really enjoyed them.
Jack besting Satan in a poker game, the men of Lilliput all trying to chat up
Thumbelina, Sleeping Beauty still dropping into a deep slumber as soon as her
finger is pricked on anything at all, and Goldilocks being a gun-toting
feminist were all just little yarns that made the plot so much more exciting
than the previous volumes. This is what I was looking for: insight into the
fairy-tale lives of the Fables, not how they behave as humans, which is all I
have been subjected to so far.
All of
the small twists in the plot contributed a bit more to character background,
which was something I was clamouring after in the previous volumes. We find out
more about what drives the characters, what makes them tick, and why they
behave in the ways they do. I particularly enjoyed the Wolf's story behind his
love for Snow White. Very romantic, if a bit bizarre.
The first
two installments hinted heavily at the Fables going back to the Homelands to
fight and reclaim them as their own. This volume made no mention of this at
all, which was disappointing, as surely this is the ultimate aim of the series?
It is definitely something I would like to see, so the romantic focus of this
one was slightly baffling.
I do feel
Willingham points out the obvious quite frequently. He doesn't seem to trust
his reader to understand what he's getting at, so instead gives his characters
some awfully pointed dialogue to ensure we know exactly who is untrustworthy,
clever, or strange. We aren't allowed to work it out on our own without a
glaringly obvious conversation being thrown in our faces. It's almost
humiliating, but as the book doesn't take too much time to get through, it
doesn't matter a great deal.
Once
again I am judging on plot and character devices, rather than the illustrations
themselves. I have already explained in my reviews of volume one
and two that I
am a total comic book novice, and a dunce when it comes to illustration.
Fables now
seems to me like a fun story; something to escape with and not take too
seriously. It isn't really much more than that; although I really enjoy
whizzing through the colourful pages, it will never be something that engages
my mind to an epic degree, but I would be more than happy to have a look at the
next episode.