World Famous Comics: Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love
Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love
By: Bill Willingham Publisher: Vertigo Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vertigo Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 192 Publication Date: May 01, 2004 Release Date: May 01, 2004
Product Description: FABLES: STORYBOOK LOVE is a captivating tale of romance and adventure. After being hunted and hounded by a savage being called the Adversary, the legendary characters of fables and fairytales were forced to relocate to a magical high-rise in Manhattan. Living in peaceful disharmony for centuries, the literary figures have forged a dysfunctional existence of tentative alliances and allegiances. But when Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf begin an improbable romance, Bluebeard enacts a devious plan to destroy his rivals. Now as Goldilocks mercilessly stalks the two lovers in the Cascade Mountains, Prince Charming confronts Bluebeard in a deadly duel within the confines of the Fables' New York condominium.
Even better than the first two! This third volume in the excellent FABLES series is even better than the first two. The primary storyline picks up where Animal Farm left off, with Snow White recovering from her normally life-ending wound and Goldilocks on the run. All seems to be peaceful after the episode at the Farm, until a nosey journalist shows up threatening to reveal what he guesses to be the Fables' colony of vampires. From there, the pace of the story remains very intense, with accomplished and attempted murders, coerced and freely-given sex flings, and high drama throughout. There are also two background stories included in this volume: An explicit tale of Jack's exploits during the Civil War, and A more fairy tale-like story of the beginnings of Smalltown.
All of the stories presented here are very entertaining, making this book a hard one to put down. Only one high profile Fable is introduced here. Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) plays a prominent role in the efforts to silence the misguided reporter, and is sure to have a place in future tales. Prince Charming plays a major role in this one, developing some surprisingly large ambitions that will unfold in upcoming issues. The title of this volume comes primarily from the strange relationship between Bigby and Snow, but could loosely connect with any of the individual stories within. My advice, take this one slowly to make it last. You'll be tempted to read it all in one sitting, but delaying gratification will prolong your experience and heighten your enjoyment. Remember, there are only 13 Fables titles to date, you don't want to rush through them too quickly.
The Fables move on This volume collects issues 11-16 of the monthly comics. The first and last issues each tell self-contained stories tangential to the main Fable world. The central two-thirds of this book moves the general story arc along with the precision of a physics lesson: as the pressures increase within this little community, the situations heat up.
Prince Charming is charming only in name - his womanizing takes a notably non-mythical turn. Goldilocks still dates out of her species (not that I have anything against other species, mind you, but I'm not sure I'd want my sister to marry one). Briar Rose takes a nap. Snow White and Bigby end up on a hot date - neither has memories from it, but one has something else.
The Fable mythos updates many of our childhood fairy tales, in a world of distant warfare and urban exile. If you've followed the story since volume 1 of the collections, you'll know that my plot hints say just about nothing - there's always another twist to the creativity that brings these characters to new life. The artwork doesn't blaze new trails and people looking for BamPow super heroes will find only a little, very little, to cling to. The art team is strong and competent, though, and the scripting creates characters that you really want to like (or to dislike, trust your judgement). Also - I'm not sure this is wholly a good thing - the series grows on you. I'll be back for more, and in proper story order for once in my life.
-- wiredweird
Graphic SF Reader A story focusing on the ramifications of the attack on Snow White by Goldilocks, in the main.
That main arc is bookended by two stand-alone issues, one of Jack Horner and his time from the civil war, and the last is Bigby Wolf recounting a story about little Fables and the quest for barleycorn girls.
The important story involves, Goldilocks, Bluebeard, Prince Charming, who is proving himself a bit of a spymaster, and a plot to have Bigby and Snow killed.
Quite good again, as Fables continues to be well done, particularly as the whole fair tale character thing is not something I am disposed to like in the main, but this urban transportation of these characters is good stuff.
For Big Bad Wolf fans, there is some gold awaiting.
Another marvelous entry into a wonderful series I worried a bit over the rating to give this volume in Bill Willingham's FABLES series. If judged by other volumes in the series, it would probably merit a 4 star rating. But judged by the vast majority of comics and graphic novels, it easily deserves 5 stars. So, 5 stars it is.
As other reviewers have noted, this collects four separate stories of unequal length. The longest by far gives the title to the book, "Storybook Love." This is a fun story entirely on its own merits, but it also sets up major changes in the books to come.
I can certainly recommend this book in the series, but I especially recommend the series as a whole. And it isn't just fun. I have read Grimms' Fairy Tales and much of Calvino's ITALIAN FOLKTALES, but I frequently find myself scurrying off to find out who this or that character in the story is. Definitely one of the finest comics series around.
Another Great Work by Willingham The Fables story continues in this volume and it is a great read. The art continues to look great. This is the collection of issues #11-18.
In this volume Bluebeard has finally came up with a plan to rid himself of Bigby and Snow White involving Goldilocks, from Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm , the two and up making it out much to Bluebeard's dismay and the volume ends with a nice twist. Very good volume from a great series.
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