Review author: Mike Murray, owner/operator of MyComicStore.net

Now this is what I’m talking about! Written and created by Bill Willingham, illustrated by Lan Medina, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and Craig Hamilton.

This is everything that I was looking for in Alan Moore’s Lost Girls. Where that was a wholly depressing, awfully wrought, unreadable book this is engaging and interesting. Much like I said when I was reviewing Fairest, this book is fun! It takes fables and fairy tales characters that we all know and gives them further life. Sometimes that life is so frustratingly obvious that it’s something we as readers may have never even considered. Well I’m certainly thinking more about some of that stuff now.

Fables deluxe hardcover volume 1

I’m mostly just enjoying the series and really don’t know why it took me so long to take note of it. The art is good but it’s easy to see, at least to this point, that it’s mostly an untried book. I have to blame the inking in the case of some of the scenes that were rough and just kind of looked ‘blobbed on’. That’s unfortunate as sometimes those images detract from the enjoyment of the book. Fortunately, the story by Willingham is so engrossing that I found myself really feeling for some of the minor characters that were only previously seen in say just a panel or two. I felt compelled right into the story and just really enjoyed it.

This is one of my new favorite books and I eagerly look forward to reading the subsequent volumes. I have a lot to catch up on. I know I’ll enjoy every minute of it as it can only get better from here.