Prelim Review: I remember how excited I was for this series back when it first premiered. It was during the waning time of my comic book obsession, when I was trying NOT to spend $70 a week, but I knew I had to read this. And I was rewarded with a series that to this day (117 issues and counting) that I enjoy, love and very rarely dislike.

This Deluxe volume covers the First Arc (Rose Red's 'Murder') and the Second Arc (The Farm's revolution). I don't remember the Revolution so much--I may have skipped it actually since I don't like Rose Red that much, but in hindsight...it was disturbing, but rather revealing about later events.

This came out long before the fairy tale shows--Once Upon a Time and Grimm--and I think sets a good standard of what to look for. Willingham doesn't just give us the notables, he gives us all the fairy tale folks who people forgot. Gave them real world concerns (if somewhat skewed) and gave us a taste of what happens 'Ever After'.

Full review to be posted at Poisoned Rationality ( )

What a delightful romp! The artwork is lovely and the concept charming; solid plot and pacing with enough self-referential humour to satisfy my current fickle mood. ( )

***Re-Read for the Magical Readathon year 2020 on april 4th 2020
OWL Care of Magical Creatures - Hippogrief: creature with a beak on the cover

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Fables, The Deluxe Edition Book 1 (2009) by Bill Willingham, etc. This is a collection of the first series of tales from this Eisner Award winning series. The first is a murder mystery concerning who killed Rose Red and where is her body. The second is a take on Orwell’s Animal Farm. An uprising on the upstate New York farm for non-human characters is happened upon by Snow White,
If you didn’t know, the characters are the population of fairy tales. Their homelands were invaded by The Adversary a long time ago and many, but not all, of the fairy tale characters made it to refuge in our world. Now those who can pass as human live in New York, while the others at the farm.
That is the general idea of the series. Wllingham and company have come up with some cute, modern ideas for these characters, but they have also gave them human vices. If you like your heroes tarnished, well here they are. Of course it would be boring if Goldilocks was nothing but a sweet babe in the woods, Snow White didn’t know any curse words and the Prince stayed charming. Here they have been allowed to age in an ageless fashion as they lived through the centuries with us. These are not the same beings that lived “once up a time, they have become something more and for better or worse, here they are.
The dialog can be a bit clunky but the illustrations more than make up for it. This collection is a very nice introduction to the long running series and is well worth a look. ( )

The first two stories in a long-running, imaginative series by Bill Willingham. Fables is a re-imagining of old fairy tale characters, who are now gathered in their own communities in the real world: in NY City and an upstate farm. The city enclave is run by Snow White, with the Big Bad Wolf as the town Sheriff. There are two stories in the first deluxe volume: in one, the Sheriff investigates a crime scene, the blood-strewn apartment of Snow's sister Rose Red, and in the other, there is a mutiny at the Farm, led by Goldilocks and the three Bears. The art is attractive, and the characters complex and intriguing. 3.5 stars. Looking forward to the next volume. ( )