Comics : Comic Reviews : DC Comics

Last Updated: Feb 7, 2010 - 8:33:04 AM

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Fables: The Good Prince By Henry Chamberlain Jun 12, 2008 - 20:16:22 PM Publisher(s): DC Comics Writer(s): Bill Willingham Penciller(s): Mark Buckingham Inker(s): Steve Leialoha, Andrew Pepoy, Mark Buckingham, Aaron Alexovich Colourist(s): Lee Loughridge Letterer(s): Todd Klein Cover Artist(s): James Jean ISBN: 781401216863 $18 US 240 pages

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The latest collection of Fables is just out and it is a great place to start if you're new to the series. Maybe you were impressed with the cover art by James Jean and have taken a look inside the comic but stopped short of following the series. It is a very well crafted book with a fine premise: all the characters from fables and legends find themselves in contemporary Manhattan. Great, but does it deliver? Yes, it does. This is the thing about Fables, it is as good as you think it might be.

How many times have you been disappointed by the hype for a comic, a movie, a band, whatever? Well, Fables keeps its promises.

In this tenth collection of the series, Fables: The Good Prince, we are immediately pulled into a world of characters with their own quirks and limitations. Most important to the story is the seemingly least important player, Fly, the janitor. It is his destiny to find a way to undercut the Empire's strength before it can overtake all of Fabletown. How he attempts this and what results is the story.

It is beautiful art, led by Mark Buckingham, that draws you in and it is the solid story telling of Bill Willingham that keeps you turning pages. The writing and the art work so well together and produce such wonderful moments as when the flying monkey, Bufkin, destroys the Forsworn Knight's suit of armor that had been hanging from a noose for centuries. The little blue monkey finally flies into a rage after repeatedly being tormented by cryptic warnings coming from the rusty relic, "It's nearly time!" The scene is at once comical as well as captures the frenzy quite handily.

 

Bufkin struggles with a mystery.

Knights and horses ready for battle, all manner of animals, a business office for the Fabletown administration that looks like the basement of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, all of it and more is elegantly rendered. All is working like clock work. The characters, earnest sorts doing earnest things, are given their due. Everything is depicted along the lines that make sense in a fanciful world. Respect the source material, such as the original Red Riding Hood, and you're on the right track. Fables does this and taps into what's always been interesting about these characters from the start. Just as Fly emerges to be the Frog Prince and then king by respecting the rules and becomes entitled to borrow a little magic when he needs it, so Fables knows to follow the rules and gets to make some magic of its own.    

Rating: 10/10


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