I’ve been reading a lot of graphic novels lately. They’re great for escapism, which is probably why I’ve been attracted to them. They land somewhere between books and TV because they have that visual component to them- you don’t have to rely entirely on your imagination to construct the story. Not that using your imagination is a bad thing!
I’ve been reading Bill Willingham‘s Fables series ever since a coworker at McNally Robinson suggested them to me many moons ago. (That was Chadwick Ginther, comic aficionado and now a published author of two great works of fiction rooted in Norse Mythology but set in the present. Check him out- http://chadwickginther.com/)
The Fables series began in 2002 and follows a group of fairytale characters that have been driven out of their homelands and are hiding out in New York City and upstate New York. If you’re a fan of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, you’ll like Fables. In fact, when it premiered, there was definitely some criticism that Once Upon a Time is a Fables rip-off. I appreciate them both as different executions of a similar idea. Once Upon a Time is owned by Disney and very Disney-centric. And quite PG. Fables is much more adult, much darker, and not limited to Disney characters. Its source material is older- folklore, mythology and literature. The main characters at the start of the series are Snow White, who divorced Prince Charming because he’s a cheating bastard, Bigby- aka The Big Bad Wolf, who can appear in human form- and Rose Red, Snow White’s sister. Other characters that you might be familiar with- Beauty, the Beast, Pinocchio, Geppetto, Cinderella, the Blue Fairy, Boy Blue and many more. I recommend starting with the first trade paperback Legends in Exile and reading the series straight through. Don’t get put off by the odd tangent the series goes on. It’s worth it to stick with it! I recently finished the 15th trade in the series, Rose Red, and I’m looking forward to starting the next one- Super Team.
Fables has several spin-offs. I haven’t read all of them, but the most recent one caught my eye: Fairest– which gives the female fables a series of their own. The first volume, Wide Awake, tells the story of Briar Rose, aka: Sleeping Beauty. I believe she popped up in the main series, but her character wasn’t delved into a lot. Sleeping Beauty’s handy trick of pricking her finger and putting everyone to sleep has been used as a weapon in the Fables’ war against the Adversary (the being that forced the fables out of their homelands in the first place). This story puts her, the Snow Queen and Ali Baba -the Prince of Thieves- together for an adventure. What might seem like an odd combination actually works out quite well. You don’t have to have read Fables before reading Fairest, although it does provide context for the story.
The second volume, The Hidden Kingdom, is all about Rapunzel. She’s a character we haven’t seen much of at all in the main Fables series, mostly since she’s has to hide more than the other human-looking fables because her hair grows four inches an hour- faster if she’s upset. That’s sure to be a tip-off to the Mundies (Mundane people like us) that something is amiss in Fabletown. I really enjoyed her story, and it introduces us to the Fables of Japan, which is a nice plus. It also seems that Rapunzel gave birth to twins in the past and while the witch who acted as her midwife told her they were stillborn, she is convinced they are still alive. I’m sure that will come up again in the future- at least I hope it will.
The other graphic novel I’m currently reading is completely different- it’s a trade paperback of the greatest stories ever told about Wonder Woman. I’ve always been intrigued by Wonder Woman. She’s got the whole Amazon thing going on, and an invisible plane and a magic lasso. And she kicks butt- what’s not to like? As much as I enjoy the character, I actually hadn’t read any Wonder Woman comics, so I picked up this edition, thinking it would be a good primer. So far, fun! It contains the comic where she was introduced in 1942, and other stories published between the 60’s and 2001. The art is definitely different than what I’m used to with Fables, as it’s got that classic comic book style going on. It is a classic comic book! And reading comics from 1964 through a modern lens is interesting. There’s a juxtaposition between the inherent sexism of that time period and the fact that you have this female superhero who outwits and out-muscles even the biggest, burliest men in order to save the day. I’m enjoying the adventure.
There are some other graphic novels that I quite enjoy- ones that are truly novels- but I’ll save that post for another time.
Do you read comics or graphic novels? What’s your favourite?
The Storied Spine 