You have to feel sorry for Sleeping Beauty – you stick
yourself with a needle, and then you fall asleep (and anyone within a radius of
you) until you are awakened by the Kiss of True Love. The first arc of
“Fairest” tells the backstory of Briar Rose, and how Ali Baba and his blue imp
sidekick kissed her back to her life.
And he kissed the Snow Queen back to life
at the same time.
What could go wrong with that plan?
Willingham and Stuges tell a compelling story, with rich and
compelling characters. The dialog is terrific, such as when the Snow Queen
feels she is being talked into something unwise by Ali Baba. “I know you’re a
rogue and a thief and a rake. I can live with that. But please don’t turn out
to be an a-hole.”
Focusing on the female characters in the Fables-verse is an
interesting new direction to take the franchise. There are some of the
strongest characters in the story, and outside of the war story that dominated
Fable for 75 issues, this title gives them an opportunity to shine on their
own.
The collection also includes the one-off issue #7, told as a
noir-ish detective story. As dark as the art style was, the story itself was
darker. It was an emotional tale featuring Beauty, Beast, & the Bag Bad
Wolf. It was the kind of single-issue stories that more comics need to use.
The Adam Hughes covers, both for the individual issues and
the collection, are a real treat. He is one of the most skilled comics artists
around, in terms of presenting beautiful women who could exist in the “real
world.”
Source: public library
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