Monday, January 13, 2014

Fairest, Volume 1: Wide Awake

From the pages of Fables, one of my all-time favorite non-superhero comics, and the mind of Bill Willingham, comes Fairest. Where Fables is about a group of exiled characters from Fairytaleland (men, women, animals, and animated and enchanted objects) who try to survive in the real world, this series focuses primarily on the women and their many loves.
  The volume has two tales. The first has Sleeping Beauty being rescued by true love’s kiss. But when her prince ends up having eyes for another, it seems that true love can awaken Sleeping Beauty, it just doesn’t mean that that devotion is directed towards her.
The second tale is a noir themed piece that has Beast (from Beauty and the Beast) on the trail of an ancient evil that makes the rounds in 5-inch heels. Can he stop her before she kills again?
I like both stories very much. The Sleeping Beauty tale has Ali Baba and a certain blue imp that’s confined to a shiny bottle  tied in with it. It definitely takes many liberties with the stories of Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin. That’s totally forgivable as it makes for an exciting story that is very familiar but since it doesn’t quite follow the stories we’ve heard since the cradle, there’s room for plenty of surprises.
But, I like the Beast tale the best. The art reminds me of Batman: The Animated Series and it’s classic and clean. The story is straight from Sam Spade and Mickey Spillane. I’m not a huge fan of noir, but I do enjoy those type of tales from time to time. It’s an excellent capper A A very good spin-off. This is no After MASH or Joey! I can’t wait for to read more!
Worth Consuming.
Rating 9 out of 10 stars.

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