Fairest: In All The Land

  

 Someone is killing the beauties of Fabletown! Working on a list of potential victims from the seer Woman of the Ford, super-spy Cinderella must become a gumshoe (as Bigby is still missing and Beast is forced into exile on the farm due to his unpredictable changes back into a monster.) Reluctantly, Cindy accepts the mission and along with Hadeon the witch turned magic car and several animals from the farm, the princess is tasked to find the murderer within 7 days or those slain can never be returned to life. 

   Meanwhile, in the missing Mayor's office of Fabletown castle, the Magic Mirror and several of the Barleycorn Women work to try an assist Cinderella from afar. Someone found a way into the office and stole a vanishing cloak and a powerful sword from the armory. But without an entrance into the room, how could anyone have gotten in and out without being seen by the Mirror?

   'In All the Land' was a great read. As a stand alone graphic novel from both the Fables and Fairest titles, this book seeks to fill in some important gaps before writer/ creator Bill Willingham concludes Fables with issue #150. Helping him along is over 20 artists, inkers, and colorists, including series regular artist Mark Buckingham, Gene Ha, and Ming Doyle.

    The book does start off a little slow. The first dozen or so pages are in text form (with illustrations) but by the second act, the book really gets going. With flashbacks to the 60s and 70s, readers will finally get a better understanding of the motivations of some of the series most famous and infamous characters. (Hopefully, we might get a return to the Fables universe from time to time with several miniseries being devoted to the history of Fabletown, USA. Fingers Crossed!!!)

   Lots of great Easter eggs, cameos, and loose plot threads almost a decade old are waiting for loyal readers of Fables like myself. I just hate to see that dynamic series go, but I'm glad to delay its demise a little longer thanks to gems like this.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.