Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
Bill Willingham get a chance to explore his FABLES universe with FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL, an anthology that both supplements and stands alone from his acclaimed Vertigo series.
SNOWFALL borrows the ARABIAN NIGHTS structure in the text-based wraparound, illustrated by Charles Vess and Michael Wm. Kaluta, in which Snow White, on a mission to warn a neighboring country of an approaching enemy, is help captive by the sultan, who marries a new woman each night and have her murdered the next day before she has a chance to be unfaithful to him. The sultan decides Snow will be his wife for the night; she has other plans, which entail keeping him enchanted with stories – eight, to be exact – so she can bide her time and stay alive.
All the stories appear in comic form, each tackled by a different artist. All bear some connection to the FABLES mythos, whether slight (in theme only) or overt (utilizing a series character). “The Fencing Lessons” is like a murder mystery, with Prince Charming on the hunt for a serial killer of dwarves. “The Runt” provides a backstory – one of revenge – for Bigby “Big Bad” Wolf, while Snow White and sister Rose Red encounter the witch of numerous fairy tales while on the lam in “Diaspora.”
Other tales involve a crafty fox, a frog prince, a mermaid and Ol’ King Cole. Some of the stories – now bear with me here – tell stories within stories within stories within the overall FABLES world. Luckily, inexperience with prior issues of FABLES is not a detriment to the new reader; rather, SNOWFALL serves as an effortless ease-in to get newcomers used to the idea that you can deal with fairy-tale characters and talking animals in a manner that is cool, cutting-edge and very adult.
FABLES fans will appreciate Willingham’s branching out. His writing is top-notch as always, and so is the art, from such talents as Brian Bolland, Mark Buckingham, Mark Wheatley, Jill Thompson and – deserving of extra-special commendation – indie rock-poster designer Tara McPherson. After 50 or so issues, the time was right for something like this, which allows him to tell stories either too short or just not right for the monthly format. One hopes he’ll find time to do it again. –Rod Lott
Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• FABLES: ARABIAN DAYS (AND NIGHTS)
• FABLES: HOMELAND
• VERTIGO: FIRST OFFENSES
[...] Some comics are so bursting with ideas that a spin-off or two doesn’t hurt a bit; one of these is FABLES, and Rod said FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL is a great complement to the regular book, for noobs and FABLES veterans alike. So click the link already. [...]
[...] Speaking of rich, the cover from FABLES artist James Jean makes HELLTOWN worth the purchase alone, but O’Neill’s narrative hits it out of the park. –Rod Lott [...]