Fables #1-5

Fables #1-5

Originally released in 2002

Written by Bill Willingham

Art by Len Medina

I have little to no knowledge of DC's Vertigo imprint, but I'm sort of familiar with Fables from the video game The Wolf Among Us, so I figured I'd dip my toes into what this imprint has to offer. (I know it's DC's "mature readers" line-up, and most if not all of it is disconnected from the broader DC universe, with Constantine being a partial exception)

The main concept of the series is that people and creatures from various fairy tales have been forced out of the magical lands where they lived as a result of a war with a mysterious being known only as "The Adversary", and those who can pass for human (or afford an expensive process called "the Glamour" to look human) are living in a community in New York City. Those who can't afford the Glamour are sent to The Farm upstate. 

The main character, Bigby, is the Big Bad Wolf from the story of the Three Little Pigs, though he might also be the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf from the Boy Who Cried Wolf, for all I know - some characters combine elements from several different fairy tales, like how Prince Charming is the ex-husband of Snow White and Cinderella.  Bigby is a detective, serving as the police force for the Fable community, and he's struggling with proving that he's reformed and that he's no longer big and bad.

Snow White is the deputy mayor of Fabletown, and her sister, Rose Red, has seemingly been murdered.  It's a classic whodunnit, with Bigby and Snow White needing to find out who was responsible and why they did it.  The mystery is put together decently well, and I was able to put together some of the pieces before the reveal, though I missed out on some of the evidence during my first read-through.

In addition to Bigby, some other Fables get a bit of focus.  Pinocchio has grown bitter over the years as a result of his wish to be a real boy backfiring, leaving him stuck as a boy and unable to hit puberty. Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast are facing marital troubles, with Beast's appearance depending on how much Beauty loves him.

It leaves me wondering how much the series can get away with, or what the creators can or cannot reference.  Vague references are made to Oz and Narnia as lands that the Adversary destroyed, though not by name. It has me wondering what else they can draw from - I could see Dracula being the Adversary, for example, since he's a supernatural character who's in the public domain, but I'm not sure if he'd fit with the setting.

Given that this series is for mature readers, I was a little concerned going into it.  Particularly in the early 2000s, what qualified as "mature" tended to be a bit crass/tasteless, and I was worried that this might turn out like those cheaply-made horror movies that seem to come out whenever a popular cartoon character hits the public domain. Thankfully, that wasn't the case - with the possible exceptions of Pinocchio and Prince Charming (who's portrayed as a lecherous idiot), the characters are treated respectfully, and it comes across as more of a detective story that happens to involve fairy tale characters than something filled with gore, gratuitous nudity, etc.

It's a good start to the series, and the premise opens up a lot of possibilities about where it could go from here.  I'm glad that I picked this as my first Vertigo story - I realize that picking blindly could wind up giving me a story that I'd absolutely hate (though in some cases, the title itself is a giveaway that I wouldn't like it - I realize that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the entire premise of something like "The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe" turns me off of the book entirely, for example), but what little I've played of The Wolf Among Us helped me with making my decision.  The story doesn't quite end happily ever after, but in the darker and more cynical setting of New York City, it's about as good as it's going to get.