Fables

Alright time for a nerd-tastic installment of my blog. Someone asked me not long ago what my favorite Fables character was and I found it almost impossible to pick one.

Let me backtrack a minute here and explain what Fables is for those of you who may not know. Fables is a Graphic Novel Series created by Writer Bill Willingham.  The story revolves around the idea that every fable or story we have ever heard is actually true. Not only are the stories true but the characters are too. Characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rose Red, Beauty and the Beast and even the Big Bad Wolf. These fable characters have been forced from their homelands to New York city to create a small town they call Fabletown. There are some Fables that cannot blend in with human culture, like talking animals, that live at The Farm in upstate New York. the Fables are all very modern people with great personalities of there own and each have a certain amount of power, for lack of a better term, based on the strength of the Fables told about them. The Big Bad Wolf, known as Bigby, and Snow White have a great amount of power where as fables like the Raven from Aesop are kind of weak.

So back to my favorite Fable, the character, not the story.  For me Willingham has created such a diverse set of characters with such a varied set of motives and behaviors it is hard to like one over the other. They all have flaws and merits. Rose Red on one hand takes care of the animals at the farm and is rather patient and understanding but can be a real bitch sometimes.  Snow White is very straight forward and almost too firm when working for Fabletown but when she is with Bigby and their children, yes Snow White has children with the Big Bad Wolf, she is very caring and sweet. Bigby. That is a whole set of conflicts right there. A wolf trying to be a man and having to fight his wolf nature is not that unfamiliar of a story but add the fact that his father is the North Wind and he is the former Sherriff of Fabletown and you have a wonderfully rich and entertaining character. He is rough around the edges and handles things very crudely but also with the greatest genius. He is endearing and irritating all at the same time. Speaking of irritating and endearing we have Jack of Fables. You know Jack be nimble, Jack and the beanstalk, Jack Horner, Jack and Jill, he is all of them. Literally. Those are all Fables about the Jack of Fables. He is an arrogant womanizer that hardly has a brain in his head but manages to be extremely funny when he puts his half a brain to it. And who can forget Cinderella.  Now a spy and assassin, she can kill a room full of hit men in less than two minutes with nothing but her high heels and a bobby pin. Gotta love a girl who can kick some ass.

I could continue on forever describing all of the players in Fabletown but I will break it down to my 3 favorite characters. Flycatcher/ the Frog Prince, Bufkin the Flying Monkey and Frau Totenkinder. Bufkin is the money that lives in the business offices of Fabletown. He is a flying monkey, yes like the ones in the Wizard of Oz, and he has the knowledge of ages trapped in that head of his. He manges to over through a huge villian almost single handed in the latest trade of Fables and I was literally cheering for this cute, super intellegent monkey. I want to take one home but I think he might out smart me. :(  Flycatcher used to be the janitor of the business offices of Fabletown. He had no idea that he was the Frog Prince for eons because the death of his wife had literally driven him insane. It was not until a great war began among the Fables that he sees a vision of his deceased wife telling him that he has to remember who his and go be the great king he was meant to be. It is one of the few times I have cried while reading a Graphic Novel. And finally my favorite character is the mysterious Frau Totenkinder. She is that witch in all of those stories that wants to catch and kill all of the little children in whatever creative why she could think up. She is the child killer. Now I know that you would think she is a villian but she is discovered by Snow White and Rose Red after Hansel and Gretel threw her ass in the fire. They help to nurse her back to health and she is now one of the many witches and warlocks that work for Fabletown creating charms and potions and generally trying to keep the peace. She is mysterious and dark but also very very sweet. She looks so old and frail you want to help her cross the street but inside she has the power to move mountains if she wants to. I adore her. I am not entirely certain why but she is my favorite Fable.

In the end this blog breaks down to a few points. 1) Fables is an amazing feat and anyone and everyone should check it out. 2) I am an uber geek who really just ranted on about a Graphic Novel. 3)... Okay so maybe there are only 2 points to this rant but they are totally true. I hope you are all having a wonderful day and a pleasant weekend. If bored, try Fables. You will love it. My mom even loves it and she hates comics. That's all folks. Goodnight.