Fables: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham

From Dawn to Decadence is an intensely heavy read, so for spots of lightness I decided to read a few graphic novels. This was the first.

Undoubtedly, this comic has a great premise. Fairy tale characters (ranging from Snow White to Jungle Book characters) are exiles in modern-day New York. They're immortal, sort of, and are living in the shadow of an unspecified adversarial attack on their homelands. Snow White is essentially the mayor of these people, at least in the city. The Big Bad Wolf is Bigby Wolf, the detective. Bluebeard is there, and so are Beauty and the Beast and Little Boy Blue, and so forth.

The first installment serves to introduce us to the characters through the disappearance and possible murder of Rose Red (Snow White's sister). This world provides us with all sorts of interesting side notes. Beauty and Beast need marriage counseling, because when Beauty loves Beast less than usual, he becomes more physically beastly than usual. A good twist on the old concept.

Still, this comic left something to be desired. By the last page, it felt as though the story had only gotten started. It was disappointing. Bigby's detective skills are promising, and the fact that any actions "before the exile" aren't supposed to be recognized leads to some difficulties. Based on fairy tales, we know what certain characters' traits are, but those exact tales can't be used in choosing suspects.

The artwork is good, especially the chapter titles. The writing, however, is a little simple. The dialogue is heavy with exposition and hopefully this is only a symptom of the first installments.

There's a very good idea hiding within this comic, but its possibilities aren't realized here. If you're interested, it would be best to read from the beginning (as it usually is), but don't expect to be blown away.