Fables

It is said that successful people read voraciously. Specifically, they read books that provide self-improvement, and do not read for entertainment (i.e. not comics and magazines). I suppose this is why I am not successful. Too bad, i chanced across Fables as a must read for a long-weekend, among one of those lists that supposedly help to expand your knowledge. Do note that with 150 issues, you probably will not be able to finish it over a single weekend. Supposing i take 10 minutes per issue, i would have spent 25 hours on the entire series, so thats a huge opportunity cost.

As the title suggests. Fables, is about a group a Fables, living in Fabletown, which is located in modern day New York City. There are many fables we are familiar with, such as Snow White, Three little pigs, Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, King Cole and Pinocchio. (Actually how they were chosen is based on which characters didnt have a copyright). Anyway, what makes the story compelling is how all these seemingly unrelated characters can come together in a very well threaded together storyline.

To quickly summarise, the Eurpoean fableland was invaded by an unknown and overwhelmingly powerful enemy known as The Adversary. Many surviving European Fables fled to our world, known as the Mundy world (since there is no magic in our world). There are also further interlinakges between characters - e.g. all the chio ladies such as Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty all married and were cheated on by the same Prince Charming - who is really handsome and charming, but also very lazy and a spendthrift, and basically quite a jerk. There are also many backstories provided in the chapters, which serve to enrich the overall storyline, such a Cinderella being a superspy and Bad Bad Wolf now reformed into just Bigby - the sheriff of Fabletown.

There are three main arcs to the story -
1st Arc: Fight against the Adversary
2nd Arc: Fight against Mr Dark (who was released following the fall of the Adversary, and now seeks to take revenge on the European fables who mis-ued his treasures)
3rd Arc: Fight between the Fables, specifically Snow White and her lesser-known sister Rose Red

I thoroughly enjoyed the 1st Arc, which elevated seemingly useless background characters into gun-blazing, sword wielding, spell casting heroes. The 2nd Arc was more sombre, and it was very Game-of-Thrones of the writers to kill off one of the beloved characters. I also did not really understand or appreciate the side-story about the Literals, which attempted to break the fourth wall. The 3rd Arc continued in a somewhat tragic fashion, as allies turn into foes and more beloved characters die. By now, you get a better sense of the backstories of each character, so its less heart-breaking to see the eventual end of Fabletown itself.

 All in all, pretty good entertainment which brings the reader through a range of emotions. The 1st Arc alone would have been a pretty cool story, but in hindsight, the entire storyline, though with less of a happily-ever-after, was more complete and had more interesting implications on the mundy world.