Fables 3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham

Fables 3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham

This is the third part of the Fables series that I’ve reviewed before and I highly suggest you read those before reading this one. The first story arc in this book is American Jack Tales: Bag of Bones, which is a rather short story. It’s set in the American South during the Civil War. Jack, who is one of the characters we usually see in the modern day story, was around in the South at this time and after winning a card game is given a bag to hold anything and everything, even Death himself. It’s pretty amusing but does contain nudity, so it’s not something for all readers. The next story in this book is Sharp Operation + Dirty Business, staring Briar Rose and Bigby (the Big Bad Wolf). It’s explained that Briar Rose’s condition still persists and that anytime she pricks her finger not only does she fall asleep but everyone in the same building does as well. This is a potential threat to FableTown’s security as they don’t want their identity known to the wider world. Here’s the problem, someone has, sort of, figured it out. I’ll let you read it and find out how they deal with this person. Storybook Love is the big story in this volume and begins when Snow White and Bigby are drugged. They wake up to find themselves in the middle of the wilderness, camping, with no recollection of how or why they are there. They have a suspicion that the unusual situation is hostile, not a friendly practical joke, and it turns out they are right. Bigby, who hides his wolf form in human skin most of the time, transforms into his true form to help them both escape. This series is so full of surprises that I don’t want to spoil the plot by saying any more. Barley Corn Brides is the last story in this volume and is pretty short. It’s about the smaller residents on Fable Farm and how they built up their colony from just a few men who made the initial journey into our world, to the small village they have now thanks to the same sort of seed which Thumbelina came from. I would highly recommend this book to you if you are into story book type fantasy, for adults. It’s very well written and illustrated. The characters develop a lot over the stories from volume to volume and little bits of their mysterious past in the Fablelands get revealed ever so slowly.

If you like this, there are paper copies, as well as all the rest of the series is on Hoopla. Please note is that these stories were published in the volumes reviewed here and as deluxe volumes, which are hardback and longer, so there are only 14 of them. The stories line up fairly evenly but sometimes the shorter ones get shuffled around a bit differently in the different volume lines. Originally they came out as comic books, not graphic novels, so you could go that route too if you wanted.

[ Wikipedia page for Fables ] | [ official Bill Willingham web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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