ok after getting the latest issue which finishes up the big main plotline for the last few years I can fully through my weight behind suggesting the Vertigo comic FABLES by Bill Willingham. just amazing amazing stuff and not just the greatest covers ever concieved for each issue......there is the main series which just hit issue 75 and really shok things up without shaking them up.
seriously though.....James Jean is a god...
http://www.jjeanius.net/FablesMain.html
the whole run has been amazing up to this point and it's all collected. let's give a quick breakdown. Some mysterious figure known only to the escapees as the adversary has conquered all the fable lands. The mystical realms connected by gateways. a small community managed to escape to our reality and currently resides in a small community in knew york city known by them as fable town keeping their true orgin a secret from the word outside. to quickly round up the characters....
Jack ( Who now has his own title appropriately called Jack of fables which is pure hilarity) Every character whose ever held the name jack? THis is him. He's essentially a liar, exagerrator, and all around douchebag. really the focus of the first arc and a couple others. a great character due to his ability to always tell a good tale and even when he tells the truth noone believes him... defintiely not a smart move a couple of times. He's Jac B/ Nimble, Jack Frost, Jack and his Beanstalk (Magic Beans Rule!)
King Kole - The mayor of fable town. he's a merry old soul. everyone loves him and he's really just a fugurehead as the government i really run more by his deputy mayor.
Snow White - Said deputy Mayor. Has been controlling things behind the scenes for centuries. Easily half of my favorite relationship in all media. GReat character who manages to be strong willed, controlling but oh so caring.
Bigby Wolf - He's the Sherrif of Fable Town. son of the North Wind and a wolf....yeah that's right....he's the big bad wolf. he can huff and puff and blow your shit down........but he's a good guy now and my favorite character in the book.
Boy Blue - records keeper for the Mayors office. what's to be said. he plays his horn and hangs out with his friends.
Pinnochio - Yep he's a real boy.....unfortunately while he's flesh he still can't age. so he's a few hundred years old, grumpy, and still has the body of a 9 year old.
Fly Catcher - The Frog Prince. (You have to read the 1001 Knights of snowfall trade right before you read the Good Price trade as it makes it amazing.) One of the most heartbreaking stories ever for a character. he's the janitor on permanent comunity service in the mayors office. he's always jovial because he's forced himself to forget the traumatizing memories of his escae from his kingdom in the fablelands (As I said....1001 nights of snowfall)
Rose Red - Prettty much the black sheep of her family. Snow's younger sister.
I could go on for a long time. but if you can name a fable they all show up and all have great fleshed out characters. The tortoise the hare, the three little pigs, all of em. Seriously after 75 issues there hasn't been a point where I've put the book down dissapointed....except 2 issues. one was a wedding between my 2 favrite characters and easily one of my favorite comics ever written and the second was the flycatcher story from the 1001 nights of snowfall graphic novel. the wedding just had me grinning from ear to ear with happy and the 1001 story had me shed a little tear as it's easily the saddest tale I've read in a comic.
seriously. even if you don't like comics. go buy the first couple trade paperbacks and experience it....hell check em out from your local liberry. but it's one that's great to start from the beginning and go as the tension ramps up wth every story eventualy coming to a crecendo and finishing nw with a series of epic stries focusing on singular characters. But everyone has amazing character development.
Snow starts as a little bit of an overbearing bitch but you fall in love with her after a while.
Prince Charming (Every prince from a story) is a complete douchebag. you hate him from the first story to the last. but i'll be damned if I didn't come t love the pompous womanizing yet heroic douchebag. Sinbad's poeple pretty much start as terrorists.
if you can name a fable, they are in it....Hansel, Gretel, The witch (Who is the good guy) Baba Yaga and her hut, the old woman who lives in a shoe, the mouse brigade, the three blind mice, shire khan, Mowgli, bagheera, goldilocks and the three bears, Beauty and the Beast, Robin Hood, Blackbeard the pirate, Captain Hook and Peter Pan are coming, backbeard the Pirate, Ichabod Crane, Sly Fox, the tortoise and the hare, gingerbread man, Sir Lancelot, them flying monkeys from the wizard of ozz, paste pot pete
essentially if there is a poem or fable in the public domain, it's shown up. and if you think it's gonna be a kiddy book.....there is a reason it's at vertigo. It's not always happy. It's sometimes dark, sometimes happy, but always interesting. Plus it's had the same art team for almost every issue ith fill ins only coming on the anthology short story issues they did every once and a while.....seriously....go try it out.
holy shit....I'm like the Don of comics......just more concise and less rambly.......if I doubled this up I might come close. but really. it's been just fucking brilliant
Now I just have to tear myself away from LOTRO enough to read hehe
