All Purpose Fables Thread

[Wrkngclasshero]

I looking to start reading this book, there is just too much praise!! Is a good jumping on point on the horizon? And please don't say start at issue #1 and go from there. I plan on going back if it is as good as people say, but I am hoping that it is new reader accessible at some point after that. Thanks all!!!

[snarkbunny]

I looking to start reading this book, there is just too much praise!! Is a good jumping on point on the horizon? And please don't say start at issue #1 and go from there. I plan on going back if it is as good as people say, but I am hoping that it is new reader accessible at some point after that. Thanks all!!!

This issue(114) is not a bad starting point, since it's the first issue of a new arc involving the Cubs which is pretty standalone, and the backup Oz arc is geared more for new readers. You would need to read some info dumps on the Web most likely.

[Wrkngclasshero]

Thank you!! With a name like "Snarkbunny" one might expect a less than helpful response! Gonna go fire up the iPad and purchase the issue.

Can I assume that Wikipeida or a google search) can fill in any major blanks I may have?

Also, I have heard from folks that this series should have stopped after 75 as it was a logical closure point. Do folks think that Fables best days have come and gone?

[snarkbunny]

Thank you!! With a name like "Snarkbunny" one might expect a less than helpful response! Gonna go fire up the iPad and purchase the issue.

Can I assume that Wikipeida or a google search) can fill in any major blanks I may have?

Also, I have heard from folks that this series should have stopped after 75 as it was a logical closure point. Do folks think that Fables best days have come and gone?

Well, defeating expectations is a good thing to do occasionally.

Yes, a Wiki search should fill in any major blanks for you. Or post here if you can't find an answer.

As to whether the series should have stopped or not. I think that Witches which came afterward is one of the strongest arcs in the series to date, and I really enjoyed the "Inherit the Wind" arc which was the last story arc before this one. However, the series has shifted focus significantly from 1-75, and depending on why readers enjoy Fables, the transition may not appeal to some. I expect Fables will continue to have more successful and less successful arcs, like any long running series.

[Wrkngclasshero]

I'm sold. Thanks!!!

[ImpulseUCF]

I'm a big fan of the series. While the primary focus of the book did change drastically around issue 75, I wouldn't see there are no more stories worth telling in this mythos. I do think the book has been treading water a little looking for a new sharp focus and theme as compared to the first mega-arc, but I'm still enjoying it. I found the resolution to the most recent "big" issue was almost a bit of a copout, but I was pleased enough with that outcome to overlook it.

Still quite an enjoyable series, but I feel the book was strongest before # 75.

[Jack00]

I started reading Fables a few days ago, im up to #6. So far I can't say that I enjoy reading it that much... in fact I find it rather boring with nothing really interesting happening. Does it get better later on ? I spent 200$ for a #1-110 run a while back. I hope I invested properly :/

[toastedbread]

See, I actually kind of felt that the resolution to the war against the Adversary was...rushed and a bit...easy? I mean, I liked the theory behind it - the reason that a smaller force with superior armaments could succeed, the way the Empire had damaged itself by restricted magic, and relying on tight supply lines/world-portals. It was tactically sound and very clever, even tied in with the fact that before the advent of modern weaponry, it couldn't have been done.

I also didn't have any thematic opposition to Flycatcher's storyline, effectively being unbeatable, but only in respect to one tiny kingdom, a beacon of hope more than an actual threat.

But somehow it didn't come together and I felt it was cheaper than it should have been. Flycatcher's kingdom especially - if he'd just taken out one or two of their armies, enough that they threw the wooden soldiers at him and he re-magic groved them? That would have felt...epic and apt. But taking out the wooden soldiers and a huge part of the Empire's fighting force? It felt too much and made the Empire look stupid and more importantly wasn't necessary for the tactics the Fabletown Fables employed to win anyway.

So I just...I don't know. Parts of it I adored, but overall, I felt it ended too quickly and didn't quite feel earned which is frustrating because the setup could have been perfect. But it just...wasn't quite executed right for me.

However, I thought the stuff after that - the problems of just decapitating an Empire, the way the Fables can't just go "home" again immediately - was much more interesting. I loved Frau Totenkinder vs Mr Dark, I loved what happened with the North Wind, and I'm looking forward to the Cub-based direction we seem to be heading in for the next few arcs. I also really want to know what's gonna be up with Rose Red and her new job and to see where Briar Rose is at in Fairest.

The sole exception to my post-75 enjoyment was the Great Fables Crossover which, frankly, I thought was really, really disappointing. Not just slightly off on the execution like the end of the war, but actively damaging to the universe.

I cannot stand the Literals. It's a shame because there were some funny jokes and some great moments and scenes and stuff, and in a different series, it would have been amusing. But the problem with breaking the fourth wall and getting meta is that it's become such shorthand for "deep" or "clever" that you have to be twice as deep or clever to pull it off.

And frankly it had no place in Fables. I know as a series about stories that might seem weird, but it's just...too damaging to the serious and awesome universe-building that had been done. I think it's utterly out of keeping with the tone of the main series, and way too flippant a way to treat their genesis. The problem with retconning in secret histories about where things really come from is you risk cheapening what was there before and I think that's exactly what happened here.

We learned nothing about anyone that I wanted to know, I wasn't even clear on whether Thorn was responsible for writing the Mundy world or only the Fables, and it just left me feeling cheated.

Even if it hadn't stomped straight through the otherwise delicate questions peppered throughout the series with regards to whether the Fables draw their power from a particular kind of mundy magic that comes of spreading their stories, or whether they were created by the mundy world; whether belief-based magic is the weakest or not, whether that's even what they are - even without that, I think that my chief issue would have been that there seemed no compelling reason to do this beyond being "clever".

Which might work in a comic series like Jack of Fables which is all about a jerk liking to think he's clever, but as I said, horribly, disappointingly damaging to Fables itself.

I felt like the world got broke so that Jack could show up and make a few cheap gags, and even the hilarity of watching him teach the cubs to play poker wasn't enough to offset that. It actually left me disliking Jack whereas before I had found him entertaining.

BAH, GRUMPY OLD FAN RANT. ;)

But as I said, other than that, I think the post-75 run has been pretty great.

[Donald]

I started reading Fables a few days ago, im up to #6. So far I can't say that I enjoy reading it that much... in fact I find it rather boring with nothing really interesting happening. Does it get better later on ? I spent 200$ for a #1-110 run a while back. I hope I invested properly :/

It gets better. The first arc is pretty much an introduction to the Fables world and a good bit of scene setting.

[snarkbunny]

I started reading Fables a few days ago, im up to #6. So far I can't say that I enjoy reading it that much... in fact I find it rather boring with nothing really interesting happening. Does it get better later on ? I spent 200$ for a #1-110 run a while back. I hope I invested properly :/

Oddly enough, the first arc reads way better on a reread after you get through the first 25 issues or so. As Donald mentions it has a lot of set up for issues further down the pike. You's start seeing more action in the next few issues.

[Wrkngclasshero]

I picked up some back issues on Comixology and I am on issue #9. So far I like it. The first arc was actually a neat whodunnut with all the clues there for you to find independently of the narrative. I hope they keep that up in future issues.

All in all I am liking it so far. I will check back in as I continue on with the series.

[Jack00]

I'm up to issue 9 too, it's still not doing it for me. If I think it still suck after #5 i'm selling the lot...

[ImpulseUCF]

It picks up a lot after the first arc. I'd be surprised if you didn't like it by the time they really get into the war stuff.

[Wrkngclasshero]

I'm still digging this. Finished issue 13 and I am in for the haul. I am assuming they follow up on the story of Jack and the bag? Glad I finally started reading this, it's been on my list of stuff to look at for a while.

[snarkbunny]

I'm up to issue 9 too, it's still not doing it for me. If I think it still suck after #5 i'm selling the lot...

Not every one likes everything. If Fables isn't your thing, it's not. You gave it a a shot.

I'm still digging this. Finished issue 13 and I am in for the haul. I am assuming they follow up on the story of Jack and the bag? Glad I finally started reading this, it's been on my list of stuff to look at for a while.

Glad you are enjoying Fables. Let us know how you find it as you keep reading.