33-34: Fables: Witches (14) and Rose Red (15), by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, et al. (2009/10, 2010/11 trade paperback: issues 86-93 and 94-100)

Inspired by the graphic novel Persepolis and my sister Sarah, I started reading comics approximately five years ago. Mind you, these are not the comics of my childhood years--when I was familiar with Richie Rich, Archie, and Scrooge McDuck--and I've generally kept superheros out of my repertoire.  Instead, the comics I read are richly imagined tales written and drawn for adults.  And, until you start reading them, you can't imagine how many options there are out there.  I read approximately 10-12 series at this point, made manageable by the fact that I stick to trade compilations: 4-8 single issues comprising a single story arc bound in paperback without ads and the other filler of single-issue releases.  In recent postings I've shared Jack of Fables and Cinderella with you, both of which are the offspring of the Fables series.

Fables is one of the first comics I read, and it helped to draw me into the world of adult comics.  As I've mentioned before, the series tells the tales of common fable and fairytale characters, now living among humans (mundanes) in an enchanted neighborhood in New York City and battling adversaries who want to control them and/or remove magic and imagination from the mundane world.  It's wonderful to see childhood characters come to life and be given real personalities, beyond their shallow origins.

One of the premises of the series is that Fables who have agreed to live in Fabletown have signed a compact which forgives their past sins, commits them to leave humans alone, and requires they maintain the anonymity of the community. Thus, the Big Bad Wolf--transformed into a human through the intervention of money and magic--has become Bigby Wolf, and serves as the town's Sheriff at the beginning of the series. Volume 14 focuses on several other characters with shady pasts: the Witches, including Frau Totenkinder (of Hansel and Gretel fame).  In this volume, the Fables begin to take on their newest adversary in earnest: The Dark Man, who seeks to destroy the mundane world and thus threatens the Fable environment as well.  In order to distance themselves from the Dark Man's evil energy (which has caused problems, such as Bigby and the Beast--usually friends--to lose control, revert to their animal natures, and fight), the human Fables have all moved out to The Farm, where non-human Fables must live in order to avoid detection.

The battle with the Dark Man continues in Volume 15, but readers also return to the story of Rose Red, the mayor/leader of the Farm, who has taken to bed to mourn the loss of Boy Blue after he sacrificed himself in order to defeat The Adversary (the previous--and possibly future?--nemesis of the Fables. You know him as Gepetto.).  On the Farm, additional characters abound, including dryads, a fire-breathing crow/dragon named Clara, and Brock Blueheart (formerly known as Stinky), the badger who has started a cult-like following prophesying the return of Boy Blue as savior of the Fables. 

It all sounds quite fantastic when I write about it here, and that is part of the charm of these books: they are fantastic, but in a very complex and adult way.  For instance, consider the fact that many of the Fables, do, indeed, return from the dead.  It's all due to the power of the stories as they continue to be read and used in the mundane world. It's the power of human storytelling and reading that provides Fables their energy, so the more popular a character is in our world, the stronger he/she/it is in the Fable world.  It's hard to keep a good Fable down, which lends credence to the importance of literature and imagination. 

I believe it's this focus on imagination that I love most about comics.  As children we are encouraged to "make believe" and fantasize about other worlds and people, but somewhere along the way, adults turn away from such fancy in order to focus on "the real world."  Comics allow us to reenter that world of fantasy, and none does it better than Fables.