Peter & Max, A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham, Illustrated by Steve Leilahola

Peter & Max, A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham, Illustrated by Steve Leilahola

Peter Piper uses the flute Frost and his brother Max Piper, the flute Fire in this story of fairytales, love and magic. It is a tale of light and dark. One brother is a thief and trickster, the other a murderer and dark magician.

Max Piper is the representation of the Pied Piper who piped the children out of Hamelin. Hamelin plays a part both in our world and the world of fairy. There are many magical places including the house of the witch of the Black Forest, and the dark woods. Max Piper represents the dark fairytale in this novel. The part which kills the father, ensorcels people against their will, and spreads disease and strife. The juxtaposition is very well done.

Peter Piper is the lighter side of fairytales, you can represent where passages of the novel come right out of childrens nursery rhymes. Peter, Peter pumpkin eater had a wife and couldn't keep her and Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers so where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. Peter Piper even gets marred to Bo Peep. Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep, And can't tell where to find them, Leave them alone, And They'll come home, Wagging their tales behind them.

Somehow, through a magic all his own, Bill Willingham creates a complete story weaving the growth and rivalry of Peter Piper and Max Piper until their final confrontation. Thrown into this are various archetypical myths and legends; the man finding themselves in the dark woods and the boy becoming the master thief. Although, there are no footnotes, you can read many famous fairytales into this book.

The setting for the novel is before the graphic novel series starts called Fables. It is a prequel which stands on its own. The illustrator, Steve Leilaloha does a marvelous job with his black and white illustrations. The drawings remind me a bit of Charles Vess with a mix of Jack Kirby. There is final comic book piece at the end of the novel which provides a nice segway into what the Fables graphic novels look like. The Fables graphic novels have won numerous awards in the comics industry.

This novel resonates well with me. It has a comic book feel to it. The descriptions are very visually oriented. The author is painting pictures of things that have never been with words. Some of the images like Puss playing his fiddle, or goblin soldiers, or arrogant knights are quite colorful. Read it for the descriptions, the fairytales, the myths, and the intricately woven plot which makes a complete story.

Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall-- Bill Willingham-- Thoughts

Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall-- Bill Willingham-- Thoughts

Snow White comes as an emissary from Fabletown in New York to court of the Arabian Nights ruled by king Shahrayar. She is there to seek help against the adversary. During her audience with Shahrayar she takes the place of Sheherezade for a while having to tell tales to preserve her life.

The tales Snow White tells are fractured fairytales for adults. She is describing the fables fight against the adversary, a compilation of oz, pinocchio, and other modern mythical concoctions that is slowly taking the place of the traditional tales. She conjures up modern boojums like goblins, orcs, and other critters.

The traditional fairytales must outwit these modern tales to escape to freedom in Fabletown.

This is a graphic novel or large format comic book. There are a wide variety of artists presented. Bill Willingham, however, is the sole writer.

There are a number of tales presented. There are three stories which I liked more than all the rest. The first is the tale of how Snow White achieved her revenge on the seven dwarves with a little help from Prince Charming. The second is how Reynard the Fox tricks the goblins of the adversary into providing christmas pies for the talking animals before they escape to freedom. The third is how Mersey Dotes becomes a mermaid.

The stories are presented in a variety artistic of styles. I especially liked the art of Brian Bolland, Michael Kaluta, Charles Vess, and Tara McPherson. All of the stories are in full color illustration. There is a brief paragraph biographical snapshot at the end of the book of each artist.

Of course at the end of the book, Sheherezade comes to take her proper place from Snow White, and Snow White is gifted with many magical treasures to help defeat the adversaries including a magic carpet and several djinn's bottles.

This is a very interesting collection of short stories presented in graphic form. It is part of the Fables Series. The Fables Series is a graphic novel series under the DC Vertigo imprint. This is the same imprint as Sandman.

If you want some interesting non-superhero tales in the graphic novel format, this collection is for you.

Jack of Fables-- Bill Willingham-- DC Comics-- Vertigo-- Review

Fee Fi Fo Fum I Smell The Blood of and English Man

This is a modern fairytale set in comic book form. It is not for children. It has some adult content. It is part of the Fables series, there are some fifteen "graphic novels" in the series. The Fables series is about fairytale characters who have been forced into the modern world, driven out of fairyland by a cruel and evil adversary.

Jack of Fables written by Bill Willingham is of course about Jack, the violent trickster. He goes under many names Jack Horner, Jack Be Nimble, or Jack the Giant Killer. Jack had previously escaped to Hollywood where he made several blockbuster movies. The other fairytales caught up with him and drove him out of town. Now he is on the road. Think, "Hit the Road," as in Jack Kerouac.

Jack is captured and brought into a fortified compound for wayward fairytales, "The Golden Bough Retirement Community." There fairytales are sanitized and made mundane by the resident librarians. All their magic is removed. The head librarian is called Mr. Revise, the senior librarians who all wear glasses are Priscilla Page, Robin Page, and Hillary Page, there are assistant librarians, and junior assistant librarians. There is nothing quite like a wicked librarian to make your day.

The retirement community is of course a fortress surrounded by tigers, crows, watchtowers, and a razor wire topped fence. Jack being Jack plans his escape with the help of other fairytales and legends like the Tin Woodsman, Sam, Humpty Dumpty, and Goldilocks. You see all sorts of creatures and characters wandering through the story around, Alice, the Tortoise and The Hare, The Walrus and The Carpenter, and Paul Bunyan and his ox blue are just a few.

To escape Jack enlists the help of the fairies so they can distract the crows. The escape scenes are wonderful. A few spoilers are Toto gets eaten by a tiger, and Sam turns out to be Sambo, he takes care of the tigers in his special way.

I can't give away the whole story so I'll stop there. The comic book is quite enjoyable. The full color illustrations are quite interesting. This is not a childrens story, the naughty bits are not revised out. The illustrations are superb and often startling.

What I especially like about Fables is that there is an underlying subversive message about censorship that runs through the whole series. It is especially strong in this installment. The adversary is the embodiment of censorship and removing the darker elements from our common myths so they become soft and clean.

Originally fairytales were stories from the folk. Mother Goose included things like admonishing children to pray, not stay out late at night, and be prepared to defend yourself with violence. These things have been removed from these stories in America. They were childrens stories meant to scare people into behaving well. Here is a nice little Mother Goose nursery rhyem. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn't know what to do, she gave them some broth without any bread, then whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.

Many of the images in the original fairytales were racist, sexist, and erotic. It is hard for people to read the non-disneyified versions of Brer Rabbit, Mother Goose, or Anderson's Fairytales. Trickster figures were womanizers, con artists, and gamblers. They showed people the value of taking risks and winning. Goldilocks was not a sweet little girl and Jack the Giant Killer was not a nice guy. Puss In Boots was a liar and con artist. It is why we like them so much.