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Fables
Fables: Encyclopedia
The histories behind the fairy tale characters in New York Times best-selling author Bill Willingham's series Fables are uncovered here in the Fables: Encyclopedia.
Exhaustively researched by author Jess Nevins, these annotations fill in details hailing down from ancient myth and forgotten civilizations of the timeless figures that compose the world of Fabletown, including Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Boy Blue and many more. This new compendium is a must-have addition to any Fables afficianado's library as well as any fan of modern folk lore and fairy tales.
Exhaustively researched by author Jess Nevins, these annotations fill in details hailing down from ancient myth and forgotten civilizations of the timeless figures that compose the world of Fabletown, including Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Boy Blue and many more. This new compendium is a must-have addition to any Fables afficianado's library as well as any fan of modern folk lore and fairy tales.
253 pages, Hardcover
First published October 29, 2013
14 people are currently reading
1,607 people want to read
About the author
Bill Willingham
925Ìýbooks2,803ÌýfollowersIn the late 1970s to early 1980s he drew fantasy ink pictures for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert game rulebooks. He first gained attention for his 1980s comic book series Elementals published by Comico, which he both wrote and drew. However, for reasons unknown, the series had trouble maintaining an original schedule, and Willingham's position in the industry remained spotty for many years. He contributed stories to Green Lantern and started his own independent, black-and-white comics series Coventry which lasted only 3 issues. He also produced the pornographic series Ironwood for Eros Comix.
In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables
In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
October 15, 2019
This book is awesome! I was wandering around my favorite bookstore and the owner pointed out, as a Fables fan, that I might like this. I did indeed.
It is an A-Z encyclopedia of everything from the Fables series! Beautifully illustrated and full of information. I especially like how for important characters it also has the pages of the Fables comics where they first appeared. But, the downside is spoilers. So if you haven't read Fables yet, don't read this tome. It would spoil a lot of things for you.
But, if you've finished (or nearly finished, like me) then this is a truly wonderful addition. While I do not consider this a comic, per se, it will occupy the section of my shelves I devote to Codexes, Game Manuals, etc. A reference manual.
But what a reference manual it is! I enjoyed how they added the actuals panels as a reference point, I liked the amount of detail on the world and I really appreciated the quality of the artwork. This is a work people could enjoy even without any knowledge of the Fables comic. But that would be odd. For the rest of us? I highly recommend this gorgeous book.
It is an A-Z encyclopedia of everything from the Fables series! Beautifully illustrated and full of information. I especially like how for important characters it also has the pages of the Fables comics where they first appeared. But, the downside is spoilers. So if you haven't read Fables yet, don't read this tome. It would spoil a lot of things for you.
But, if you've finished (or nearly finished, like me) then this is a truly wonderful addition. While I do not consider this a comic, per se, it will occupy the section of my shelves I devote to Codexes, Game Manuals, etc. A reference manual.
But what a reference manual it is! I enjoyed how they added the actuals panels as a reference point, I liked the amount of detail on the world and I really appreciated the quality of the artwork. This is a work people could enjoy even without any knowledge of the Fables comic. But that would be odd. For the rest of us? I highly recommend this gorgeous book.
April 2, 2015
This is quite an expensive book ($40/£30) and I was expecting a bit more for my money. In brief, I recommend skipping this and waiting for the next edition when the series is over.
The basic concept is similar to "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe", with an entry for each character. However, the first thing to know is that this book isn't exhaustive. For instance, it includes Mary (who had a little lamb) but it doesn't include Bo Peep. I can understand that they may have had size constraints (i.e. the page count) but they made some odd choices about who to include and exclude. There are some characters who were created by Bill Willingham and only appeared in a single issue, so the encyclopedia entry effectively says "If you've read that issue then you already know everything that there is to know about this character." On the other hand, there were prominent characters with significant backstories (outside the comic) who got missed out. In particular, I'm thinking about the Pathetic Fallacy and Sam from Jack of Fables. The Pathetic Fallacy is actually a philosophical concept, and Sam is based on the story of "Little Black Sambo"; that word has unfortunate connotations nowadays, which may be why they missed it out, but the creative team chose to use that character in the first place! If I have to go online to find out who those characters are supposed to be then this encyclopedia is inadequate.
Speaking of the page count, there are a lot of reprinted pages from the comic here. I don't mind reading them again, but they felt like padding. I'd have preferred to see the OHOTMU approach, i.e. a picture of a specific character mixed in with the text of their entry, rather than a whole page. There are also some cases where the book prints consecutive pages from the same story out of sequence. For instance, the entry for the Foresworn Knight (Lancelot) includes page 15 from Fables #63, where he spoke to Gretel. Later on, the entry for Hansel and Gretel includes page 14 from Fables #63, where Gretel spoke to Lancelot. I don't think we really needed both pages at all, but it seems clumsy to arrange them like this. There's also some duplication between entries, e.g. Scheherazade and Sharyar. Some entries are cross-referenced, e.g. the entry for Lancelot just says "See Foresworn Knight" so maybe it would have been better to do the same thing there?
Another issue is that this book isn't up to date with the series. For instance, it says that a couple of characters are dead when they have in fact turned up alive in later stories. I don't know what the lead time was on production for this book, but couldn't Bill Willingham have told Jess Nevins what he had planned for future stories so that they'd align? Also, this book doesn't refer to any of the characters or events in (published in October 2009), which seems like quite a glaring oversight.
There are some annotations at the end of the book, although these only apply to the main Fables series, not to any of the spin-offs. They're good to have, but I get the impression that they weren't revised after they were originally written, e.g. an annotation for issue #1 speculates on the sword in the stone, and this mystery was definitively resolved later in the series (during "The Good Prince" I believe), long before this book was published. So, I'd have preferred them to edit that, rather than just print the contemporaneous notes.
In the "C" chapter, Bill Willingam comments: "Someday I plan to do something big with Ephraim, Joel and Vulco, the three surviving Crow Brothers. Then again, someday I plan to do something big with every Fables character, major or minor. There's no sparsity of ideas fueling Fables, just a scarcity of time and room." On 1st November 2013 (i.e. 2 days after this book was published), Bill Willingham announced that he will end the series with issue #150. That's certainly his right, but it seems odd to talk about all his future plans which he now won't have time to implement. Then in the "W" chapter, Mark Buckingham comments: "Mmmm... No X-anythings in our series, it seems... [..] With our ever-expanding cast I'm pretty sure there will be a character that starts with an X by the time we get around to updating this book." I think it would have been better for them to delay this book until the series ended, since that's less than 2 years away, and then they could have really made it complete. However, since they anticipate a second edition, I recommend waiting for that.
On the plus side, I did learn a few things from reading this book. In particular, there were a few of the witches on the Thirteenth Floor who I hadn't identified until I read this. There are also some interesting "behind the scenes" comments, e.g. why the writer chose a particular character or why the artist chose to draw them in a particular way.
Really, the whole thing feels like a bit of a bodge job, as if they thought "Meh, that's good enough, just get it out the door." I'd accept that from a free wiki, but I expect more from an expensive book like this.
The basic concept is similar to "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe", with an entry for each character. However, the first thing to know is that this book isn't exhaustive. For instance, it includes Mary (who had a little lamb) but it doesn't include Bo Peep. I can understand that they may have had size constraints (i.e. the page count) but they made some odd choices about who to include and exclude. There are some characters who were created by Bill Willingham and only appeared in a single issue, so the encyclopedia entry effectively says "If you've read that issue then you already know everything that there is to know about this character." On the other hand, there were prominent characters with significant backstories (outside the comic) who got missed out. In particular, I'm thinking about the Pathetic Fallacy and Sam from Jack of Fables. The Pathetic Fallacy is actually a philosophical concept, and Sam is based on the story of "Little Black Sambo"; that word has unfortunate connotations nowadays, which may be why they missed it out, but the creative team chose to use that character in the first place! If I have to go online to find out who those characters are supposed to be then this encyclopedia is inadequate.
Speaking of the page count, there are a lot of reprinted pages from the comic here. I don't mind reading them again, but they felt like padding. I'd have preferred to see the OHOTMU approach, i.e. a picture of a specific character mixed in with the text of their entry, rather than a whole page. There are also some cases where the book prints consecutive pages from the same story out of sequence. For instance, the entry for the Foresworn Knight (Lancelot) includes page 15 from Fables #63, where he spoke to Gretel. Later on, the entry for Hansel and Gretel includes page 14 from Fables #63, where Gretel spoke to Lancelot. I don't think we really needed both pages at all, but it seems clumsy to arrange them like this. There's also some duplication between entries, e.g. Scheherazade and Sharyar. Some entries are cross-referenced, e.g. the entry for Lancelot just says "See Foresworn Knight" so maybe it would have been better to do the same thing there?
Another issue is that this book isn't up to date with the series. For instance, it says that a couple of characters are dead when they have in fact turned up alive in later stories. I don't know what the lead time was on production for this book, but couldn't Bill Willingham have told Jess Nevins what he had planned for future stories so that they'd align? Also, this book doesn't refer to any of the characters or events in (published in October 2009), which seems like quite a glaring oversight.
There are some annotations at the end of the book, although these only apply to the main Fables series, not to any of the spin-offs. They're good to have, but I get the impression that they weren't revised after they were originally written, e.g. an annotation for issue #1 speculates on the sword in the stone, and this mystery was definitively resolved later in the series (during "The Good Prince" I believe), long before this book was published. So, I'd have preferred them to edit that, rather than just print the contemporaneous notes.
In the "C" chapter, Bill Willingam comments: "Someday I plan to do something big with Ephraim, Joel and Vulco, the three surviving Crow Brothers. Then again, someday I plan to do something big with every Fables character, major or minor. There's no sparsity of ideas fueling Fables, just a scarcity of time and room." On 1st November 2013 (i.e. 2 days after this book was published), Bill Willingham announced that he will end the series with issue #150. That's certainly his right, but it seems odd to talk about all his future plans which he now won't have time to implement. Then in the "W" chapter, Mark Buckingham comments: "Mmmm... No X-anythings in our series, it seems... [..] With our ever-expanding cast I'm pretty sure there will be a character that starts with an X by the time we get around to updating this book." I think it would have been better for them to delay this book until the series ended, since that's less than 2 years away, and then they could have really made it complete. However, since they anticipate a second edition, I recommend waiting for that.
On the plus side, I did learn a few things from reading this book. In particular, there were a few of the witches on the Thirteenth Floor who I hadn't identified until I read this. There are also some interesting "behind the scenes" comments, e.g. why the writer chose a particular character or why the artist chose to draw them in a particular way.
Really, the whole thing feels like a bit of a bodge job, as if they thought "Meh, that's good enough, just get it out the door." I'd accept that from a free wiki, but I expect more from an expensive book like this.
November 15, 2015
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
With the abundant amount of characters introduced throughout the Fables series it can be difficult keeping track of each and every one. The Fables Encyclopedia is a fantastic companion guide to remembering each character and the roles they played in the story. In addition to their Fables role, we’re given a detailed and fascinating history on the characters that existed outside of the Fables universe. Snippets of comics were re-printed from past issues to detail certain characters as well.
I enjoyed reading about several lesser known characters that were only given brief appearances in the comics and finding out more of their backstory but was disappointed by how it wasn’t as up to date as I’d hope. Many of the stories of characters from the spin-off series weren’t elaborated on in particular a character from Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland. Considering that issue was published in November 2012 and this Encyclopedia was published October 2013 I would have expected those updates to be covered. The comic snippets were nice to read again but seemed repetitive and unessential since it wasn’t adding anything new to what the text already disclosed. Clearly not an all encompassing guide, Fables Encylopedia is fairly informative but mostly interesting in regards to the characters lives outside of the Fables universe.
I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
With the abundant amount of characters introduced throughout the Fables series it can be difficult keeping track of each and every one. The Fables Encyclopedia is a fantastic companion guide to remembering each character and the roles they played in the story. In addition to their Fables role, we’re given a detailed and fascinating history on the characters that existed outside of the Fables universe. Snippets of comics were re-printed from past issues to detail certain characters as well.
I enjoyed reading about several lesser known characters that were only given brief appearances in the comics and finding out more of their backstory but was disappointed by how it wasn’t as up to date as I’d hope. Many of the stories of characters from the spin-off series weren’t elaborated on in particular a character from Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland. Considering that issue was published in November 2012 and this Encyclopedia was published October 2013 I would have expected those updates to be covered. The comic snippets were nice to read again but seemed repetitive and unessential since it wasn’t adding anything new to what the text already disclosed. Clearly not an all encompassing guide, Fables Encylopedia is fairly informative but mostly interesting in regards to the characters lives outside of the Fables universe.
February 21, 2014
I'd call this an essential reference guide to the characters in the graphic novel series. Most entries tell where the original Fables come from, as well as where they appear in the series, and the book is beautifully illustrated. Notes by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham about their inspirations and thoughts add interest to many of the entries. I particularly liked what they had to say about the Cubs. Warning: this contains spoilers all the way through vol. 18, so it's definitely reference material for fans of the series as opposed to a standalone guide for newcomers, which is a little unfortunate as I think newcomers might benefit from some help in identifying some of the less well known Fables. All in all, an excellent supporting work for the series.
September 9, 2016
It's good. In terms of quality, this gathers some of the best artwork in the Fables series, attached to descriptions of the characters and references in the series. It deserves more than a mere three stars, but I can't turuly claim that I _really_ liked reading an encyclopedia... OK, never mind. I really liked reading _this_ encyclopedia.
October 6, 2013
This is for someone who is a fan of the Fables series. I've enjoyed the comic series and some of the spin offs and this was a great index to all the characters that have been brought to life in the pages of the comic. You find out which ones came whole cloth out of the writer's mind and what was based off of a fairy tale. As I was reading this I could see someone using it for writing a paper on fairy tales and needing a good cross reference for some of the lesser known characters.
Digital copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
Digital copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.
November 15, 2013
I wish I had this when I had started reading Fables, I can remember various times when reading an issue thinking, 'hmmm, I wonder what story that character is originally from'. Although it does contain some spoilers, as it is meant to be read where the series currently is. Loved finding out where some of the lesser known Fable were from.
March 7, 2014
Fun book with an amazing cover. It's good to have it around because there are just so many characters and sometimes I need a little reminder of their stories :)
August 27, 2023
I have to be honest: this book is disappointing. I have several other books by Jess Nevins and this one feels more like a work in progress than one of his completed works. There are interesting notes from Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham, but the majority of this book is reprints of entire pages from the comic series. This encyclopedia was written before the end of the 150 issue series so there is much missing information and many of the entries are out of date. I would be interested in a second edition that includes the typical level of Jess Nevins annotations and updated information from the entire comic series, but I will be sure to check that any new edition is not just a collection of pages from the comics along with brief entries printed with overly-generous margins.
January 2, 2025
An essential, informative, and useful companion to Fables. It’s no small feat to keep track of who all the characters in Fables are and their origins. Most readers are familiar with the most famous fairy tales, but many central characters come from nursery rhymes and verses, often ones better known in the English-speaking world. Here, you get to learn it all.
The book is beautifully presented, with comic book pages as illustrations and detailed commentary from Willingham and Buckingham. I would love to read a version of this that covers the entire series.
The book is beautifully presented, with comic book pages as illustrations and detailed commentary from Willingham and Buckingham. I would love to read a version of this that covers the entire series.
December 17, 2018
Fantastic! Amazing love was put in this book. And how much information! Because I was raised in other culture some of the characters were sometimes unknown to me, reading this book I could learn a lot about them. I'm reading The Brothers Grimm's works after this, just to know the original adventures of some characters. It's better to read the Encyclopedia after finishing the series, but the comments at the end of it are useful when reading it.
July 8, 2019
Although I was familiar with a lot of the fables and fairy tales that the various characters are based on,
some of the more obscure characters were a mystery to me. Even the more well-known characters are given an in-depth analysis far beyond what I had previously read. This is an excellent accompaniment to the "Fables" series and a great source of information for those interested in the history of those classic tales.
some of the more obscure characters were a mystery to me. Even the more well-known characters are given an in-depth analysis far beyond what I had previously read. This is an excellent accompaniment to the "Fables" series and a great source of information for those interested in the history of those classic tales.
November 3, 2016
Would probably be more accurate to call it a Character Encyclopedia. There are only 2 non-character entries.
The entries are very interesting - they explain the origins and most well known versions of the characters in our world.
Also contains about 10 pages of annotations at the end (eg Issue 31, page 6, panel 5 "Blah blah" is a reference to x).
The entries are very interesting - they explain the origins and most well known versions of the characters in our world.
Also contains about 10 pages of annotations at the end (eg Issue 31, page 6, panel 5 "Blah blah" is a reference to x).
January 24, 2021
I enjoyed the researched histories of the fairy tales, but I wish this book had been compiled after the series ended. There were comments from the creators that hemmed and hawed at revealing too much about spoiling a future story.
October 18, 2020
Nowhere close to exhaustive and poorly researched. The sidebar editorializing from Willingham and Buckingham is the only reason to lead through the book at all.
December 22, 2013
I had high hopes for this encyclopedia written for the series which is arguably a large part of the inspiration for the book I am currently writing.
What worked in this encyclopedia is that it was written in very digestible bits with an interesting way of providing background on every character (historically) as well side bar commentary from Bill Willingham, the author and creator of Fables; and Mark Buckingham, the most regular artist and arguably the one who defined its aesthetic. I found both of their commentaries insightful and interesting and even learned a goodly amount from both. I definitely will refer back to this text quite a bit.
What left me a little disappointed in this encyclopedia is that it was more cursory than I would have liked. I would have loved a thick tomb of insight into the creation of Fables and its characters that I could have pored over for hours and hours. However, I also may never have written a review on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ as I potentially would never have finished. Certainly, I wouldn't have finished it this fast and most definitely couldn't have read it in bed.
So there is something to be said with the final product they decided on and Bill Willingham made a comment in this stating that they intended to update the Fables Encylopedia. I suspect that will happen a year or so after Fables finishes in three years with issue #175.
What worked in this encyclopedia is that it was written in very digestible bits with an interesting way of providing background on every character (historically) as well side bar commentary from Bill Willingham, the author and creator of Fables; and Mark Buckingham, the most regular artist and arguably the one who defined its aesthetic. I found both of their commentaries insightful and interesting and even learned a goodly amount from both. I definitely will refer back to this text quite a bit.
What left me a little disappointed in this encyclopedia is that it was more cursory than I would have liked. I would have loved a thick tomb of insight into the creation of Fables and its characters that I could have pored over for hours and hours. However, I also may never have written a review on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ as I potentially would never have finished. Certainly, I wouldn't have finished it this fast and most definitely couldn't have read it in bed.
So there is something to be said with the final product they decided on and Bill Willingham made a comment in this stating that they intended to update the Fables Encylopedia. I suspect that will happen a year or so after Fables finishes in three years with issue #175.
March 20, 2014
If you've read all the Fables volumes and issues, than there's not going to be much here that's new for you... except (and this is why I so very much enjoyed reading this Encyclopedia) there are asides or notes on almost every double-paged spread from Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham about things they enjoyed about certain characters, or interesting facts and tidbits about why certain characters were depicted in certain ways. It's really quite interesting to see who enjoyed what. It also made me curious about characters that I wasn't necessarily paying the most attention to while reading. Now I want to go back and read them all again! Willingham also reveals certain characters that may have larger roles to play in upcoming stories. I enjoyed being able to see what fables and legends certain characters were drawn (taken) from. I'm pretty familiar with fables, fairy tales, and legends from my own personal scholarship and interest, but I liked discovering more about the minor characters that I didn't know. And people with less awareness of fairy tales and fables as a genre will have a plethora of information to learn. However, if you're unfamiliar with the Fables universe, spoilers abound! I wouldn't pick it up unless you want to have most of the storylines ruined for you in some way shape or form.
January 21, 2014
I was already familiar with Jess Nevins through his exhaustive companion volumes to Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series of mini-series, so I was not at all surprised at how informative this look at the source material for Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham's FABLES is. The layout makes the book seem a bit sparser than Nevins' LoEG Companions, but there is no less research involved. Nevins lays out, in just the right about of detail for a book like this, the antecedents of all of the major and almost all the minor characters to appear in FABLES' storied (and soon-to-end) run. The only characters missing are, I think, a handful of characters who only appeared in the spin-off JACK OF FABLES (and I could be wrong about that, I'd have to go back and re-read JoF). Nevins' research is accompanied by side-bar commentary from Willingham and Buckingham and plenty of art (cover and interior) from the comics. Of course, for someone who has never read the series there are a lot of spoilers for the storylines that run through issue 100 at least, so approach this book with the warning that Here There Be Spoilers. This is not an Introductory Volume, it's a Companion for those who have read the series already. I look forward to the inevitable 2nd edition after FABLES ends its run.
February 25, 2016
HEY, WHERE IS SAM?
Seriously, where is he? You write a detailed book that includes obscure characters that showed up in a few panels that no one cares about (such as the random movie producer from an early volume in the "Jack of Fables" series), yet can't be bothered to include an important and very interesting character, both within the "Fables" universe and in the real/Mundy world?
I appreciate the background stories on the fables in both previously mentioned universes and I found the sidenotes especially helpful. For example, Rose Red is inspired by Mike Buckingham's wife. Bill Willingham regrets killing off Colonel Bearskin so quickly. Blue and Ambrose started as companions to Pinocchio's circle of friends and spun off into central characters - take notice of how Ambrose went from a creepy dude in a jumpsuit to a handsome ginger prince.
However, the collection is inconsistent as well as incomplete. There are major spoilers, so be sure you have read everything published prior to this book's first edition release date. It would have been helpful to include the names of the volumes or at least the names of the stories in addition to the #s of the first appearance. I am also puzzled by the selection of artwork to include.
A good effort, but leaving out Sam easily docks it a star.
July 31, 2014
Astfel de enciclopedii sunt extrem de utile, mai ales cand vine vorba de un univers complex, populat de zeci de personaje implicate in evolutia naratiunii.
La fel ca si enciclopediile dedicat lumii Star Wars sau Disc, de exemplu, enciclopedia Fables este, in primul rand, un instrument de lucru, o modalitate de a urmari si intelege evolutia personajelor in angrenajul povestirii astfel incat lumea fantastica sa devina cat mai usor de inteles si, implicit, de iubit.
Se recomanda neaparat adaugarea enciclopediei la lista de lecturi dedicate seriei Fables, chiar daca esti sau nu fan.
Volumul este foarte bine editat, descrierile sunt scurte dar suficiente detalii sunt date despre fiecare personaj in parte. Panourile in care personajele apar sunt si ele adaugate pentru o mai buna exemplificare si aducere aminte.
Nu stiu, sincer, daca se poate citi fara a intra, in prealabil, in contact cu universul Fables deoarece este necesara o cunoastere destul de profunda a tuturor celor implicati in poveste, ceea ce ma face sa cred ca enciclopedia poate parea enervanta si plictisitoare.
Ce sa mai, seria Fables se apropie de sfarsit, deci, acum e momentul sa faci primul pas in lumea lui Bill Willingham. Emotii autentice garantate.
La fel ca si enciclopediile dedicat lumii Star Wars sau Disc, de exemplu, enciclopedia Fables este, in primul rand, un instrument de lucru, o modalitate de a urmari si intelege evolutia personajelor in angrenajul povestirii astfel incat lumea fantastica sa devina cat mai usor de inteles si, implicit, de iubit.
Se recomanda neaparat adaugarea enciclopediei la lista de lecturi dedicate seriei Fables, chiar daca esti sau nu fan.
Volumul este foarte bine editat, descrierile sunt scurte dar suficiente detalii sunt date despre fiecare personaj in parte. Panourile in care personajele apar sunt si ele adaugate pentru o mai buna exemplificare si aducere aminte.
Nu stiu, sincer, daca se poate citi fara a intra, in prealabil, in contact cu universul Fables deoarece este necesara o cunoastere destul de profunda a tuturor celor implicati in poveste, ceea ce ma face sa cred ca enciclopedia poate parea enervanta si plictisitoare.
Ce sa mai, seria Fables se apropie de sfarsit, deci, acum e momentul sa faci primul pas in lumea lui Bill Willingham. Emotii autentice garantate.
February 5, 2014
This is definitely just for super fans of the series to purchase, and fans to peruse. (I'm the second, I read it thanks to my library, as usual.) But it was better than I expected. In a novel with references to folklore or mythology it's easy to look up the five to ten references that are typically in a book. But this series is so top-heavy with characters both from traditional sources and just as many from Willingham's fertile imagination, I soon stopped bothering to look them up. So it was interesting to see how many of the characters that Willingham had used from mythology, history and literature that I had recognized and how many I had missed. It was also kind of interesting to read the few the little tidbits of inspiration or inside information that he or artist Mark Buckingham provided. It definitely isn't exciting, there isn't any great insight into the stories or anything, but it wasn't as bad as some of the similar books I've seen for other series. Readers beware, there are spoilers for later books in the series if you haven't read all of the books that have been published up until this one.
May 12, 2014
This could have been very good, but it was quite a disappointment. Like I said before entries were very outdated, several characters were missing and many facts were wrong - both Fables and original tale wise. I can also understand why most recent storylines would be outdated - like Prince Charming, although claiming he died on the war while using an image of the one issue that reveals he is still alive doesn't help either. But there's also Harp, whose final fate was revealed on a 2012 GN. The author and artist notes were a nice touch, but boy, Willingham really misses the point of Cinderella.
It is a lovely looking book but not worth the heavy price. They should have waited until the end of all series to release something like this.
It is a lovely looking book but not worth the heavy price. They should have waited until the end of all series to release something like this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2014
For a series which has as many characters as Fables, it is almost perative to have an encyclopedia to keep them all straight. What I enjoyed about this book is that it gives a brief summary of where the characters first appeared in the real world fairytales in comparison to who they are in the Fables Universe. I'll definitely have to go and find some copies of the stories that I'm not familiar with, so this book gives me some good starting places.
I didn't like the layout 100% though, simply because many of the full-page illustrations were not on the facing page of the character descriptions. They would have been better served, I think, with small images for each of the characters alongside their descriptions instead of only providing pictures for the most popular characters.
I didn't like the layout 100% though, simply because many of the full-page illustrations were not on the facing page of the character descriptions. They would have been better served, I think, with small images for each of the characters alongside their descriptions instead of only providing pictures for the most popular characters.
January 16, 2014
I received this as a First Reads from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. Although I have not yet read the Fables books, I've heard quite a bit about this award winning series. While I would have enjoyed finding more out about the characters interactions in the series itself, this book does a good job of explaining the source material that inspired each individual character. Especially enjoyable were the comments from Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham themselves concerning certain characters. I enjoyed this so much that I purchased Fables Vol 1 right away and look forward to reading it soon. If you already follow Fables, I think you will find this a great resource for your library.
February 13, 2014
This was an excellent job of explaining all the incredible number of characters in the Fables series of graphic novels. BTW I considered clicking my graphic novel shelf, but decided it really didn't belong, being an encyclopedia, not a graphic novel itself. I am going to reread one or two entries this AM then return the book to the library. This was incredibly informative. I am really tempted to buy the encyclopedia, sit down with the graphic novels, and refer back and forth between the two. Well, maybe after I retire, I'll have time for such projects! If you like or love the Fables series, this book is for you!
June 24, 2014
Definitely not essential, but if you're a Fables fan and you want to know where every character originated (as well as how they fit into the Fables universe and where they first appeared in the series), this is the place to look. Some decent commentary blurbs by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham do add value, but there's little here of real value, except to die-hards who already know all the details of the series already. I guess I'm still one of them, because I read this whole thing, but I'm trying to give it up.
November 11, 2013
OK, Fables is one of my favorite comics out there. I don't read it in comic form though, I buy it in trades. This book, a companion to the series, is excellent. It's simply a great reference work full of the back stories of all the characters, as well as insights from the creators. On a personal level, this series is far better than ABC's Once Upon a Time.
June 24, 2015
I like books like this where you get to know each character throughout a series and it helps since you're not sure which character was who. But with this one, you get an idea of each character, what they look like and which volume they appeared in. Also the art for each, love the designs and different covers. A good volume for any fable fan. Love the cover for this too.
December 13, 2015
I was quite disappointed that not all the characters were included. random characters that just died in battles were included but not some if the best, like babe the blue ox or Gary the pathetic fallacy! there were some mistakes (naming people as dead, when they show up alive in other issues)
did like the background and origins of the fairy tales/fables presented
did like the background and origins of the fairy tales/fables presented
January 27, 2016
This is a must-have for Fables fans. It gives the background of all the characters - both in real life (which stories they came from) and in the Fables universe. It shows some scenes from the different books for chosen characters, and it also has insights from both Mr. Billingham and Mr. Buckingham.
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