I like this fourth volume best because I found it brought together much of what has transpired in the first three volumes in this unique series. The mayoral campaign of Prince Charming against King Cole is resolved, Snow White's finally has Bigby Wolf's baby and has to move to the upstate farm, where Bigby is not permitted. This allows her to be reunited with Rose Red, and an unexpected visitor, who wants to help Snow White with her child-raising. We get substantial further background about Bigby, including his childhood and service during World War II. And, Boy Blue and Bug Boy are adrift, and there is a story of Snow White trying to recruit an ally from the Middle East against the Adversary (1001 Nights of Snowfall), following a familiar storyline. Meanwhile, things are increasingly unsettled in Fabletown, because of broken campaign promises. ( )

The art was beautiful (for the most part) and the stories were fine, but for some reason it left me underwhelmed. ( )

The premise: ganked form BN.com: Bill Willingham's hit series FABLES continues here, as issues #28-33 are collected for the first time in hardcover, along with the original graphic novel FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL.

My Rating: Good Read

It's probably the most choppy of the volumes, but it's still utterly fascinating. I wish Mean Seasons had been fleshed out more, but all the bits of history we get in 1001 Night of Snowfall more than made up for it. I'm ready and willing to continue reading, partially because the comic series itself over 100 issues long and I can't help but wonder how all the stories develop. Looking forward to Deluxe Edition #5 in June, but I'll let my hubby read it first, so he won't get grumpy. At any rate, reading Fables has sparked a renew interest in fairy tale stories, so guess who's downloading episodes of Once Upon a Time to watch? Yep, you guess it, that's me! The good news is that I'll get to compare fully, and that will be fun. At any rate, fans of fairy tales really need to start reading this comic book series if they aren't already. Read in order, be it the hardcovers like me or the trade paperbacks (which are farther along, the bastards), but seriously, get started. There's rich, wonderful stuff in these pages, and I look forward to continuing the series.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. As stated above, this collection binds issues #28-33 along with the graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall, if you aren't caught up to that, don't read the full review. Everyone else, the full review is linked below and will take you to my blog. As always, comments and discussion are welcome.

REVIEW: Bill Willingham's FABLES: DELUXE EDITION: BOOK FOUR

Happy Reading! ( )

Book four is split into 3 sections and oversees the changeover of administration of Fabletown as well as seeing the departure of a few characters for their own adventures. It kicks off with a two-parter called War Stories in a kind of homage to the Commando books I used to read in my youth. It deals with one of the missions Bigby undertook during WWII to invade a Nazi castle and take care of rumoured experiments to make a secret weapon. The second section, The Mean Seasons, deals with Snow White gives birth, the mayoral election and the changes that ensue afterwards. Time flies in this four-parter and by the end we reach a one-year birthday party for Snow & Bigby's kids. The final section is not part of the ongoing story arc of The Adversary but a companion piece that sees Snow White being sent to another Fables realm as an envoy to drum up support for the forthcoming invasion. Arriving at the Arabian Fables world she is treated almost like a prisoner. Finally, after many entreaties and demands, she gets to meet the sultan who intends to make her his bride for a night and then dispose of her in the morning as he has done with so many other treacherous females. Snow manages to put off the grisly deed by relating a tale to the sultan each night thus earning a stay of execution. "This sounds familiar", I hear you cry and yes, this is basically a precursor to Scheherazade though Snow relates tales from Fabletown characters' pasts. We learn of what happened to Snow White and the dwarves after Prince Charming came along, a tale of Renard the fox, the frog prince, the meeting of Bigby's mother and father, an event from the bunny wars, Frau Totenkinder's past, an adventurous woman who just wants to see all the world has to offer and how King Cole became so respected.

While the first two sections of this book continue in similar vein to the previous books of the series the third part is quite a bit more dark and gruesome. Some of these tales deal with the spoils of war, baby sacrifice and other similar occurrences. I have said before that this is not a series for kids but I think this volume raises the bar another notch. You have been warned! Having said that I still enjoyed the tales that were set out here. The insights into certain characters' past lives are appreciated and gives meaning to how they got to be where they were at the start of this series. It's a shame that some major characters have now left Fabletown but this will allow them to have greater adventures on the outside so I look forward to seeing how they do.

There's not much room for extras in this book but they do manage to include some pencil drawings and artwork from Mark Buckingham as well as biographies of all those who worked on the included stories. Roll on book five. ( )