Willingham, Medina, Leialoha, Hamilton - "Fables: Legends in Exile"

     I was telling one of the guys that I work with about me reading my very first comic (Artemis Fowl) a few weeks ago, and he immediately told me about the  "Fables"comic series.  The whole series is based upon all of the fairy tale characters that we grew up with, but with the twist that their adventures are set in a modern day urban setting rather than the typical, "far far away" or "long long ago" scenario.

     I thought it was so clever that when each of the fabled characters was introduced, they had their own unique (and usually corresponding) character in the "mundane" world.  For instance, Old King Cole was the mayor of "fable town" and Bigby Wolf was the investigating detective throughout the mystery that serves as the center of this story.  Overall it's just terribly witty and clever!

                              Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile
  
     The story opens with a murder scene, presumably the murder of Princess Rose Red, sister of Snow White.  Jack, of beanstalk fame, rushes in to alert Bigby of the terrific tragedy.  Detective Wolf begins his investigation of the crime, and in the process of, encounters many of our favorite story-book characters such as: Blackbeard, Cinderella, The Frog Prince, and Prince Charming.  Quite a few other legendary characters make brief cameos throughout the story as well.  Not only are Bigby and Snow (the Director of Operations of Fabletown) investigating suspects to solve the murder, but Princess White is trying at the last minute to pull together the annual "Rememberance Day" celebration.  As in most fairy tales, modern or not, everything finds itself working out to a "Happily ever after"... almost.  "Why almost?" you ask, well you'll just have to read it for yourself to discover the answer to that one. 

     That was a nice little break from real life, now, back to reality.... *sigh*

Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, Giovanni Rigano, Paolo Lamanna - "Artemis Fowl, The Graphic Novel"

     I've just read my very first graphic novel.  I feel so "with it."  I'm in the midst of reading "The Arctic Incident," and it's been a while since I read the first book in this delightful series.  The details of the first novel were a bit fuzzy; I've slept since then....  I was chatting with my hubby in his office, and my eye was drawn to this book.  I know he has a small collection of graphic novels and comics, so I was pleasantly surprised to find one that appealed to me, and was extremely relevant to my current predicament of pre-senior moments and memory loss. 
                                                                                                                                                                  Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel

    It only took me about and hour or two to read through it, and I must say it was pretty good.  It was easy to follow; it rehashed the story perfectly (from what my feeble mind can recall), was imaginatively illustrated, and was very entertaining.  I guess that's what one looks for in a graphic novel???  At least that's what I look for...  I'm not much of a connoisseur, but what more could you want?  The story introduces, 12-year-old criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl.  He goal is to restore his family's VAST fortune by kid-napping and ransoming a fairy.  Genius!  (If only it were that easy...)  Mr. Colfer and friends do a wonderful job of constructing and bringing-to-life a quirky cast of characters and an entertaining plot. 

     Despite me liking the book so much, I don't know that I'll be continuing to read many comics/graphic novels.   The reason is the same one I have for not usually watching movies based on the books that I've read... I like to imagine the scenery, characters, actions, etc that are penned in books on my own.  Every person's mind constructs the mental images in their own way.  When books are illustrated or made into movies, it puts a defined "picture" of events, characters, scenery, etc into your mind.  Sometimes those images match up with your own, and sometimes they don't.  Either way, I prefer to enjoy my own little constructs rather than have them defined by another.  I just like the ambiguity, I think, but again, it's just my own opinion. 

     If you do decide to embark upon this pictorial adventure "down the rabbit hole" with Artemis and his crew, I hope you enjoy it!