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Why didn't you tell me Fables was awesome?
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Of course, modern stories isn't what Fables is about. Plus, copyrights. It would be interesting to see them though.
3DS: 5241-1953-7031
Yeah, but those characters aren't fables per se ... maybe with the exception of vampires. Sherlock Holmes and the Invisible Man are fictional characters from novels.
During King Cole's Remembrance Day speech he specifically mentions two Kingdoms falling before whichever one it was he came from. Am I correct in thinking that the Emerald Kingdom is OZ and th great Lion's Kingdom is Narnia? It just seems a bit odd because those stories don't seem quite old enough yet to be fables.
The Emerald Kingdom is not Oz, it's from the Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote. You can tell because, in the adjoining panels, Don Quixote and Sancho are both shown.
The Kingdom of Narnia is indeed mentioned, but only obliquely (those characters are all still in copyright). He is referred to only as a holier-than-thou Lion. The fact that Narnia is referred to disparagingly is probably intentional, given the amount of detail in the books.
The difference is that folk tales - fables - are actually believed, at least for a time. There was a time where Snow White was told as true (however much the parents knew it to be false) to children, but Superman was never told as true.
It's been shown repeatedly that belief is a strong connector to the power of the particular fables (e.g. Jack of Tales' massive empowerment after his movies renewed popularity, and the current arc in Jack's book) but isn't the sole indicator (e.g. Frau Totenkinder destroying Baba Yaga without much effort). The fact that people dont believe in Superman and other such modern stories in the same way may be key.
There is also the fact that it is unclear how Fables (in the sense of mythical characters) are created. The current Jack arc indicates that there was a period in the Mundane world's history where magic creatures ran rampant, but they were slowly murdered and removed. The fact that Fables from the Homelands receive power from our belief isn't explained.
EDIT: We actually know that the time of first telling of a story is irrelevant to the time of 'creation' of the Fables. For example, the Liliputians came to our world years and years before Gulliver's Travels was ever written. Similarly, Wonderland was conquered long before the books were ever written.
There have been certain stories (not in Fables, but in other books) where Authors and other Artists are viewed as not in fact creating, but receiving information from distant lands somehow. In this way, perhaps only those stories that are based on "actual" things in the Homelands empower Fables, while other stories (i.e. other lies) don't do anything.
(this is all reminiscent of discussions of Gaiman's American Gods books)
i actually kind of thought that was because in america, hansel and gretel were way more well known than baba yaga
not totally, but at least related to that
plus, frau totenkinder is one of my favorite characters. she's gotten a lot more clever since the days when children were able to trick her into ovens
If you go back and read their conversation, it's clear that they both agree that Baba Yaga is better known than Frau. The reason is simple: everyone knows Baba's name - their belief is focused - whereas the name "Frau Totenkinder" is just a clever name (meaning Ms. Child-cooker) the creators of the series made up. Frau is a collection of all the ambiguous black-forest witches of several stories - like Jack - but normally this would mean that she'd be weak (like Jack before his movies). In their conversation, Frau indicates she doesn't fully believe in the "belief=power" concept, but that claim is weakened by the fact that she also talks of having lain a variety of magical wards over Fabletown to create a "place of power".
fuck i'm probably going to go back to the shop and pick up 3 - 6 tommorow.
so expensive but so good
How is that claim weakened? She was laying magical wards. That has nothing to do with the belief of the mundies.
~"The Ballad of Morgan Brown"
I thought the first trade (I dunno, first six or so issues?) was kind of weak, not bad but not especially standout, but by the third trade it had really picked up steam. The series just seems to continue to get better as you find out more about the characters' pasts, and their relationships with each other. Plus, characters actually grow in this series, something that's hard to accomplish in more mainstream titles. Characters are constantly moving in and out of the spotlight, some dying, some leaving Fabletown, some returning triumphantly, etc. I find that the more I read of it the more I appreciate it, because events just continually build upon each other.
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More awesome then words can describe.
(i don't have any money
Yeah, it blew me away. Too many fantastic character moments.
same here
I'm already pushing a lot of things untill after christmas
my old/semi-future boss picked it up
i'm sure i can borrow it from him
Worth the price of admission just for the Frau Totenkinder chapter.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Man, she was totally smokin' way back when. 1,001 Nights of Snowfall? More like 1,001 Panels of Gratuitous Nudity.
Derek Kirk Kim's part was my fave, but way too short. Good mix of sad and funny. I wish he'd do a monthly comic.
But the whole book was made of awesome delicious.
Does it get better with subsequent books? I'd really like to love it, but I'm not sure if I could put up with it if the writing didn't improve. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't something I'd follow the whole way through.
I hate you.
Also poor Ambrose, he wasn't one of my favorites in the main series but this one made me like him more, and I really like the way he was drawn in it compared to the main series.
I know this was actually a really sad scene, but man seriously
Laser beam eyes
The magic has to get there somehow. But ill admit, when I opened up that page I saw that out of the corner of my eye and thought "what the hell?" It made alot more sence when I actually read it. That story and the frog prince's were both really sad.
Anally.
Heh.
Frau Totenkinder totally means Ms. dead children. Not Child-cooker.
And she says that while she doesn't really believe in the belief=power as it hasen't been tested under controlled conditions, she does mention that while she tried to stay out of the spotlight and keep her own counsel, she also happens to be the witch from Hansel and Gretel, making her an incredibly, incredibly well-known Fable, easily on par with Baba Yaga in modern times, seeing as Baba Yaga actually isn't that well-known these days anymore.
She also says that Baba Yaga used to be better at magic than her, but she's had centuries upon centuries to lay down magic wards and create her own place of power.
So basically you're wrong about a lot of stuff, actually.