Imagine that all the characters from the world's most beloved storybooks were real - real, and living among us, with all of their powers intact. How would they cope with life in our mundane, un-magical reality? The answer can be found in Fables, Bill Willingham's celebrated reimagining of the venerable fairy tale canon from Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf to Goldilocks and Little Boy Blue, the folk tales of old are reborn her as exiles living in the magically camouflaged New York City neighbourhood of Fabletown...

Fables: The Deluxe Edition - Book 1 collects together issues #1 to 10 of the comic book. This story arc was originally published between 2002 and 2003. While these issues have previously been republished in the graphic novel Legends in Exile (2003) this is the first time they've been collected in a hardback edition with good quality paper stock (the previous graphic novel simply reprinted the American comic book pages with a glossy paperback cover.

When a savage creature, known only as the Adversary, conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairy tales, all of the infamous inhabitants of folklore were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of modern-day New York, these magical characters have created their own peaceful and secret society within an exclusive luxury apartment building called Fabletown.

When Snow White's party-girl sister, Rose Red, is apparently murdered, it’s up to Fabletown's sheriff, the reformed and pardoned Big Bad Wolf, to find the killer. Meanwhile, trouble of a different sort brews at the Fables’ upstate farm where non-human inhabitants are preaching revolution - and threatening Fabletown’s carefully nurtured secrecy.

If you already own these issues it's not really worth rebuying them. However, if you haven't yet sunk your teeth into the Fables world, then this is the perfect place to start - right at the beginning of the series.

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Pete Boomer