I'm not as plugged in to the comics world as I once was. Of course, there's not as much to be plugged into, is there? The Comics Buyers Guide is long gone (final issue published March 2013), my stores no longer get Comic Shops News, and if The Comics Journal is still around, then it's not hanging out anywhere in my vicinity. I do read Previews and the house organs from DC and Marvel...but I guess that wasn't enough for me to be aware that Fables was coming back. In fact, I didn't glom onto that fact until the third of the new issues (#153) winked at me from the stands.
And I would have liked to have known about that a few months ago. I liked Fables. Quite a bit, actually. I don't know if I read all 150 issues of its original run, but I read quite a few of them, at least. Not to mention the related titles (like Jack of Fables) and various spin-off mini-series (like Cinderella). In fact, I liked it well enough to seek out more of writer Bill Willingham's work...and bought and read some of his Elementals books (published by Comico, a company which had a pretty good 15 year run back in the day).
I'll confess that I didn't have much in the way of details regarding how the series ended (well, "ended," ennit?) in issue #150. There was a big fight. Things seemed pretty much over. But even though I remembered liking the earlier issues more than the later ones, I retained enough enthusiasm to want to pick up #153.
But that would be silly, wouldn't it? I went to the back issue bins. And there I found one copy of #151 and one copy of #152--the latter only in the upscale cardstock cover version. I mulled it over. Put #152 back and carried #151 around the store a few times. And then I said to my self, I said, "Self, don't you see? This is what will happen: you'll read #151 and want to read #152, but when you come back it will be gone, and then you'll have to go to a lot of trouble to find another copy." And that sounded like good advice, so I went back and picked up #152. Didn't get #153, just in case I wasn't pleased with 151 & 152, because I figured that there were plenty of copies of that, and I didn't imagine there'd be a sudden surge in demand for it.
When I was checking out I chatted for a moment with the clerk, who told me that he'd never read Fables, but had heard good things about it. He also told me that the new issue (that being the one I hadn't bought) was listed on the order forms as #153 of 162 issues. Which is kind of amusing.
Anyway....
This morning I finished reading 151 and 152. I'll be going back to the comic book store this Friday for #153.
These issues do, indeed, pick up right from the ending of the original run. Things are pretty much totally fucked up, and the lead characters are out and about, searching for a new home. But just when you're thinking, "This is going to be a loooooong coda," something BIG happens. And it was BIG enough that I didn't even pause for a minute before I opened the next issue.
So that's a good sign.
Funny, when I was talking to the clerk at the comic book store, he told me that he never got around to reading Fables because he was so disappointed by the interior art...and specifically said that he liked the cover art so much that he couldn't stand the "bad" interior art. But I find the interior art very much to my liking. It's a bit of Keith Giffen back in his heyday. But not in any "I'm doing Keith Giffen" way. And the layouts are just lovely, what with the little margins framing each page. Which does admittedly squeeze some content out, but I feel like I'm getting my money's worth anyway.
And now that I've finished reading these issues and am looking to getting the next one in a week, guess what else I'm thinking about?
Yep, you guessed it:
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