Geeky Things: Loving the Fables Universe

Hello my fellow geeks and welcome to the first article of a new segment, Geeky Things.  These articles will work more like conversational pieces, where I get to geek out along with you, so if you'd all like, submit below for what I should cover in the next Geeky Things article.

In today's article of Geeky Things I'm going to put some love into showcasing a comic series which has been around for seventeen years. With the up coming anniversary of Fables in July, this article can help to kick start a bit of love for the twisted fairytale and multi genre comic series.

Where My Love Began: I'll admit I've come to find the Fables universe rather late, however, it all began with Tell-Tale's the Wolf Among Us hooking me into the hidden world of FableTown and snatching my wonderful fangirl heart into the persona of Sheriff Bigby Wolf. I have a friend to thank for the wonderful game recommendation and I whole heartily say, nab a physical copy of this and its respective material.

Of course I had to cosplay the lovely character of Bigby, complete with my own diy fake paper made Huff & Puff cigs and a pack to boot!) 

However, the cosplay was just the first step and following about five playthroughs of the Wolf Among Us, my interest in its lore and universe didn't stop there. I began to look for comic books and promptly found myself searching about the lovely summer comic con for any hint of fables.

 What I ended up with were three comic issues based around the game's story with much deeper lore explaining certain actions and characters. 

While I love the little arc I've read (and I plan on getting the rest) I wanted to read "Fables Proper" as it is called. The mainline Fables series penned by the great and famous Bill Willingham, for which the Wolf Among Us was based upon.

It was then that I found the beautiful deluxe editions of volumes one through three for Fables Proper and I fell in love with the stories instantly. 

An Obscure Fandom: The Fables fandom is small, there's a hastag Bigby Wolf cosplay and perhaps a handful of cosplay videos (makeup tutorials and skits) but they are very few and far between. For a series that has been around for almost seventeen years with various spin offs such as the Wolf Among Us comics or the short lived 12 issue Ever-After, there is little buzz around the fables series since it ended in July 2015 with it's 150th issue. 

What makes the whole thing more saddening is, reportedly Vertigo Comics is being "shut down." 

However, while it is mere speculation and rumor at this point, Fables happens to be one of their properties and as such, fans of the series will want to grab what they can. As apparent by the deluxe editions flying out of stock on Amazon, Fables fans and those intrigued by Fables (including I) are going to need to empty our pockets if we desire to own the graphic novels. As Fables proper has been collected in multiple issues of these graphic novels. While I own up to issue 27, there's no telling when Vertigo may or may not go. However, it will be a sad day should DC comics discontinue the selling of this incredible series unless something is done to pull Fables back into the limelight.

Movies and Television Failures: Back in 2014, a studio and two broadcasting stations (ABC & NBC) had acquired the rights to do tv shows and a movie for Fables was also in the works. Unfortunately none of these were to be and for some reason they all fell through, however, many speculate that although Fables failed to find solid ground on the silver and small screens, Once Upon A Time and Grimm were respectively both derived of similar concepts. For example, Grimm has the dark nature and investigative propperties of Fables while Once Upon A Time follows the characters we know (i.e. Snow White, Prince Charming, etc) trapped in the real world in a little hidden community away from the world called Storybrook, do these premises sound familiar at all to the hardcore Fables Fans?
While it is true that Mr. Willingham himself took to denying and even defending the brilliance of OUAT, it is still a wonder what really happened to getting Fables off the ground. All the while the series was more than likely at the peak of its popularity back in 2014, especially given the release of Wolf Among Us the year before.
Still, since the ending of both Grimm and OUAT, it would be great to see someone adapt the Fables Universe and bring a fresh perspective to new audiences who may not be familiar with the obscure comic series. In fact, it could garner interest in Fables again if a film or tv show were to be brought to wide audiences, however, there is little hope for that happening at least for now.

But What's it all about?: Fables is in the running with a genre known today as the twisted fairytale genre. This genre takes characters from the world of classic fairy tales and places a spin on them that leads to reinvention of tales we've all grown to know.
 The story for Fables is simply that, a powerful force has made the fairytale characters abandon their home and seek refuge in our world, the Mundy world as its named. It is here that Snow White and Bigby Wolf must keep law and order, all the while facing challenging ordeals of maintaining their own lives both romantic and otherwise. Through a series of trials and tribulations they go day to day facing unhappy fables and devious intentions, rebellion, and social class based riots, as they struggle to find their place in the mundane world.
Other fairytale stories similar to this would be books such as Unenchanted or the Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley.

To Wrap Up: No matter the series, whether its Fables, UnEnchanted, or the Sisters Grimm, the realm of re-telling these classic fairy tales is unlimited. Fables itself paved the way for a multi-facet of genres using Fairy-tale folklore and classic literature figures as well. Where other series merely use fairytale characters, Fables had the means of taking all kinds of Folklore from oral storytelling to French stories, Fables is truly a unique series and one that should not fall into obscurity.
I highly, highly recommend checking out all of the aforementioned books, tv shows, graphic novels, and comics, they are all worth the time to sit down and enjoy with a cup of coffee and your favorite snack and to share with a friend or two because these stories will stay in your library and memory for a long, long time.