Peter & Max: A Fables Novel
The critically acclaimed 1st-ever prose novel published by DC/Vertigo — now in trade paperback.
Set in the imaginative realm of the award-winning comic book series FABLES, the book will take spot extended ago, in the deepest dark of The Black Forest. Two brothers — Peter Piper and his older brother Max — encounter ominous forces that change them both irreparably. Hence begins an epic tale of sibling rivalry, magic, music and revenge that spans medieval times to the present day, when their deadly conflict surfaces in the placid calm of modern day day Fabletown.
PETER & MAX: A FABLES NOVEL functions the prose of award-winning comic book writer Bill Willingham and the lush ink drawings of FABLES artist Steve Leialoha. The novel also reveals secrets of some of the regular FABLES series cast members including Bigby Wolf, Frau Totenkinder and Bo Peep. Also included is an 8-page sequential story by Willingham and Leialoha that serves as a bridge to the FABLES titles.
List Value: $ 14.99
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{ 3 comments }
Loved it,
I am a fan of Fables. Mr Willingham took one of the stupidest concepts ever and made it into a compelling world that I look forward to visiting every few months when a new graphic novel comes out. This book just proved that Willingham doesn’t need the artists to make up for any weaknesses in his storytelling ability. Peter and Max follows the adventures of Peter and Max Piper, and their ultimate conflict. Bill does a wonderful job of incorporating all of the legends that reference Peter or Pipers in general, he’ll pick a pepper, the pied piper will do what he was famous for etc… If you are a fan of the Fables series I cannot recommend this highly enough, if you are not this is as good a place to start as any, and might be a little less overwhelming as there aren’t that many characters within this book. Also, there is less interaction between the Fables and modernity in this book, it pretty much reads as straight fantasy. Wonderful story that hooked me after about twenty pages, a great read and I highly recommend it.
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|Escape into a clever, fun and imaginative fairy tale!,
I haven’t read comic books in over 20 years, and had never heard of the Fables comic line this novel is based upon. I also initially wondered why, with all the possible fairy tale characters out there, Willingham had chosen to focus his tale on the tongue-twistered Peter Piper. So, I was a bit skeptical when I first picked this up to read. But, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was relieved that I didn’t need to have read the comic books to do so!
The story and characters, if not terribly complex, are entirely imaginative and entertaining. And, kept me turning the pages, even when I should have been sleeping. Willingham is somehow able to combine taking his characters plight seriously with a tongue-in-cheek, dry wit that pokes fun at the zany world he’s created – which makes it all the more enjoyable.
While the main storyline is about Peter and his brother Max’s rivalry, a whole cast of fairy tale characters make an appearance (Snow White, Red Rose, the Wicked Witch, Beauty & the Beast, Bo Peep, ….). The fun part is that now they’re all living together in Fabletown in a modern New York, having joined together to escape an evil adversary.
The ending was a little predictable, but it did resolve as a fairy tale should. And, after finishing this quick-read, I felt indeed that I’d just read a good, imaginative fairy tale.
A Favorite Line: “Fable women tend to be ‘the fairest in all the land’, which loses much of it’s cachet when you have hundreds of such beauties crowded into such a small neighborhood.”
Bottom Line: A clever, fun fairy tale whether you read the comics it’s based upon or not. Particularly recommended for anyone who enjoys fairy tale re-tellings like Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Harper Fiction) or Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister: A Novel.
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|BEAUTIFUL!,
I’m a huge fairy tale fan and being a long time comic book reader as well I’ve been familiar with Steve Leialoha’s work for ages. This is a great combination of beautiful storytelling and illustrations. A bit on the dark side, not probably good for small kids but fine for older kids. No sexual content but some nasty language near the end and one brief graphic murder near the begining.
Wonderful writing and a facisnating tale thorwing all kinds of fairy tales into the mix. What a great read! I’ll be looking into more stuff by this author.
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