Fables question

calex71

Sorry if this has been asked before but didn't want to dig up old threads and risk spoilers.

Recently got back into comics after many years away from them, so started on fables after having played the wolf among us. (really hope that game has driven sales through the roof as we are really enjoying them here)

I'm up to March of the Wooden Soldiers, herself is up to vol. 9 or 10, but was curious at what point or if it matters when should I be looking to the spin off's like Jack of Fables, Peter and Max etc.??? From what I hear Jack of Fables are very good.

Really I just want to avoid spoilers for the main arc and what to know when the others are best read.

Cheers guys.

Edit: Oh if anyone can suggest the cheapest place to buy said comics online please feel free, book depository has been the best so far for me working out between €8-10 each volume.

Jayd0g

Bookdepository is my source too.

I haven't bothered with the spin offs too much as they're pretty self contained. You'll see some overlap in the

"Great Fables crossover"

but not too much.

The Fairest spin off is pretty good in it's own right and worth a look.

calex71

cheers for that , was just worried about spoilers for the main ones by dipping into the others.

CastorTroy

I'm going by the order from here

http://myreadingbooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-you-want-to-read-fables-updated.html

I'm halfway through Volume 7 of Fables myself so after this will start Jack of Fables and alternate so that'll bring me up to the Crossover.

calex71

CastorTroy wrote: »

I'm going by the order from here

http://myreadingbooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-you-want-to-read-fables-updated.html

I'm halfway through Volume 7 of Fables myself so after this will start Jack of Fables and alternate so that'll bring me up to the Crossover.

Very comprehensive , exactly what I wanted to know thanks!!!!

nicowa

CastorTroy wrote: »

I'm going by the order from here

http://myreadingbooks.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-you-want-to-read-fables-updated.html

I'm halfway through Volume 7 of Fables myself so after this will start Jack of Fables and alternate so that'll bring me up to the Crossover.

Thanks for the link. I was just coming here to talk comics/graphic novels. We've got pretty much all the main Fables ones and have just started into buying the tie ins. Luckily I'm just reading Wolves so I can safely start the Jack series next. Once I find where I left down the damn book...

calex71

So I've been reading and reading.... my god the pace this series sets is unreal , there is barely a wasted panel, just finished war and pieces and stated dark ages , I'm moving back to the jack of fables ones after this just to catch my breath vol. 9-11 were just the definition of epic.

I came into this series from the wolf among us game , and raved about how good it was as a game , but that isn't fit to wipe the comics behind at this stage and i've never been mad into comics , the series is so accessible from the get go with none of the pretentiousnesses that some comics have

Miss Calex has long finished all of them and is in a state of constant "hurry up and catch with me before i explode with spoilers"

nicowa

calex71 wrote: »

So I've been reading and reading.... my god the pace this series sets is unreal , there is barely a wasted panel, just finished war and pieces and stated dark ages , I'm moving back to the jack of fables ones after this just to catch my breath vol. 9-11 were just the definition of epic.

I came into this series from the wolf among us game , and raved about how good it was as a game , but that isn't fit to wipe the comics behind at this stage and i've never been mad into comics , the series is so accessible from the get go with none of the pretentiousnesses that some comics have

Miss Calex has long finished all of them and is in a state of constant "hurry up and catch with me before i explode with spoilers"

I'm in the same boat. The series is amazing and the amount of ground covered is just mind blowing sometimes.

Have you read many of the Jack ones? We have two of them - himself hasn't gotten to them yet though he's read all the actual Fables ones (he sorta knew he'd missed something but didn't know about the Jack spin off at the time). Well I've read the two Jack ones that we have and I'm really not liking them. I don't really like Jack as a character anyway - didn't like his Hollywood storyline at all - and while it's clear from the opening of the crossover book that I'm missing things I'm really not sure it's worth it to read the rest of them. From a monetary point of view as well as an enjoyment one.

What did everyone else think? Am I in a minority here?

calex71

nicowa wrote: »

I'm in the same boat. The series is amazing and the amount of ground covered is just mind blowing sometimes.

Have you read many of the Jack ones? We have two of them - himself hasn't gotten to them yet though he's read all the actual Fables ones (he sorta knew he'd missed something but didn't know about the Jack spin off at the time). Well I've read the two Jack ones that we have and I'm really not liking them. I don't really like Jack as a character anyway - didn't like his Hollywood storyline at all - and while it's clear from the opening of the crossover book that I'm missing things I'm really not sure it's worth it to read the rest of them. From a monetary point of view as well as an enjoyment one.

What did everyone else think? Am I in a minority here?

I'll get back to you on this I came to a dead stop in The Dark Ages where they reveal

Mister dark

I have just got to the point with Jack where he puts

Humpty dumpty back together

so vol2 i think, I know others who don't like him either. I was intrigued by the civil war arc in the earlier fables issues so had some interest in seeing that play out, but the spin offs so far are not playing out like i thought.

I was following the reading list as posted earlier and i am so glad i read 1001 nights of snow fall as suggested by that list it complemented vol 9,10, and 11 so well, there was one point in Fables 10 or 11 where the

cubs stabbed an action figure of jack

that I want to see how it plays out in Jacks tales, but really so far I'm unimpressed, I did like how they explained beasts beard in the main arc from the hollywood jack story.

nicowa

calex71 wrote: »

I'll get back to you on this I came to a dead stop in The Dark Ages where they reveal

Mister dark

I have just got to the point with Jack where he puts

Humpty dumpty back together

so vol2 i think, I know others who don't like him either. I was intrigued by the civil war arc in the earlier fables issues so had some interest in seeing that play out, but the spin offs so far are not playing out like i thought.

I was following the reading list as posted earlier and i am so glad i read 1001 nights of snow fall as suggested by that list it complemented vol 9,10, and 11 so well, there was one point in Fables 10 or 11 where the

cubs stabbed an action figure of jack

that I want to see how it plays out in Jacks tales, but really so far I'm unimpressed, I did like how they explained beasts beard in the main arc from the hollywood jack story.

I really liked 1001 Nights of Snowfall, espicially reading her own description of her back story. And seeing the back story of other characters. And then having slight mentions in the main story (drops in conversations where the other person is expected to know the history but the reader wouldn't without the Snowfall book). It really allowed the author to carry on the story without losing speed with exposition.

Let me know how you feel about the Jack ones then. If necessary I'll just find a synopsis online. As I said, my husband has read all of the Fables main storyline, so if I'm not going to read the Jack ones we won't bother buying them.

CastorTroy

I'm still way back in Volume 7. Took a break to read other stuff so have to get back to it.

So still have to start Jack and I know the Fairest spinoff will also have to be read in the future. I won't bother with Unwritten since, as far as I know, Fables affects it more than it affects Fables. Then there are a couple Cinderella GNs.

I just have my goal set as getting caught up before the final issue so time enough yet.

nicowa

If Unwritten is good then I will read it. I know it's a similar premise to Fables but I'm always on the lookout for something new with an easy starting point.

Unwritten is great, one of the real surprises of the past few years. An intelligent and fun book that has a lot going on but never feels derivative. It's the kind of book that after reading 2 volumes of I decided to hold off till the series was almost over before reading. Still pick up the trades as they are released but they sit unread on my shelf until that time when I can sit down and read the entire series over an afternoon or so.

nicowa

Thanks. I'll have to get it ordered in then.

calex71

Saw those advertised on the back pages of some of the fables volumes , going for reasonable money on book depository now too I see from 8-11 Euro with free delivery.

Could be one for after Fables for me, that said I'm tempted just to go digital at this stage, as much as I love the feel of the physical books I'm looking at the Fables/Jack/Cinderella pile and it's not small , might check out one of the samples on the play or amazon stores for Unwritten on my tablet and see how it looks.

calex71

Just reporting back on the Jack of Fables ones, I read 1-6 then went on to the great fables crossover, there is a lot of back story from jack that comes up in crossover, in fact the main plot arc in Jack affects it directly and some of the smaller revelations about jack also have an impact on events.

You could get away without reading them but I'm finding the crossover better for reading them as I know far more about the characters and plot than I would have other wise. Also there is to a degree an assumption there that the reader knows certain things from Jack of Fables during the crossover.

The down side is jack is jack and he's a tedious bastard at the best of times, and his character got old fast , everything about the Jack of Fables 1-6 is pretty good apart from Jack

calex71

I have new question re: the unwritten / fables crossover as I am up to date with fables , issue 141. is it necessary to have read the unwritten before hand ? I've been reading interviews with willingham and it;s not clear just how much that crossover ties into the final stretch of fables.

Oh I'm upto date on fairest now too, and I have to say they are pretty good , more so than Jack. worth reading wake up arc before the snow white arc (vol.19) of fables.

calex71

I had a quick flick through the fables arc in unwritten, I'm not familiar at all with the series but it looks to be almost entirely set in the fables world and events happen sometime between Witches and the Inherit The Wind arcs of fables.

nicowa

calex71 wrote: »

I had a quick flick through the fables arc in unwritten, I'm not familiar at all with the series but it looks to be almost entirely set in the fables world and events happen sometime between Witches and the Inherit The Wind arcs of fables.

We actually had the first vol of Inwritten all along. I'll be reading it. I still don't think I'll go get the Jack series though.

Ridley

calex71 wrote: »

I had a quick flick through the fables arc in unwritten, I'm not familiar at all with the series but it looks to be almost entirely set in the fables world and events happen sometime between Witches and the Inherit The Wind arcs of fables.

If the first two volumes are anything to go by, The Unwritten shouldn't go unread so read them all to be on the safe side.

calex71

nicowa wrote: »

We actually had the first vol of Inwritten all along. I'll be reading it. I still don't think I'll go get the Jack series though.

After reading all of Jack of Fables, I would say they are good up to vol6 where the cross over happens in fables, but jack is so annoying. IMO that whole crossover should never have happened in fables , as it was all set up and based on the events of vol. 1 -6 of jacks spin off so the cross over should have been in Jack. Then once vol.14 of fables starts spoiler slightly for vol 14 fables on

it's completely written off as if it never happened as snow and bibgy have no recollection of it and it never comes up again in fables ever as of issue 141

Fairest on the other hand is absolutely essential !!!!!!! Loved wake up which is the 1st arc, and does explain and expand on some later stuff in fables, around vol 16 i think it was, second arc is about repunzel , set prior to vol 1 of fables so not essential but is very very good. The 3rd arc is the massive bombshell arc which will absolutely affect fables towards its finale. Strange though as for the most part Fairest isn't written by Willingham.

This is a massive fables and fairest spoiler so don't read if you haven't read them all.

I was shocked that they did charmings return in Fairest and that it still hasn't come up in fables as of issue 141

nicowa

I can't wait to get to Fairest and Cinderella but I feel bad about skipping Jack. Oh well, moving on.

calex71

Seems Vertigo are releasing an arc of Fables based on the wolf among us game, good for folks who haven't played and don't want to I guess.

http://www.vertigocomics.com/comics/fables-the-wolf-among-us-2014/fables-the-wolf-among-us-1

I've read the 1st one, and it doesn't even cover the 1st episode of the game , not even close.

Finishes with Bigby throwing the woodsman out the window

so not value for money at all.

Ridley

"Nice illusion of choice you have here. Shame if anything were to... happen to it."

CastorTroy

Finally finished Fables and the spinoffs, Jack of Fables and Fairest. So all set now for the finale, which I think is due in a few weeks.

CastorTroy

CastorTroy wrote: »

Finally finished Fables and the spinoffs, Jack of Fables and Fairest. So all set now for the finale, which I think is due in a few weeks.

Due out today !!!!!

CastorTroy

Thought it was next week but you're right. will have to get this and read over the weekend maybe