1. Background
Fables was created by Bill Willingham and first published by Vertigo in 2002. It tells the story of a group of folk
and fairy tale characters who now live in modern-day New York. They call themselves ‘fables’ and live in Fabletown
– a secret community – since they were forced out of their homelands.
Vertigo is part of DC comics and it targets a mature and sophisticated audience. Sometimes its comics contain
graphic violence, sex and controversial subjects. Each Vertigo comic has ‘Suggested for Mature Readers’ on its
cover.
As well as being a comic, Fables has inspired computer games creators. ‘The Wolf Among Us’ is an episodic
adventure game and Blue Tea games has a whole series called Dark Parables based on the comics.
Storyline
This page comes from the first issue of the comic which tells the story of Rose Red’s disappearance.
The main characters are Snow White and Mr Wolf. Both have some things in common with the
traditional fairy tale characters. Snow White looks the same – dark hair, pale skin and good looks –
but here she seems to be in charge of Fabletown. We get some clues to Mr Wolf’s animal nature,
which matches the fairy tales, later in this issue but here he seems more of a detective.
Here, Snow White has just learned of Rose Red’s disappearance and Mr Wolf is trying to persuade
her to stay out of the investigation.
This frame reminds
the reader of the
famous ‘Mirror,
Mirror’ part of the
Snow White story.
Rose Red is the only
character in normal
colour – everyone
else is shaded in
purple. This makes
her stand out so we
realise who she is.
These captions
continue the dialogue
between Snow White
and Mr Wolf from
the previous page.
This links the picture
with the current
story.
The action lines
suggest Snow White
has moved quickly
towards Mr Wolf.
This matches her
angry expression and
his slightly alarmed
one.
These silhouettes
emphasise the angry
body languages.