PETER AND MAX: A FABLES NOVEL ADVANCE REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Very Good

The tragic tale of Peter Piper – and his brother, Max.

Writer: Bill Willingham
Art: Steve Leialoha
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo

After giving us 88 issues of Fables, 36 issues of Jack of Fables, and the assorted special and mini-series, a lot of writers may feel like they’re running out of things to say about a single property. Not Bill Willingham. Next month, he’s turning his attention from the comic book form to the first ever Fables novel in prose, Peter and Max.

The story is set in two different time periods. In the present day, Peter Piper and his wife, Bo Peep, get word that Peter’s brother Max has returned to the Mundane world, and Peter vows to track him down before he can hurt his family again. In the past, we see Peter, Bo, and Max as children. The Piper family and the Peeps, longtime friends, are together when the Adversary’s forces invade their homeland, forcing them to flee… but Peter has something Max wants very, very badly.

As a Fables fan from day one, I really enjoy any avenue to further explore the countless fairy tale and folklore worlds that are available to us. Neither Peter nor Max (who is, we discover in this story, better known under another name) have ever made more than a cameo appearance in the comic books, and their story doesn’t appear to have any immediate impact on the ongoing storyline. Far from making this novel feel superfluous, however, it makes this the perfect story to tell in this format. Fans who don’t want to read it have no compulsion to do so, and fans of fantasy novels who have never read the graphic novel will be able to read this with no backstory needed beyond that given in the introductory chapter. Although many of our favorites do appear – Bigby, Rose Red, and several others have small roles to play in the story – only Frau Totenkinder from the main cast really has much interaction in the lives of the brothers. From the new reader’s standpoint, it’s just another episode in the story. For long-term fans, it’s another one of those moments that makes Frau one of the greatest characters in comics.

The story itself is wonderfully strong. It’s a sad story that marches on with a sense of tragedy and doom for most of the running time, but Willingham manages to leave the reader with a necessary sense of hope. It’s also a lot of fun – for long-term readers and newcomers alike – to go through the story noticing the Easter eggs and the nuggets from classic stories. Peter Piper, of course, only has one rhyme associated with his name, and it is addressed, but we see our three main characters fitting in to several other stories and events from the realm of folklore as well. Not unlike Jack Horner has filled the role of virtually every fairy tale Jack, Peter Piper is evidently the archetype for a great number of the Peters in our childrens’ storybooks.

Although this is a prose novel, that doesn’t mean there are no illustrations at all. Steve Leialoha, the usual Fables inker, provides us with wonderful black and white illustrations throughout the book – a piece at the beginning of each chapter and other pieces throughout the book, ranging in size from a small wink at the bottom of the page to one haunting illustration that takes up a full three pages later in the tale. As his work is so well-associated with the comic book, it looks perfect here with the prose.

Although the advance copy I read didn’t include this, I’m told the final version of the novel will have a short comic book sequence as well, hopefully intended to help new readers make the transition from prose novel to graphic novel. I’ve got my fingers crossed. This is a wonderful novel that really has the potential to bring in some new readers if it falls in the right hands. If you’re already a Fables fan, wondering if the novel is worth your time, the answer is a resounding yes.

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[Kukoc]

Great review..as a long time fables fan and I own everything written from both Fables and JOF-and currernly going back to read DCU Willigham and Sturgies stuff- I have this on my birthday wish list(same week as this comes out) and if I don't get it i will buy ASAP...thanks for putting this out there...