Graphic Review: Fairest in All the Land by Bill Willingham

In the spirit of FABLES: 1001 NIGHTS OF SNOWFALL and FABLES: WEREWOLVES OF THE HEARTLAND comes the first ever original graphic novel from the pages of #1 New York Times bestselling writer Bill Willingham's FAIREST.

FAIREST has explored the secret histories of the most stunning beauties in Fabletown: Cinderella, Snow White, Briar Rose, Rapunzel, and the list goes on and on. In FAIREST IN ALL THE LAND, the best names in comics take their turns fleshing out the pasts of the loveliest Fables in existence. For all those wanting to dive into FAIREST or FABLES, this original graphic novel is a fantastic entry point, as well as a great new chapter for those that have been following Bill Willingham's fairy tale epic for years.

Fairest in all the Land is an original Vertigo Graphic novel that features a lot of female characters kicking a lot of asses so naturally I loved it. Comic books may not be just about male characters but it is dominated by male fans. I think this often leads to the sexualisation of the female characters in comic books. Often the clothes are painted on or skimpy and the characters become one dimensional when they become love interests. Thankfully, there was very little of that in Fairest in the Land. As a female who reads comics I cannot tell you how awesome it is to see a comic book where a vast majority of the characters are strong, smart and feisty females.

On a whole this graphic novel was really enjoyable. I liked the story it was interesting, action packed and kept me interested. There were loads of fighting and loads of gore which I quite like in my fiction. There was also a lot off mystery and I like the cat and mouse aspect of it. My only issue in terms of storytelling was a very lengthy introduction by the magic mirror. It just dragged on far too long and I didn’t like the characters voice at all it sounded false. It was not a great start to this graphic and there was a moment where I wasn’t sure I was going to continue reading. I am really glad I did because I really enjoyed the rest.

This Graphic was split into sections each illustrated by different artists. This was both a good and bad thing. It was good because I got to see loads of different styles and it kept things interesting. It was bad because the characters kept changing and sometimes it took me a little time to figure out who everybody was.

Fun, feisty and female-tastic, Fairest in all the Land is a great graphic Novel that does something a little different with the fables we all know and love.

3 stars

Published November 26th 2013 by Vertigo.  A free copy was provided for review.  Images courtesy of Goodreads.

Review by Kate Phillips