Fairest In All the Land

Fairest: Fairest In All the Land (2013) Bill Willingham

Although this is supposed to be a stand-alone in the Fairest series, I think in many ways it is more of a Fables story. Unlike 1001 Nights of Snowfall, I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who hasn’t read the series. There is a lot happening that either depends upon knowledge of Fables for complete understanding, or gives away much of the Fables story. Additionally, I think part of the story refers to events in the not-yet-published Fables Volume 19.

But, if you’re already familiar with Fables (with, perhaps, the exception of the last compiled volume) then you should have no difficulty reading Fairest in All the Land.

With the loss of the Business Office, The Magic Mirror and many magical devices were lost to Fabletown. Luckily, there are severed heads and the Barleycorn Girls–ahem–Barleycorn Women–to keep the The Magic Mirror company, and so he regularly tells them stories, since he can see almost anywhere in the universes.

But then he discovers something disturbing.

Someone is killing the great beauties of Fabletown. Bigby and Beast are both unavailable, so King Cole (once again Mayor of Fabletown) calls in Cinderella to see if she can catch the murderer.

A lot of reviews have panned Fairest in All the Land because it has a LOT of illustrators. Most chapters/stories are only a few pages long, and so there every few pages the story changes style. Perhaps because I tend to pay less attention to the drawings/illustrations than I should, I didn’t mind the constant change at all, and in truth kind of enjoyed it.

I liked seeing the different takes each artist had on the characters, and for the most part I didn’t have any trouble with the changes messing up the flow of the story with one exception. Tula Lotay drew Ozma much older than any other artist has ever portrayed her, so it took a second reading to realize who Cinderella was walking with. But otherwise, I quite enjoyed the changes.

And I quite enjoyed The Magic Mirror and seeing things from his Point of View. (Did you know that whole rhyming thing was a lie he led those who possessed him to believe? It reduced the amount of work he had to do, so he fooled his owners into believing questions had to be asked and answered in rhyme.

“My talent is rudimentary at best. I confess to being more of a barroom rhymer than fancy salon poet. More Robert Service than John Keats, if you will. But I enjoy it all the same.”

So despite some flaws, I quite enjoyed Fairest in All the Land, and now REALLY can’t wait for volume 19 of Fables. (Just a few more weeks!)
Rating: 8/10

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