Fairest Vol. 3: The Return of the Maharaja

Fairest Vol. 3: The Return of the Maharaja (2014) Sean E. Williams, Stephen Sadowski, Phil Jimenez

I am a huge fan of Fables, but I have not cared for all the spin-offs–especially Jack of Fables. I despise Jack, and can’t stand reading about him.

But I’ve enjoyed Fairest, and so had Vol 3 on pre-order, and actually sat down and read it when it arrived.

First: take a look at that cover. Take a close look at it. Notice anything?

How about this picture then?

See it yet?

Nalayani is AWESOME. And she is drawn gorgeously. Check these out:

Gorgeous.

Funny thing is that the cover got Nalayani’s attitide right, but it’s one of the only pictures that makes her look Caucasian, which is really too bad. But I suppose I’ll take getting the attitude right first.

So what else can I say about The Return of the Maharaja? The story was somewhat weak, but I totally didn’t care, because the parts that were weak involved one of my least favorite characters, back from the dead.

SPOILER (rot 13)

Lrnu, V ungr Cevapr Punezvat.

Qrfcvfr uvz.

V qba’g pner gung ur fnpevsvprq uvzfrys. Ur’f na nffubyr.

Naq lrg, va guvf fgbel, V sbhaq zlfrys abg ungvat uvz fb zhpu.

END SPOILER

But seriously. The art… it simply blew me away. I love Nalayani and I fucking ADORE how she was drawn. She is amazing. She is awesome.

She was so wonderful that I didn’t care that her supporting story was somewhat weak, because I liked her so much.

Can you read this without having read the first two volumes of Fairest? Most certainly. Can you read it without having read Fables? That I’m not so sure about. There is a LOT you’d be missing if you hadn’t read Fables–a lot of important stuff, some of which pertains to the portrayal of the characters (see above spoilers and my opinion of the male lead.)

But the art… absolutely marvelous.

Please note: there are salacious bits here. They’re understated, but they’re definitely there. Fables has always been an adult comic, and that hasn’t changed here, but I don’t think I’d hesitate to give it to a 17 year old.

Absolutely marvelous.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Vertigo

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