11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fabletown's own James Bond., August 10, 2010
This review is from: Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love (Paperback)
Bill Willingham's "Fables" franchise has become the big thing at the Vertigo publishing imprint, and in the last few years it has started to generate spinoffs, most notably the "Jack of Fables" ongoing series co-written by Willingham and Matthew Sturges. The latter series has increasingly become the primary responsibility of Sturges, with Willingham focusing on writing the main "Fables" title. The "Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love" miniseries nevertheless represents a significant milestone in the history of the franchise: the first property without Bill Willingham's name on it. Instead, we have writer Chris Roberson, a sci-fi writer and sometime collaborator of Willingham and Sturges' in the "Clockwork Storybook" writing group; the artist, Shawn McManus, has made some contribution to other "Fables" titles in the past. Spoilers follow.
Our protagonist is Cinderella, of course - everbody knows her story. Cindy underwent one of the most radical revisions of the major Fables characters, becoming a super-spy in the service of Fabletown, while operating under the cover of running a shoe store. It's not especially connected to her past backstory, which might make it seem a bit random, but Willingham in the past has been able to write a very plausible spy, and Roberson likewise proves up to the task. In this instance, Cindy is on the trail of a magical weapons shipment that has reportedly been sent into the Mundy world. In pursuit of her task, she travels to Dubai (the Las Vegas of the Middle East), and finds herself teamed up with none other than Aladdin, who is operating on behalf of the Arabian Fable world. The two form your typical spy movie duo, and proceed on the case. The result includes some follow-up on the "Arabian Nights (and Days)" story arc in the "Fables" title, as well as a reappearance by a certain important figure in Cinderella's past.
There's nothing truly revelatory here, to be sure. It's a well-told little jaunt in the tradition of James Bond, with a well-written female lead, and a few innovative uses of the franchise's fairy tale mythology; the sorts of things that one would expect from a "Fables" story. Cindy is a good lead character, and Aladdin is a fun addition. We also get a few scenes with the always-ominious Frau Totenkinder, everyone's favourite morally-ambiguous witch. The main complaint might be the comic-relief sideplot of Cindy's assistant Crispin, who is left in charge of the store while she's away (which is a lot) and ends up trying to sell a new line of magic shoes that predictably go awry. It's okay on its own terms, but it really has no relation to the main plot, seemingly existing to fill space.
Recommended for fans of the series.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
On the Fables' secret service!, August 10, 2010
This review is from: Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love (Paperback)
"My name is Cinderella. Cindy to my friends. Don't tell anyone, but I'm a spy..."
Bill Willingham's "Fables" series has always specialized in giving odd twists to traditional folk/fairy tale/fiction characters, and one of the more underused characters has always been Cinderella. And while Willingham didn't come up with "Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love," it's a fun gender-flipped spin on the James Bondian cliche.
After a deadly encounter atop Big Ben, Cindy flies home to Fabletown and her much-neglected shoe store (well, what else would she be running?). But then the new police chief Beast arrives to tell her of a new threat to the Fables and their secret town -- newcomers are apparently coming through the gates from the Homelands, and magical items are falling into Mundy hands. What's worse, nobody really knows whodunnit.
So of course, Cindy leaps headlong into the case, with a bit of help from Frau Totenkinder's magic-sensing ring -- and after a close call in a luxe hotel, she teams up with her Middle-Eastern counterpart Aladdin. Soon it's revealed that there's much more than smuggling and illegal immigration involved, sending them into the arctic world of Ultima Thule... and someone Cindy knows too well.
And while all this is going on in Dubai, Cindy's assistant Crispin is using her shop to turn himself into the newest fashion mogul in Manhattan. Unfortunately, the shoes have some... well, unpleasant side effects.
Magic carpets, genies, parachutes, shoemaking elves, Jenny Wren and some very obscure figures from the Arabian Nights. Most spy stories center on male figures (either in the Bourne or Bond mold), so it's fun to see a sexy, feminine woman getting to do the job, especially since we see Cindy's previous spy adventures through the centuries.
The one downside is that the whole Crispin debacle feels a bit tacked on, and isn't really connected to the main story. But the rest of the time, it's plenty of fun -- clever quips from Cindy ("I could never stomach slavery myself. As an institution, it reminded me too much of my former marriage"), the glitzy trip to Dubai, and a well-written twist near the end.
And it's fun to see Cindy busting through the fairy-tale cliche -- this version is smart, sassy, butt-kicking and rather cynical. And she has some good love-hate chemistry with Aladdin, a sexy bad-boy variant on the usual "Bond girl."
"Cinderella: From Fabletown With Love" is a fun, light spy story with a fairy-tale twist. And while the side story never quite caught me, the rest is quite nice.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing for a Fables Fan, November 16, 2010
This review is from: Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love (Paperback)
I am a HUGE fan of Bill Willingham's Fables and thus I was rather excited for Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed. It really lacked in the story department and Cindy came off as just a bit too vapid and stereotypical. Fables is so masterfully written that this in comparison just doesn't quite hold up. It's enjoyable, but on a very base level and I do hope we get to know Cindy a little better and not only as she's written here.
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