Fairest: In All The Land

Fairest: In All The Land written by Bill Willingham, illustrated by "a wonderland of artists," 157 pages

Ah, now this is Fairest at its best! This standalone graphic novel takes place in the Fables universe and focuses on international super-spy Cinderella (you shouldn't be surprised by this) as she seeks to track down a murderer intent on taking out all the loveliest fables, from Snow White and Rose Red to Morgan Le Fay and the Blue Fairy. What's even more fantastic about this book is the fact that the narrator is the Magic Mirror of Snow White fame, using his magical properties to see into various places in the universe and tell us the whole story. Really, I don't know why the Magic Mirror isn't the narrator for all of the Fables/Fairest stories...

Anyway, you would think that a single story illustrated by thirty-odd artists would be jarring to read. It's not. Each artist presents a "chapter" of the story as written by Willingham. True, the look of specific characters (especially Cinderella and her plethora of fabulous shoes) changes from artist to artist, but it isn't hard to tell who's who. And everyone did a fantastic job. You can't say that about most multi-artist graphic novels.

As I mentioned earlier, this is probably the best thing to come out of the Fairest brand. That said, it's not something you want to read if you're not caught up with Fables (at least through the 17th or 18th book). So read those, then read this. You won't regret it.