Fables: Animal Farm (Volume 2)

Vertigo

Fables:  Animal Farm (Volume 2)
Bill Willingham
Mark Buckingham
Steve Leialoha
2002

The Summary
"Fables of the world, Unite!

"Ever since they were driven from their homelands by the Adversary, the non-human Fables have been living on the farm--a vast property in upstate New York that keeps them hidden from the prying eyes of the mundane world.  But now, after hundreds of years of isolation, the Farm is seething with revolution, fanned by the inflammatory rhetoric of Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs.  And when Snow White and her sister Rose Red stumble upon their plan to liberate the homelands, the commissars of the Farm are ready to silence them--by any means necessary!"

The Good
Fables is a complex series, morally and politically speaking.  You get a taste of the microcosm in which they exist, the intricate relationships that tie them together and the political juggling act performed by Snow and others, in volume one; however, in Animal Farm, you really get to see how the divisions between the humanoid and anthropomorphic parts of the community split the Fable world.

It reminds me of George Orwell's novel from whence it takes its name.  By turns brutal and complex, Fables:  Animal Farm really dives deep into the dark side of the Fable world--and attempts to shed light on a political situation that is at once volatile and surprisingly tenuous.  It's fascinating to watch the story unfold.

I also enjoyed the inclusion of other literary worlds, branching out into the old folktales, like Br'er Rabbit and Reynard the Fox, and classic tales, like The Jungle Book.  There's so much history to them, so much depth to them from all the years of telling and retelling--and its interesting to see how my views, my feelings of these characters match up to their newly imagined counterparts.  It's mind-boggling to think these characters will not always stay the same.

The Bad
I don't always recognize the fairy tales and stories involved in Fables.  But, I think, that's more or less my own failing rather than anything on the part of the authors who brought these characters together in new and exciting ways.

The Ugly
Graphic violence.  It made my stomach churn.

And for good reason.  I very much disliked the Lord of the Flies reference.  It's quite obvious when you see it, and it's just as sickening.  (All I can say is:  Poor Colin.)