Graphic Novel Review – Fables Encyclopedia by Jess Nevins

I received this book free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Fables Encyclopedia by Jess Nevins
Series: Fables
Published by Vertigo on October 29th 2013
Pages: 256
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
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The histories behind the fairy tale characters in New York Times best-selling author Bill Willingham's series FABLES are uncovered here in the FABLES ENCYCLOPEDIA. Exhaustively researched by author Jess Nevins, these annotations fill in details hailing down from ancient myth and forgotten civilizations of the timeless figures that compose the world of Fabletown, including Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Boy Blue and many more. This new compendium is a must-have addition to any FABLES afficianado's library as well as any fan of modern folk lore and fairy tales.

With the abundant amount of characters introduced throughout the Fables series it can be difficult keeping track of each and every one. The Fables Encyclopedia is a fantastic companion guide to remembering each character and the roles they played in the story. In addition to their Fables role, we’re given a detailed and fascinating history on the characters that existed outside of the Fables universe. Snippets of comics were re-printed from past issues to detail certain characters as well.

I enjoyed reading about several lesser known characters that were only given brief appearances in the comics and finding out more of their backstory but was disappointed by how it wasn’t as up to date as I’d hope. Many of the stories of characters from the spin-off series weren’t elaborated on in particular a character from Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland. Considering that issue was published in November 2012 and this Encyclopedia was published October 2013 I would have expected those updates to be covered. The comic snippets were nice to read again but seemed repetitive and unessential since it wasn’t adding anything new to what the text already disclosed. Clearly not an all encompassing guide, Fables Encylopedia is fairly informative but mostly interesting in regards to the characters lives outside of the Fables universe.