I've only read two volumes of "Fables." The first volume and now this. While it can't be said that this book, "Animal Farm," was as good as the first one, Bill Willingham is an awesome writer simply for the way he switches things up. The first volume of this series was a traditional mystery,complete with a parlor scene at the end. This takes on a completely different genre, falling somewhere between adventure/thriller and war/revolution story.

Willingham also uses this book to flesh out his Fable mythology. The first book informed the reader that the Fables that couldn't pass for human lived on a sort of farm land up state, and the majority of this book takes place up there. We get to see Willingham and artist Buckingham's take on the animal and legendary-beast Fables, which ranges from pretty straight forward (Shere Khan the villainous tiger) to really surprising and innovative (the Three Little Pigs). There are literary references and nods to the original fables all around, which makes this a very loaded book, but it never really recaptured the intrigue of the first one.

All in all, despite being slightly less captivating than Volume One, this is a good addition to the "Fables" series and will certainly keep me reading.

PS: This volume includes bonus character sketches and a cover gallery in the back.

7/10

I was not sure if I should buy this collection after I read first one (Legends in Exile). But then I thought that the first one is a mere introduction to the world and characters - and I bought this one.

Second collection introduces even more characters and shows another location. But it also shows that this series is not about melodrama and nostalgia. It has some radical action and it looks into the "politics" as a system.

I enjoyed this second installment in the Fables series even more than the first. With much more serious issues at hand, and a great expansion upon the cast of characters, ANIMAL FARM is where the overall story arc really gets going. As the Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks plot revolution, Snow White and Rose Red stumble upon a secretive meeting that has the potential to jepordize the entire Fable community. Murder and strong-arm tactics by the revolutionaries make this story one of grisly revelations and desperate chases. With the cast of characters continuing to grow (and sometimes shrink), the reader becomes more and more familiar with the setting and the story, allowing Willingham to expand the scope of his writing and include more [sometimes quite vague] allusions to other tales.

This second volume also contained a lot more of the fanciful than the first. Giants, dragons, and talking animals galore make this a pure fantasy with nothing even remotely ordinary. Also, this is not a tale for children, with sexual references and graphic gore spread throughout (PG-13). With the introduction of the horribly extreme Goldilocks (seriously, a bear??) and Rose Red's new role, the future of the series promises to be highly entertaining. Can't wait to continue.

This is where the story really starts. The first volume just introduced the main characters and give a decent little murder mystery. Willingham has done so much with these characters you've known since you were a kid and crafts a great story out of them making them feel fresh and brand new.

In this volume Snow White takes off up to "The Farm" where the non-human Fables have to live. When she gets there she finds the farm in the midst of a hostile takeover led by a fairly popular group of pigs. She finds herself backed by a suprising ally in her attempt to strike down the rebellion. The story somewhat reminded me of George Orwell's classic novel Animal Farm.

Willingham's great mystery was the perfect way to introduce Fabletown and its residents, now we get to see where the Fables who can't pass for human live. And it gets a little Orwellian, talking pigs and all. It's a great political story and we really get to know Snow's dear sister--Rose. This is what really hooked me on the series.

This is considerably better. The non-human appearing Fables, banished to living in basically a work farm, are out for revolution. Their targets, are of course, the human looking and free roaming city dwelling Fables.

Snow White vs Shere Khan, is what this means. Rose Red, her sister, is not all she appears, either.

A lot more depth to this, with the obvious and not quite so obvious Orwellian elements and parody.

This arc/trade is well worth the time.

The premise of this wonderful series is to rewrite and expand the world of fairy tales. They characters of which has entered our world fleeing a great evil. Lost of fun, smart and witty, typical american style illustrations for the most part, but nice. Some similarities of premise to the Sand Man series, but not quite as inventive or as extensively research and deep. Start at #1 for the best read.

I picked up the first Volumne of these Graphic novel series a while ago and I've been trying to get the whole series ever since! The concept is new and interesrting and the art is always great.

Animal Farm was especially good because of all the twists in the plot line. Nothing is as it seems to be! Take my word.

Fables 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham is an unsatisfying sequel to Legends in Exile. Snow White takes her sister Rose Red up north to check on the Farm whose caretaker has mysteriously disappeared. Snow is hoping that she and Rose can reconnect after the events the previous book. Upon their arrival they stumble on a suspicious meeting of the Farm inhabitants that snowballs into a calamity for everyone there. Anyone who is familiar with George Orwell's classic story of the same name will not be surprised by the events of the story. I was disappointed in a few aspects of this version. The story seems truncated; this is a tale that could/should have been given more pages. It flies by so quickly, that I often felt like I had missed an issue. Also, Snow White is nothing like the take-no-prisoners version from Book 1. She's clueless and nearly helpless, relying on others to keep her from harm. Since this is a series known for turning stereotypes on their head, reverting Snow to a damsel is distress is frustrating. The denouement book covers too much time and glosses over too much. And a major plot problem: why can't Snow White die because of her popularity, but another well-known character dies without any significant notice? All of that said, the artwork is again divine, and the dialogue flows well. I'm looking forward to the reappearance of Goldilocks, and I definitely want to read more about The Farm and try to understand Red's motives.

Fables 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham is an unsatisfying sequel to Legends in Exile. Snow White takes her sister Rose Red up north to check on the Farm whose caretaker has mysteriously disappeared. Snow is hoping that she and Rose can reconnect after the events the previous book. Upon their arrival they stumble on a suspicious meeting of the Farm inhabitants that snowballs into a calamity for everyone there. Anyone who is familiar with George Orwell's classic story of the same name will not be surprised by the events of the story. I was disappointed in a few aspects of this version. The story seems truncated; this is a tale that could/should have been given more pages. It flies by so quickly, that I often felt like I had missed an issue. Also, Snow White is nothing like the take-no-prisoners version from Book 1. She's clueless and nearly helpless, relying on others to keep her from harm. Since this is a series known for turning stereotypes on their head, reverting Snow to a damsel is distress is frustrating. The denouement book covers too much time and glosses over too much. And a major plot problem: why can't Snow White die because of her popularity, but another well-known character dies without any significant notice? All of that said, the artwork is again divine, and the dialogue flows well. I'm looking forward to the reappearance of Goldilocks, and I definitely want to read more about The Farm and try to understand Red's motives.

I was really pretty disappointed by this volume. It was pretty good, but the first volume was really excellent and clever, and this volume was lacking a lot of what made that one special; the story felt very, very average. There were some excellent bits toward the end, but overall it didn't come off. The artwork was also unattractive. Still, I am going to keep reading the series.

Vol. 2 does not dissapoint as Snow learns there are many depths to her sister when they find the farm in upheaval. To say more would give away an exciting story that is well worth reading. And as always the story is beautifully drawn and inked.

This is definately a great volume in one of the best comics series I've read.
In this one, the fables are attacked an army of wooden soldiers sent by the enemy that forced them to leave their fairy tale world and reside our world. A battle is fought, I won't give away much else, but it definately seems that a larger story is developoning in the series. I definately feel the suspense to check out the next volume.

In a great series, this book stands out as a particularly good installment. Our characters already established, Willingham steps up the action and brings Snow White, Bigby Wolf, and the rest into the first long-awaited battle.

It is hard to talk about this book without spoiling it, but this book really gets deeper into the characters and makes you really fall in love with them. The issue where Boy Blue explains his sad past, and the splash in which Rose Red sees Snow White hug Bigby, are particularly poignant. The action is gripping as well, providing the most can't-put-it-down story of an already addictive series.

This book really reminded me of Brief Lives, in the Sandman series, in that it was a book that answered a lot of questions that had been hanging in the air, and gave the reader a juicy mouthful of everything they had been waiting for. I sincerely suggest that if you have been ho-hum about Fables after reading the first three books, that you stick it out through this TPB, because this one will make you love this series for life.

The first stroy arc of Bill Willingham's Fables was very good, though it was also an introduction to the characters. Now that we are familiar with Snow White, Bigby Wolf, Rose Red, and the other prominent members of Fabletown, the story can serve as the focus. That doesn't mean that new characters aren't introduced (they are) or that there isn't any character development (there is), but Willingham has more room to play with his creations.
Set just after the events of Legends in Exile, Jack of the Tales and Rose Red are still making up for their crime. Sentenced to community service, they are doing hard labor. Snow White, the deputy mayor of Fabletown, decides that it would do her sister, Rose Red, good to get out of New York and up to The Farm to do her service. After the various fables were exiled from their Homelands by the Adversary, the human fables took up residence in New York City. In order to keep from being discovered by the "mundys" (non-fables, similar to J.K. Rowling's muggles), the fables that don't appear human were relegated to a "farm" in upstate New York. Every other year, Snow White makes a visit to The Farm to make sure that things are running smoothly.
When Snow and Rose arrive, they learn that the the appointed leader of The Farm is nowhere to be found, and they walk in on a bizarre meeting run by the Three Little Pigs. As the story unfolds, Snow and Rose learn about a revolution, led by Goldilocks, now an "animal rights activist". The revolutionaries plan to take control of both the Fabletown and Farm governments so that the non-human fables no longer have to be confined to The Farm. While Snow White tries hard to keep the revolutionaries at bay, Rose finds out about a further plan to take the Homelands back from the Adversary, which may sway her allegiance.
The arc is a good conspiracy story, and things end with a few changes to the characters. There are also numerous things hinted at that will most likely occur in future arcs, which I am really looking forward to. Animal Farm is superior to Legends in Exile, which was great. If you read the first volume, you'll want to pick this one up, and if you've never read Fables, be sure to change that.

In the first volume of collected "Fables" stories, we were introduced to the Fables by way of a murder mystery. That case solved, this second volume brings back the main characters from the first book, but most of the action takes place on "The Farm," an upstate refuge/prison for Fables who can't blend into human society, which was only mentioned in the first book.

Many of the inhuman Fables are seething with resentment at being confined on the Farm, and Snow White and Rose Red arrive there to find a nascent revolution. The story proceeds from there with several twists and turns, but the most striking thing about this volume is that there's a lot more bloodshed. We're introduced to a bunch of new fairy tales come to life (such as the characters from "The Jungle Book" and the Bre'r family) and some significant characters die (and quite graphically). My favorite new character is probably the violent pseudo-Maoist revolutionary Goldilocks, who makes for a twisted villain indeed.

If you became a fan of Bigby the Wolf in the first volume, you won't see as much of him in Volume 2; he isn't part of the main story. However, we do get a lot more character development for Snow White and Rose Red, and we learn a little more about how "mundy" fairy tales actually impact the Fables' lives.

Bill Willingham, Fables: Animal Farm (Vertigo, 2003)

After the goodness that was the first Fables book, Legends in Exile, I couldn't wait to dig back into the series. While Animal Farm doesn't quite have the twisted brilliance of Legends in Exile, it's still a worthy successor.

In this volume, Snow White and Rose Red have to travel upstate to the remote farm mentioned in the first book, where the non-human fables are housed. Things have been running relatively well for a while, but suddenly communication is cut off, and on the way there, Snow White discovers some odd things as they're moving into the fables' land. When they get to town, there's no one around. Yep, something very odd is going on.

Where the book suffers-- slightly-- in comparison to the first is that some of the new characters we meet aren't quite as complex or intriguing (I should clarify, however, that many of them are) as those who popped up in Legends in Exile. Everything else about it, however, does absolute justice to the first book. It's delightfully warped, and Willingham has no compunctions about tossing some of fabledom's most beloved characters into the jaws of death without a second thought. The one thing you can definitely say for Fables, at least so far-- it's not predictable. *** ý

Another winner by my reconing. The twists and turns continue. A little side story fun, and a war between fairy-tale characters and MIB-attired wooden soldiers takes place in NYC! Who could ask for anything more!

Following on from FABLES: LEGENDS IN EXILE, FABLES: ANIMAL FARM, FABLES: STORYBOOK LOVE, here's the 4th volume compiled from the series. In it, another bit of 'history'; a major event in Snow's and Bigby's lives is coming closer; strange creatures from the Adversary's lands come into Fabletown and almost destroy it.

This one ramps up the pace, with most of the volume focused around the threat to Fabletown and its inhabitants. Be warned, some nice people die here; reminding us that Willigham is not above killing off his characters if it suits him for the sake of drama. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Just sounding a warning.

As always, top-notch entertainment that kept me reading; and re-reading.

Till Noever, owlglass.com, Author: KEAEN, SELDAIENNA, CONTINUITY SLIP

Comics left me cold. Fables: Legends in Exile and its sequels have changed all that. I remain unenthusiatic about most 'comic' fare, but this stuff is simply brilliant. Fairy-tales, dark, grim and gritty, with lots of in-jokes, allusions and amusing bits and pieces to delight someone brought up, as I was, on the 'real' Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Till Noever, Author: 'KEAEN', www.owlglass.com

With four collected editions under their belts, writer Bill Willingham and artist Mark Buckingham (and others)have raised the stakes for their series, as Fabletown is finally directly attacked by their mysterious Adversary, who rules the homelands in Europe and Asia.

Willingham has taken some pretty simple, almost cliche ideas, and has spun out one of the best comic books on the market right now. It helps that Buckingham's art, while deceptively simple, is so richly detailed and distinctive, standing as a perfect vehicle for Willingham's quirky plots.

This book first reprints "The Last Castle", a one-shot that details the efforts of the last refugees in the Old World, as seen through the eyes of Little Boy Blue. It's a tightly woven story, that offers little hope, and ends with even less, as the Adversary's overwhelming armies begin a siege and slaughter, while the last armies of the Fables fight to the last man to give the refugees time to escape. In the middle of this is Blue's tragic relationship with Red Riding Hood.

Then, the story arc "March of the Wooden Soldiers" begins in earnest, as, under mysterious circumstances, Red Riding Hood arrives in Fabletown. While Mayor King Coal is anxious to give her asylum (in part to fend off Prince Charming's bid for the mayor's office), town Sheriff Bigby (Big Bad) Wolf is immediately suspicious of this new arrival (he met her, after all), and shares his concerns with Snow White, the deputy mayor and real leader of Fabletown. Snow is, incidentally, pregnant with Bigby's child (or cub). Little Boy Blue also shares Bigby's suspicisions. Those suspicions seem validated when a sinister trio of men in black arrive on Red's heels, issuing demands against Fabletown for submission to the Adversary, and Fabletown must prepare for war.

"March of the Wooden Soldiers" is a completely engaging war story, with a dash of politics, domestic comedy, and romance mixed in. Snow and Bigby are among some of the best protagonists in the medium. And Willingham's sense of pacing and ability to tell unpredictable stories is nearly incomparable. Characters who seem indispensible die in the course of the battle (although, what is death for a Fable?), and the mystery of the Adversary looms large over the series (although Willingham drops some interesting hints in this story). If you aren't reading "Fables" in any format, you should be.

While the first of this series was truly original and the plot engaging, this one doesn't have that 'je-ne-sais-quoi' that made me like the first one. It has some surprising images, but the plot seems to be just a 'draw-the-line-between-dots' from an image to the next one. I didn't like either the climax-before-the-end; the story drags on from there.
All in all, it was a good read, but I expected much more from it.

We start out in Fabletown, with (Little) Boy Blue explaining how he happened to be on the last ship out of the Fables' homelands---and why he always plays the blues, and gets drunk on the anniversary of his arrival with the others who were aboard. Then we see three mysterious "Men in Black"---and find out that the Adversary's not only not gone, but more aware of the Fables' existence in our "mundy" world than we had been led to believe. Oh, yes---the title is quite literal.

This fourth volume of the collected Fables includes the one-shot special The Last Castle as well as the March of the Wooden Soldiers story arc.

In The Last Castle, Boy Blue relates to Snow White what happened on the last day in Fable lands as the final defenders fought the Adversary and the last boat escaped to our world. Among the cast were Robin Hood and his men, King Pellinore, The Red Cross Knight, Red Riding Hood and many others.

In main story arc, contact has been made from the fable lands as someone has come through the Canadian gate. While King Cole and Fabletown want to celebrate the new arrival, Bigby is very suspicious of the new arrival.

But there is more. Prince Charming begins moving ahead in his bid to run for mayor. King Cole is overjoyed at the sudden surplus of money from Bluebeard's holdings.

But there is still more. Agents of the Adversary have also made it to our world and they are preparing to march on Fabletown. They are numerous and nearly unstoppable. Technology and magic will be used to defend the free Fables from this new menace.

Another fine story with plenty of twists and revelations thus showing that this series is very far from going stale anytime soon.

The second volume of the new series about refugee fairy tales living hidden lives in our world. Most of the characters, known as fables, live in one of two areas. These are the community in New York City and the Farm in upstate New York. The farm is where most of the non-human-looking fables stay. Snow White is going for a regular visit to the farm. She is taking her sister Rose Red in hopes that they can patch up some of their differences.

Once on the farm Snow discovers that there is dissent on the farm. Many of the animals have decided that the farm is a prison. They want to take over. They are modifying modern weapons for use by non-humans and hope to eventually retake their homelands. Unfortunately this will not be a bloodless revolution.

The three pigs, br'er Rabbit, Sheer Khan, the Three Bears, Cock Robin, Chicken Little, and many others come together in this tale of revolution. This is not a modern day fairy tale. This is closer to the original Brothers Grimm. There is hurt and death involved although you will have to read this one to find out.

In short, this is a refreshing read and worth every penny. If you are testing the waters with the Fables title this is even better than book 1.

The entire story is written in a way that is self-contained and accessible to new readers. Fantasy, humor and politics all come together in this mature but quirky title and you never know what to expect next.

In addition to great writing, the art makes the read seamless and the story believable. Mark Buckingham manages to bring across depth and expressions in talking animals.

This would be the series I use to introduce comic books to non-comic book readers.

Bill Willingham's "Fables" is hands-down my favorite comic book being published today. The first volume in the series was a great mystery (and I urge you to read that before reading any further, since it's impossible to review this book without running the risk of spoiling the outcome). This time out he takes the turn of a political thriller. Snow White and Company visit the Fables farm, upstate, where the non-human refugees from fairy tales and folklore live. She finds herself caught in an uprising, fomented by enraged pigs (shades of George Orwell here) and backed by a surprising ally.

While "Legends in Exile" was a wonderful inaugural story for "Fables," it is here that the series really begins to hit its stride. The artwork is beautiful and the story is imaginative and sharp. This is a series that will take its place next to "Sandman" as one of the all-time greats.

In this second installment of the "Fables" series, we find ourselves on the "Farm" where the Fables who cannot pass as human have to live. Discontent has been brewing up there for quite a long while, and while I don't want to spoil the story, I will say that rebellion does break out.

As always, the look at "modernized" people from famous stories is fun, and I have to say that while I didn't agree with a lot of what the revolutionaries did, I could understand why they finally rose up.

For a little extra spice, there are a lot of references to a famous literary classic scattered through.