Comic Review: Fables, vol 1

Link.

The basic rundown: every fairy story you've ever heard is actually true, and they've been run out of their homeland by a Sauron-esque adversary simply called... The Adversary. Catchy, no? They've now moved underground in New York and are attempting to live in such a way that the mundane citizens (or 'mundies') don't notice their existence, piddling away eternity, longing for their homeland. Along the way, there's murder.

In this volume, divorcee and bureaucratic leader of Fable, Snow White, is horrified to learn from detective Bigby Wolf that her sister, Rose Red, has been murdered. I won't tell you how the plot unravels, except to say that along the way we encounter a trickster Jack (the beanstalk one), a Bluebeard whose money sense borders on Robber Baron, a sword-wielding Cinderella, and a womanizing Prince Charming, all culminating in a rooftop 'parlor scene' wherein the mystery unfolds to a disbelieving audience.

This first volume was good, but I like a little more grit in my murder mysteries. It was well-written, the characters were likable and overall believable, but I couldn't get behind the story. Just a bit too PG-13 for my tastes. I like blood, gore, chases, forensics, and a healthy body count. However, this is just a personal grievance, and doesn't really reflect on the work. For those of you who like murder mysteries that pan out more like Clue and less like the latest episode of CSI, this is perfect for you.

Once HeavyInk gets the first volume of this series on their site, I'll drop my review there. It would be unfair of me to judge the series as a whole based on this first volume.

Watchmen Photos

I was originally intended on writing a giant blog post about politics and how I appreciated Obama's directness about his prior drug use, and how this should be lauded as an example of bold honesty in the face of so much vile vilification and puerile posturing. (Writing that was delicious.)

But then this showed its ass up and I couldn't ignore it.

There were some fun facts listed, too:

• 5,800 feet of neon requiring 24,000 watts of power
• 100 unique and custom-designed graphics created for the various storefronts
• 5,000 square feet of custom posters
• Street had to work for 1938, 1945, 1953, 1957, 1964, 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1985
• 1,040 feet of 1:1 scale New York streets
• 98,400 square feet of exterior scenery
• 12,500 square feet of interior scenery
• Building heights range from 23'9" to 42'6"
• 10,325 16-foot 2x4s
• 3,600 sheets of OSB (plywood-like construction material)
• 384,000 square feet of foam brick
• 200,000 nails
• 3,500 tubes of construction adhesive
• 160,000 lbs. of steel I-beams support the facades
• 300 cubic meters of concrete
• 6,000 square feet of glass
• 4,800 square feet of plexiglass
• 20,000 donuts were consumed by the construction crew
• 20,000 gallons of water and 3,000 gallons of Gatorade was drunk by the crew

The first response from my buddy Jason was, "So many donuts. I want that many donuts."

The images, in case you don't care to follow the link:

ME: The last foto became my background.

JASON: Nnnhuuuuurrrrddddd.

ME: Says the guy with a WoW background on a laptop he got primarily to play WoW on the go?

JASON: Hey, I'm doing homework right now.