Peter & Max by Bill Willingham

Peter & Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham with illustrations by Steve Leialoha is released today. This is the first novel inspired by the popular Fables graphic novels. This franchise only appears to be growing, so congrats and kudos to the writers and artists. I can't believe it has been seven years now.

Since I haven't had the pleasure of reading the novel myself yet, I thought I would share some reviews from elsewhere.

First an article with interview though: PETER & MAX - Bill Willingham Takes FABLES to Prose.

Over the last seven years since the award-winning, best-selling series began, Fables has broken a lot of the unwritten rules of ongoing comic book series. Readers have seen characters evolve and change, the series premise completely turned upside-down, its main setting destroyed and some of the most beloved characters die.

Now the rulebook gets tossed out altogether as series writer Bill Willingham has written his newest Fables story in a novel published by DC's Vertigo imprint. Peter & Max, a 389-page hardcover book, is being released this week with the subtitle: "A Fables Novel." Although there are a smattering of illustrations by Steve Leialoha running through the book and an eight-page mini-comic in the back, the main story itself is written entirely in prose.

And some reviews:

Review: Grimm and bear it, 'Peter & Max' is an adult fairy tale worth reading by Randy Myers

More Brothers Grimm than Mother Goose, "Peter & Max" creates a captivating mythology that can be easily followed even by those unacquainted with the comics. Surely, if you are a "Fables" follower, you'll get more out of it, but great pains have been taken to entice the uninitiated to the series. As a bonus, a few of Steve Leialoha's illustrations set the whimsical mood.

"Peter & Max" Modern Day Fable Brings Back Happily Ever Afters by Graeme McMillan

As it turns out, I needn't have worried: Despite a somewhat awkward start (Where, yes, Willingham veers close to killing momentum and interest through world-building for people who've just come in) and seemingly rushed climax, Peter & Max distills all of the charm and sly, subtle invention that Willingham has brought to the familiar characters in the series so far into an all-new story that sidesteps the comic's continuity for the most part, offering something that's familiar enough to reassure old faithfuls, but also unencumbered by a past that would scare off newcomers.

Peter & Max: A Fables Story Review by Richard George

To the extent that Willingham creates a stirring, memorable rivalry, there is little to critique. By the end of the book, it will be hard not to be mesmerized by these two individuals and their ultimate fates. Some sequences, both in the past and present, are downright brilliant, and the advantages of a prose medium are clearly demonstrated. Scenes are able to play out at a more leisurely pace, and chapters can cut away to a different moment in time to leave the reader in suspense. And the payoff to some of these cliffhanger chapters is superb. What wasn't as effective was the development of one of the main characters.

So overall a strong response and recommendations for both fans and those who are unfamiliar with Fables. If you are wary of graphic novels--they require a different setting of the brain for me, I admit--this may be the way to be introduced to the mad, crazy world of fairy tales as envisioned by Bill Willingham and Company.