174. Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love

Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love by Chris Roberson. Art by Shawn McManus (Canada) - (USA)
Fables: Companion Volume

Pages: 144
Ages: 18+
Finished: Aug. 25, 2010
First Published: Aug. 10, 2010
Publisher: Vertigo
Genre: Graphic novel, fantasy, fairy tales
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Everyone knows my story.

Acquired: Received a review copy from the publisher.

Reason for Reading: Part of the Fables series.

Cindy is one of my favourite Fables characters. She's not a major character but she's had some story arcs thrown her way and I always enjoy when she pop ups as one of Prince Charming's ex-wives. I was thrilled when I saw Cindy was getting a book devoted entirely to her; she both deserved one and could pull off a great story.

Magical items are being smuggled out of Fabletown and Cinderella, secret spy, has been assigned the mission to find out who is doing this and to stop them. When she first sets out she quickly runs into Aladdin who has also been charged with the same mission by the Baghdad rulers. Begrudgingly, they partner up.

Each chapter starts with a brief blast from Cindy's past showing her in action back the days of yore, giving us some background on the character we've never had before. Also running through the story is a secondary story arc of her assistant left behind to look after the shoe store she owns. He's sick of always being left in charge as Cinderella is off on all these business trips and he decides to take full charge of the store and run things his way, selling the latest fashions to the Mundys and selling magical shoes (in the backroom) to the Fables. Predictably enough this does not work out so well and is a hilarious side story flipped to every now and then throughout the volume.

I really enjoyed this volume even though we don't meet many new fables. Though there are a couple of new faces who show up. The story is full of girl action which I particularly loved. Cindy can kick butt with the best of them. With Aladdin's involvement we expect and get the Baghdad connection which I've always enjoyed too. I think Chris Roberson did a fantastic job writing a story that perfectly suits the Cindy we know. McManus's art is also very well done; I love his portrayal of Cindy. The only thing I didn't like was his rendition of Beast in the first issue, he came out looking like a big dummy, however he caught Frau Kinder's essence very well.

This book is not exactly chronological within the series and could be read at anytime near where it has been published. That is to say, do not read it when you are only in the early volumes of the series or else much information will be given to you that was revealed as surprises during the later volumes. A fun and worthwhile addition to the series.