"The Pied Piper"

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Bill Willingham writes comics. He also writes short novels set in the continuity he created within his comics. My friend Russell first introduced me to Bill Willingham with Proposition Player, an all to brief look at a all myths/gods are true version of the afterlife and what Las Vegas has to do with it. Then I happened upon his very brief addition to the Sandman continuity with his Thessaly story in The Sandman Presents:. He is now world famous for his creation Fables and the various spin offs. If you don't know Fables, then here's the short version. All stories are real (notice a pattern?) and many of them are now living incognito in NYC. At the start of the series Old King Cole is mayor, Snow White is deputy mayor and the Big Bad Wolf is the sheriff. It's been running since 2002 and you should pick it up.

"But Davey!" you may be saying "...that is a whole lot of comic to pick up in one go, what if I don't like it?" Well then, this little book review is for you.

Peter and Max is a fairly short novel, under 400 pages, that takes place in the world of Fables. It takes place in two different time lines, well I guess three, but that's like two chapters at most so I'm not really counting it. I don't think you need to know the series to enjoy it, in fact it contains some spoilers for the comic (kind of hard to leave 7 plus years of continuity on the cutting room floor). There is even a short comic story after the prose story to give you an idea of what reading the comic is like. In a perfect world of plenty of time and money, I think you should read the whole series from the start and not read the book until after issue 75. But that's asking a lot, so let's start with the novel and hope you love it.

First off, it's a story of brothers. Good and Evil, Cain and Abel on steroids kind of brothers. It's also a Bildungsroman for both brothers. There's a love interest angle that is very cute. And it's full of references to children's stories. How many "Peter" nursery stories do you remember? Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater; Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; Peter and the Wolf, yeah, all the same guy.

Check the book out from the library or pick it up used. It won't take you long to finish, and you'll like it. Got questions about it? I'm here. Oh yeah, if one of your questions is how kid friendly is it, I'll tell you right now not really. There is death and dismemberment, and in the comic it can get a little graphic. There are a few free chapter previews online here.

One more quick note, if you are more of an audio book person then I hope you like Wesley Crusher.