The Autumnlands: Tooth and Claw Vol. 1 by Kurt Busiek & Benjamin Dewey

Goodreads Synopsis:
The debut collection of the hit epic-fantasy series. When the wizards of the Autumnlands reach through time to bring back a legendary hero, they don't get the savior they expected. But in a shattered, besieged city, he's their only hope of survival—and possibly their entire world's, as well.

My Review:
Volume 1 was awesome. The storyline, written by Kurt Busiek, is intriguing, even more so the characters. And the artwork, by Benjamin Dewey, is powerful. Color and motion drive the story forward visually and the plot will leave you wanting to read the next one. I'll keep the review short since you'd probably rather see artwork from the book. There are currently 2 trade paperback volumes available. I'll have to buy the second one soon.

Kurt Busiek's other work: Astro City, Avengers, Conan & more

If you fall in love with the artwork, you can see more of Benjamin Dewey's work in the "Tragedy Series" and "I Was the Cat."

Fables by Bill Willingham (DC Comics-Vertigo)

          So growing up, I was never really into comic books. I was more of a classics kind of girl. The first comic book I got into was Hellboy then The Walking Dead, which I think are some of the trendier comics to get into. Forgive me. But I recently got into this series, Fables, where fairy tale characters are real people living in our world but are hiding their identities. There's even a Farm for the more conspicuous. In the city (Fabletown), Snow White is the unofficial mayor of all Fables (King Cole is the not very helpful face of the operation) and Bigby Wolf is the legal muscle. It's kind of awesome and clever with a nasty sense of humor.
         
          I just finished #3 "Storybook Love" and am still enjoying it. So far my favorite is #2 "Animal Farm" because, well, the pigs take over the farm. It's a nice little salute to Orwell. Did I mention that Goldilocks is a gun-toting, furry-loving revolutionary? And of course Prince Charming is a worthless mooch that lives off whatever woman he's shacking up with. Fantastic.

      Even more fantastic is the artwork. Every issue offers a seamless but layered variety of styles that meshes really well. Take your time looking, because you'll always find a new little detail that you missed the first time. If you read the first one and love it then there's plenty more. I buy the trade paperbacks and there are currently about 22 volumes of the trade paperbacks (each consists of 5 issues sometimes more). There's also some spinoffs.

Here are the first two volumes:

 


Comic Book Tidbit: This series has won 14 Eisner Awards.

The Creators:

Bill Willingham- Writer

Lan Medina- Penciller