I bought a Rose Red necklace.

I wasn't sure where to start this chronicle of sorts of my adventure in comic books. Should I start from the begining with the Serenity comics? Well, it's been a little while since I have read them, so I probably don't have too much to say about that right now. Should I start with the one I jsut finished (Batman: The Killing Joke)? Or one of the two I am in the middle of reading (Fortune & Glory or Fun Home)? Should I try and do it by topic or style? While that seems organized, that's not how I see comic books right now. Maybe some natural order will present itself later on, but for now I will start with the comic that has influenced my everyday life.

I was in a store today looking at jewelry and trying to stretch out my lunch break as long as I could without getting in trouble. I was about to pay for my "retail therapy" purchase when a necklace in the display case caught my attention. The very first thing I thought when I saw it was "That is something Rose Red would wear." Whoa...hold the phone! I just noticed a piece of jewelry and thought immediately of a character in a comic book!?! (Well, a character in a comic book that is based on fariy tale, does that make it any better? Probably not.) Now, to make myself clear, I was in a boutique clothing store in San Francisco. I am not in a costume shop or comic store that is catering to a comic-geek crowd. My comic book reading has offically seeped into my everyday life. And truth be told, I had been noticing that when ever see see the characted Rose Red, she is wearing some sort of rose. It may be a necklace with a rose on it or a shirt with a rose print, but she is almost always wearing something with a rose. I like that touch in the book.

Rose Red is character from Fables (written by Bill Willingham & illustrated by a number of people). Fables is the story of fairy tale characters who have been exiled from thier homelands by a Big Bad and now live in New York City. Oh, they have thier own world and they must hide themselves from the Mundy (mundane) world, but sure enough it's classic fairy tales characters in modern day society. It's very clever and the characters are ones that you are familiar with, at least by name, but years after their original story was told. It's a comic book for those people who liked the musical "Into The Woods."

This may be considered "girlie" comics, but that's alright. I am a girl. Plus, reading Fables has got me to brush up on my fairy tales. I just borrowed a book from the school librarys so I could read the story of "Snow White and Rose Red." Later I will track down the story of Baba Yaga.

Even better, all the trade paperbacks so far are available at the San Francisco Public Library. (Looks like I will have to find another source for the Jack of Fables spin-off series.) Oh, I should also mention that "Fables" came my way via a recommendation from the manager at TFAW.