Comic Book Review - Fables

I recently started reading the Fables series and so far I have read the first two books in the chronological series, along with 1001 Nights of Snowfall, which is a prequel to the series. I feel like something of a broken record by saying this (i.e. giving positive reviews to popular series), but I'm really enjoying it. I enjoyed vol. 1 - Legends in Exile more than I enjoyed the second one, Animal Farm, but both are quite good. The author (Bill Willingham) has done a really terrific job of transporting all of these different fable characters into the modern world. In order to fully enjoy these stories, you don't have to know a lot about fairy tales and fables, but it helps to know the basics, and it is clear that the author has a strong background here. The stories themselves are extremely engaging, straightforward and fun (similar to Brian Vaughan's work). It's quite funny to think of Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk as this low-level loser, or that the Big Bad Wolf is now a detective. Anyway, as much as I enjoyed those stories, I have to say I think I enjoyed 1001 Nights of Snowfall even more. There, you learn the background stories of some of the characters that appear in Fables, and how they ended up in Fabletown (in New York). The stories have a magical, real fable-like sense to them (which the regular comic does not - it definitely takes place in our world), and the art (done by different artists for each story) is quite wonderful. The stories also have something of a "Harry Potter" feel to them, as it posits a magical world that has to be hidden from the mundanes/muggles. Anyway, I love the series, and hope to read more of it.