Fables lives up to Vertigo's high standards of smarts, cool and humour. It manages to immerse you in its own environment, while referring to fairy tales and other fictional characters, keeping you on your toes, laughing along, and even being human enough to relate to.
I read the '0' 'zero' volume before this, the prequel if you like, before the fables came to New York. It was written later than this, which was the first start to the series, and was tighter. This extended story, while smart, and funny, is more of a good start than a classic. I'll be moving onto the later volumes, looking forward to, hopefully, some short stories, tighter stories and scripting, and some slightly better art. Don't get me wrong, this is fun, but once you've seen what someone can do, you expect the same, again and again.
A natural sequel to Sandman, if somewhat a 'Diet' version. But a good start which I hope allows the series to spread its wings and get sharper.