Welcome to my first Off-Topic Tuesday post, in which I attempt to write about anything BESIDES writing or reading, and have already slightly failed because a comic book is one of the topics of this post.

I love playing Xbox 360/Xbox One, but normally only shooter games: the Call of Duty franchise and the Left for Dead franchise are my favorites, but I’m also a big fan of Lara Croft/Tomb Raider games. However, Telltale Games’ The Wolf Among Us completely captivated me – I beat the game over the course of two nights. Normally that kind of speed is reserved for my reading. 🙂

There are two really cool things about this game for me: the characters are “modern” versions of popular fairytale characters…just very screwed-up versions of these characters. The other thing I really like is that this game is based on a popular and long-running comic book series by Bill Willingham, so if you beat the game and miss the characters, you can go read books from the series and get right back into the world. (AUGH, this wasn’t supposed to be about books, was it? Dang you, Emily.)

I’ll be doing a review of the first deluxe issue of Fables the Comic over on my book review blog, She’s Got the Book, so I’ll try to focus on the game in this post. Bigby is the sheriff of Fabletown, a little community of fairytale characters who now live in a NYC apartment building because they’ve been kicked out of their homeland. (This part of the story plays a much bigger role in the books than in the game.) Bigby was the Big Bad Wolf back in their fairy tale home, but he is reformed and trying to be human in this land.

Snow White helps run the community, and is assistant to the mayor. Also living in Fabletown are Jack (of the Beanstalk fame), Beauty and the Beast, the Ax Man from Red Riding Hood, Blackbeard, one of the three little Pigs, and many more. As a fairy tale fanatic, this game was completely up my alley. If you’ve played the Walking Dead series game, then you’ll notice that this one plays a lot like it – you’re given choices about how to respond and act, who to talk to, where to go, and so on. This means that two people can have different experiences playing the same game depending on their choices.

After finishing the game, I immediately ordered the first deluxe edition of the comics, which includes the first two books. I adored the book and will be ordering the second deluxe edition this week. As much as I enjoyed the game, I didn’t think the comics would hold up – don’t get me wrong, books are kind of my life, but I’ve never enjoyed comic books as much as novels, nonfiction, etc.

This comic series, however, is fantastic, and I can’t wait to start reviewing this series on my book review blog. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of a beautiful and vivid game, and then play it for yourself. The ending is a little confusing/cliffhangery. (Of course that’s a word. And the Little Mermaid? Yeah, no big deal, she’s a stripper.) Never fear, though – this was just the first “episode” in the Wolf Among Us series. More games are to come, and I, for one, can’t wait. 🙂