There are several different opinions on who’s the most popular character in Vertigo’s acclaimed series Fables but the creators decided to create a spin-off series about Jack, the trickster, thieving, attractive guy that got banished after the discovery of his actions back in the main series. Jack is an anti-hero, he’s cynical, street smart, basically good but only when it fits him right. So what’s special about his own series?
Actually not much. I started reading this out of hope that it might approach the success of Fables but the first issues were kind of disappointing, Jack roaming the streets on his own gets kidnapped by a mad collector of Fable characters and manages to escape after a series of quite predictable events. The interesting part is that as the story continues it seems to obtain a style of its own, interestingly humorous with grasping story telling. In this issue Jack being recently widowed seems unable to do anything right, his fortune is lost, lady Luck hunts him and Mister Revise with his librarians finally track him down.
Another interesting fact about issue 10 of Jack of Fables is that the creators mistakenly deleted a dialogue box in page 10, it’s not such a big deal but it might add collective value to it. The official announcement of the creative team:
Dear Readers–
We goofed.
During the production and printing phase of Jack of Fables #10, the dialog on page ten was accidentally omitted. We present here, in Sneak Peek form, the corrected page with the dialog in place. If you are very enterprising, feel free to download the Sneak Peek, print it out, and paste this into your copy of Jack #10. Or you can wait for the trade paperback, wherein the mistake will be corrected.
We apologize for the error.
-The Jack of Fables Team
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New issue, new story arc for Fables, Bill Willingham’s most famous creation. I feel the urge to apologize from the beginning, I can’t be subjective with Fables as it is one of my favorite ongoing series still publishing but if you make the effort to read some issues you might share my enthusiasm.
The story is about all the heroes of fables, fairy tales, stories, myths and legends, all those characters created by folk or writers and established in the collective unconscious, and thus existing in a world called the Homelands, all that until a mysterious Adversary gathers a huge army and takes over their entire world. The Fables (those that survived the war) leave their lands and arrive to our world somewhere after the Middle Ages, refugees trying to hide their nature in their closed communities. The story catches up with their community in the present; those of them able to look like humans living in New York (and various other cities) while the rest are kept contained in the Farm, a safe establishment away from curious eyes. Their personal stories and the war that finally comes to their new homes offer the story a huge potential of narrating, and the creators take full advantage of it. That, combined with a distinctive, sarcastic sense of humor (quite adult usually), an extensive reconstruction of traditional fables like Bigby the Wolf, Snow White, Frau Totenkinder, the Beauty and the Beast and so many other and of course magic art by various artists, creates a comic book like no other.
In this new 3-issue story Flycatcher makes his way to the farm for an important conversation with his pal Boy Blue, after the revelations of the Christmas issue and the return of his memory Fly seems to earn his rightful position as a primary character in the series. Also Prince Charming finally encounters the notorious Hansel, Frau Totenkinder meets Kay and the flying monkey sees the Forsworn Knight (that one I have no idea about). One of the few comics that deserve the money spent for each issue!
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