Comic Info
Comic Name: Jack of Fables
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo
Writer: Bill Willingham/Matthew Sturges
Artist: Tony Akins/Russ Braun
# of Issues: 5
Release Date: 2009
Jack of Fables #31
Reprints Jack of Fables #28-32 (January 2009-May 2009). The Bookburner is making his move on Golden Boughs and its only hope could be Jack. The siege of Golden Boughs could be the death of all the Fables involved and unless Jack finds a way to unleash their inner power, Bookburner will succeed. Plus, Jack could find the truth about his past and learn his true parentage!
Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges and featuring illustrations by Tony Akins and Russ Braun, Jack of Fables Volume 6: The Big Book of War continues the Fables spin-off series. Following Jack of Fables Volume 5: Turning Pages, the volume is lead up to The Great Fables Crossover series. Issues in this collection were also included in Jack of Fables: The Deluxe Edition—Book 2.
Jack of Fables maintains its redheaded stepchild status to the critically acclaimed Fables. I do enjoy Jack of Fables but not as much as Fables. Would I enjoy it if it had another name and no tie to Fables? I don’t know, it could just be liked through association.
Jack of Fables #32
This story pretty much wraps up the Golden Boughs storyline of the Jack of Fables series. It marks the culmination of the battle between the Bookburner and Revise’s camp. I thought that this storyline was a bit of a miss in general since it Golden Boughs (a place where stories are trapped) doesn’t really make sense from what has been revealed in Fables about how the Fables live and survive (through the public’s knowledge of them). Yet the characters in Golden Bough are Fables that people have heard about. They try “revise” this idea with the idea that Revise keeps the true stories locked up…it isn’t very satisfying.
Jack also is much lighter than Fables with more jokes and parodies throughout the tale. I am not a particular fan of the Blue Ox sequences that almost play like a Sunday comic strip ad in the middle of the comic. The comic has enough comic relief without them.
Jack of Fables is entertaining and enjoyable for fans of the Fables series, but it just isn’t Fables. It isn’t a fare comparison for the series, but it cannot be avoided. The next few issues of Jack of Fables are collected as part of the Fables series in Fables 13: The Great Fables Crossover. Jack of Fables 6: The Big Book of War was followed by Jack of Fables 7: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack.
Related Links:
Jack of Fables 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape
Jack of Fables 2: Jack of Hearts
Jack of Fables 3: The Bad Prince
Jack of Fables 5: Turning Pages
Jack of Fables 7: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack
