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: 2011
Jack of Fables #47
Reprints Jack of Fables #46-50 (August 2010-April 2011). As Jack adjusts to life as a dragon and hangs out with Gary in a cave in Canada, Jack’s past is coming back to haunt him. The Page sisters are seeking True Books to become Literals again, Jack Frost has been hired to hunt a dragon, Raven is leading the refugees of Golden Boughs to help Jack, and Wicked John is a quest to regain his sanity. All of their paths lead to a cave in Canada and the end is coming!
Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges, Jack of Fables Volume 9: The End is a DC Comics comic book collection printed under the Vertigo imprint. Following Jack of Fables Volume 8: The Fulminate Blade, the series finale features art by Tony Akins and Russ Braun. Issues in this collection were also collected as part of Jack of Fables: The Deluxe Edition—Book 3.
Jack of Fables has been a rocky ride. The series has had ups and downs, but due to the focus on only Jack, I have always enjoyed Fables more. Despite this, I kind of admire Jack of Fables 9: The End…because it definitely is that.
With Fables still running when Jack of Fables ended, I kind of expected Jack of Fables to quietly merge back in to Fables after having ended with the status quo and characters of Jack of Fables taking supporting roles there…but this story ends a lot of those ideas.
Jack of Fables #49
For the last few volumes, Jack Horner has pretty much become a supporting character in his own series. Jack Frost took up the lead of the series when Jack was transformed into a dragon, but with Jack being the king of slick, I thought it would just be undone. Jack Frost was a solid lead and in ways better than Jack. Here, the series ends up very Shakespearian with Jack Frost killing his own father (and his father killing him) with the Page sisters (his aunts) and Gary (his great, great grandfather) also being killed…along with most of the supporting cast which not only is very “un” comic book, but kind of out of line with the tone of this book.
Despite that, I kind of like the ending. Jack gets his comeuppance (kind of…his soul gets to wander) and most of the other Fables, Jack Frost, and the Page sisters never knew what they were fighting. It is dark and exactly the ending you’d expect from a con-artist who actually wasn’t that good at what he did.
Jack of Fables is over. Due to his wandering soul and the extension of Fables lives due to their popularity, it is possible for Jack to come back along with most of the Fables killed in this volume, but it feels pretty permanent and an end to a series. Spin-off series often don’t have much of their own identity, and Jack of Fables at least attempted to differentiate itself from Fables (more so than Fables’ other spin-off Fairest). Give Jack a hand as he rides out of town for the last time and read Jack of Fables 9: The End.
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 6: The Big Book of War
