Jack of Fables #40 – Review

by Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham (writers), Russ Braun (pencils & inks), Jose Marzan Jr. (inks), Andrew Pepoy (inks & balance), Daniel Vozzo (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Jack Frost battles the sorcerer while Jack Horner discovers his fate and the true nature of his condition.

What’s Good: Since he first appeared, I’ve always found Jack Frost a fairly bland character, a problem that seems to be fairly irresolvable.  That said, this is a surprisingly strong outing for him.  His banter with the sorcerer really is fairly funny at times and did bring me a couple of smiles.  It is fairly enjoyable to see how Frost’s inexperience as a hero also affects his ability to converse mid-battle.  Also, while it may be a little baffling to see Jack Frost as an exponent for modern lingo, his colloquial language also brings the laughs as it clashes with the sorcerer’s by-the-numbers fantasy villain dialogue.

Despite the bevy of inkers, this month is also a strong outing for Russ Braun.  His dragon looks great while retaining a sense of comedy through all, and his depictions of Brak the monster continue to be weirdly adorable.  Braun’s work alone gives the furry beast a lot more character than he otherwise might have.  As always, Braun’s work on his characters’ faces is also a joy.

What’s Not So Good: While this was a stronger issue for Frost, I still left the book feeling Frost to be a bland character incapable of carrying, or frankly deserving, an ongoing series.  He’s still little more than a standard character archetype, and a fairly uninspired one at that.  He’s the young, male hero.  That’s it.  Nowhere is this reflected better than in the internal monologue contained within this issue.  Usually, I love internal monologues as a means of getting to know characters better, yet here, Frost’s narration is a snore.  It’s little more than a paint-by-numbers recounting of the action, which is pretty indicative of the blandness of the character.  Worse still, there are far more of these narrating captions than need be.  Did we really need to have Frost retell the entire arc’s plot, in some detail, at the start of this issue?  It’s unnecessary, and it’s yawn-inducing.

It also doesn’t help that “the Sorcerer” is about as clichéd and uninspired a villain as I’ve ever seen in a comic book.  If that’s the kind of short-term villain Jack Frost’s book is going to be getting, it’s going to be a bad book indeed.  Seriously, the guy doesn’t even have a name.  He’s just “the sorcerer.”  That about sums him up, unfortunately.

Then there’s the scenes involving “Jack Dragon.”  This is nothing short of a complete catastrophe.  In fact, it’s insulting and borders on being a slap to the face of long-time Jack readers in just how poorly the whole thing is wrapped up.  Putting aside how wrong, and dispiriting, it is to remove the character for which the series is named, only to replace him with a much blander protagonist, the manner in which this done is just sloppy.

Jack’s banishment from his own series is abrupt and underwhelming.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen something this anti-climactic in a comic in a very long time.   Sturges apparently thinks removing the character in this manner is humorous, when it’s closer to nauseating and rage-inducing.  Even worse is just how ridiculously convenient and sudden the explanation for Jack’s transformation and consequent doom is.  It’s also unimaginative and lazy in the utmost.

But wait, didn’t we get the explanation for Jack’s transformation already?  All that stuff Gary (and DC’s solicitations) said about it being artist Tony Akins’ doing?  Yeah, apparently that just never happened.

Conclusion: Having been on-board since issue one, I’m sad to say that I’m done with this series.

Grade: D –

-Alex Evans

Jack of Fables #38 – Review

by Matthew Sturges & Bill Willingham (writers), Russ Braun (pencils), Jose Marzan Jr. & Andrew Pepoy (inks), Daniel Vozzo (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Jack Frost gets his first real quest as a hero for hire, while Jack Horner just keeps getting fatter.

What’s Good: Well, this month wasn’t quite the tranquilizer that last month’s once.  Though I still miss Jack Horner, Jack Frost’s adventure may not be a complete disaster of mediocrity and boredom.  This month, he begins to show some actual character I can latch onto, sporting unlimited and naive optimism.   I hope that this optimism is explored a further, even if it means a darker direction.

What really keeps the character afloat, however, is his relationship with the wooden owl Macduff, who is actually turning into a decent character.  Inexplicably knowledgeable, well-spoken, and yet somehow socially inept, he is a fairly enjoyable read and some of his dialogue with Frost shows some solid synergy.  In particular, an early conversation regarding Macduff’s name straddles the line between intelligence and pointlessness in a manner that borders on Seinfeld-esque.

On art, Russ Braun basically delivers more of exactly what we expect from him: solid detail and a firm sense of comedy.  I still agree with Jack though – much of Braun’s greatest assets rest in his being a more restrained Tony Akins.

The best scene of the book though, is far and away that which features the now obese Jack Horner and his “little buddy” Gary.  Jack and Gary’s relationship remains weirdly adorable and fat Jack is laugh-worthy on sight alone.  Jack’s dialogue regarding his new eating habits and his new sense of fiscal responsibility are both absolutely hilarious, representative of the sort of ludicrous nonsense that marks the character at his best.

What’s Not So Good: And therein lies the problem of the book: the best scene of it involves the old main character in a scene which feels completely and utterly divorced from the rest of the issue.  The 17 pages of Jack Frost/Macduff, while not bad, pale in comparison to the 5 featuring Jack Horner.  Frost’s tale does have a naive and cutesy charm, but it simply lacks the spark and vitality of Horner and Gary.

A key part of this, I think, is that Jack Frost’s tale just isn’t all that special.  Frost is still the typical young man out to prove himself, with a quirky sidekick and, now, a bland damsel in distress.  Essentially, Sturges and Willingham are just writing a standard fairytale.  Fables’ premise was to transplant fairytales into a modern setting with fresh takes on old characters, but here, we have a straight-up fairytale being written with your average fairytale characters and setting.  As a result, it just doesn’t feel particularly special.

I’ve also got to punish this issue for what can only be described as flagrant misinformation.  The solicitation for the comic and its cover would have you believe that the focus of the book is on Jack Horner’s battle with artist Russ Braun.  Indeed, the solicitation text doesn’t even mention Jack Frost.  The reality is that Horner appears in all of five pages, with said conflict only barely being referenced.  It’s clear that DC, aware of a potential sales drop with the shift in focus, direction, and tone, have decided to distort the facts in an attempt to stave off losses for at least another month.

Conclusion: It’s a touch better than last month, but this is still somewhat bland.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Jack of Fables #34 (Great Fables Crossover) – Review

by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges (writers), Russ Braun (pencils), Jose Marzan Jr. (inks), Daniel Vozzo (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Bigby continues to feel Kevin Thorn’s wrath, Thorn continues to grapple with writer’s block, and the Page sisters decide to get in on the action.

The Good: After a lacking Fables issue last week, I was more than a little worried regarding this comic. Thankfully, this issue was a definite improvement.

The humor of seeing Bigby transform from one awful thing to another was great, all the funnier thanks to Braun’s artwork. The forlorn looking Bigby-chimp is a real laugh.

One of the true strengths of this issue though, was the dynamic of this group of characters. As Bigby got angrier and angrier, Mr. Revise served as a deadpan foil while Gary held the role of the cheerful irritant. It was a fantastic crew. Meanwhile, I continued to love Kevin’s “good angel/ bad angel” in Old Sam and Hansel.  I thought it was really promising in the Literals #1, and this issue started to show me why I was right. I expect even more from this in future issues. The sequences with Thorn and the genres continued to be strong intellectually and comically as well, especially with us finally seeing the characters recognize Writer’s Block and the little info on Thorn’s “brother.”

I also enjoyed the fact that Willingham has not left the Page sisters in the dust. I’ve always liked the sisters, and seeing them in an action-packed journey with a crapload of guns was just a damn special treat. I’m glad to see that they will factor into the final outcome of this crossover.

The biggest thing with this issue though is that it actually delivers on the “crossover,” unlike last week. There is one, central adversary in Kevin Thorn and one united goal to stop him which features characters from both comics. There aren’t multiple opponents or side-issues. The comic is focused on the issue that brought on this crossover to begin with, and as a result, I actually felt like there was actually  a strong sense of direction.  There’s no Jack Frost, Boy Blue cult, or Mister Dark to worry about, which is refreshing. Also, I do have to say that I love Bigby’s final transformation at the end of the issue.  It has a ton of comedic potential and I wouldn’t mind seeing him stuck in that form for most of the rest of the crossover.

What’s Not-so-Good: Despite what I said about direction, there really isn’t a lot of plot progression in that direction in this issue. The book literally ends with our characters on the exact same patch of grass that we left them on last month, not having made any major discoveries, as Bigby continually transforms into different creatures. That’s a little distressing considering that we’re at 5/9 on the crossover now. There just isn’t a lot of forward momentum here, especially considering where we’re at in the crossover. I will admit that as funny as it was, the fact that plot progression was being sacrificed in favor of jokes was a little worrisome.

At this point, it feels as if this “Great” crossover has been treading water for several issues now. There’s just not a lot going on here. And while it’s all good and humorous, it’s also getting a bit frustrating. We’ve got great characters and great comedy and the pieces are in motion, so move them! There is some development in this issue in the main conflict (unlike last week), with the Page sisters hitting the road and Kevin discovering Writer’s Block, but these sound like “beginnings” that could have occurred in issue 3 rather than 5.  At five of nine, we should be further along and we certainly shouldn’t be moving at the speed of molasses.  I feel as though Willingham is trying to keep me from noticing the fact that not a whole lot happened in this issue.

I guess the criminal thing is that while this issue had more direction, I’m honestly not sure if you’d really miss anything if you didn’t pick it up.

Conclusion: A better issue in what has thus far been a lackluster crossover. It’s focused, smart, and the comedy is definitely a high point. I just wish that we’d see a bit more forward momentum.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Fables #84 (Great Fables Crossover) – Review

by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges (writers), Tony Akins (pencils), Andrew Pepoy & Dan Green (inks), Lee Loughridge (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Jack returns to the Fables world, taking control of the farm, a weak Rose Red, and Stinky’s Boy Blue cult in the process.

What’s Good: For better or for worse, this was a Jack of Fables comic without Gary or the textboxes. While a lot of people can’t stand Jack’s Deadpool-esque breaking of the fourth wall, I love it. He only does it a couple of times in this issue, but both times, I laughed; it’s quite clever. What I like even more is that this issue finally explained Jack’s ability to do this, tying it to his being half-literal.

What’s-Not-So-Good: I am a huge Fables fan. Furthermore, I love Jack as a character and read his series as well. I find him incredibly humorous and am definitely not among the vocal “Jack hating” party. However, I do not exaggerate when I say that this is one of the worst issues of Fables/Jack of Fables that I have ever read.

The elephant in the room: Jack as semi-rapist.  It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this angry towards a comic. Willingham and Sturges, writers who I have long admired, have truly, utterly crossed a line here. I understand that Jack is without morals and I understand his Byronic sexual hunger. However, Byron, despite being somewhat incestuous like Jack, was not a rapist. Jack was always meant to be the “lovable asshole”, the self-centered twit who conducted himself with complete moral abandon, but always in such a way that we could still laugh and get behind him. I’m sorry, but I don’t see how I can laugh at something that nears on the rape of one of Fables’ most beloved characters. I don’t see how I can support a rapist. Willingham and Sturges have moved Jack from “affable rogue” to “depraved villain.” It’s absolutely sickening; this is disgusting stuff and a huge mistake.

What’s also bad, is Akins’ art. I normally love Tony Akins for his comedic potential and what he’s able to do with cartoonish facial expressions. However, when Jack spends half the issue in Rose’s bed, Akins’ art only makes it worse. His depictions of Jack’s face making the quasi-rape all the more nauseating; his depictions of the wasted-away, broken Rose making it all the more vile. Jack’s banter and Akins’ art try to extract comedy where there is none, and as a result, Akins’ comedic style makes the whole affair look like an underground European sex comic. Instead of bringing laughs, it brings vomit. It’s sad that Akins has an issue long struggle with drawing Beauty. He just can’t do it.

The other major problem is this “Great Fables Crossover” itself.  I had faith last month, but now, as we near the halfway mark, I finally admit that it’s floundering.  This issue is a complete stall, not advancing the major plot or the conflicts with Mr. Dark or Kevin Thorn in any perceivable way.  The fables don’t believe in the Literals…and that’s it.   Also, this issue proves that there are just too many disparate elements.  Crossovers NEED one, big central issue/conflict to drive them and to necessitate their existence. So far, we have TWO entirely separate conflicts in Mr. Dark and Kevin Thorn, but as if that’s not enough, we also have other issues like the Boy Blue cult and Jack Frost.  As a result, this issue moves forward with the latter two smaller issues, while throwing the two major conflicts on the backburner.  This crossover is turning into an aimless, and pointless debacle and I’m failing to see why keeping Mr. Dark and the Boy Blue cult in Fables and Thorn and Jack Frost in Jack wouldn’t have been better.

Conclusion: From a plot perspective, this issue is a waste of time.  Nothing moves the major conflict forward, and there are just too many damned minor issues going on at once.  However, if you are a Jack of Fables reader or are looking to be one, skip this issue. I’ve never said this before. Skip it. You don’t want to see Jack as a rapist, as it will ruin the character for you.

Grade: D

-Alex Evans