Fairest #12 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva De La Cruz (colors)

The Story: Can a fox outfox a wolf and a witch?

The Review: Call this a critic’s existential crisis, but I often wonder if at the end of the day, my reviews have any sway at all.  I mean, I can’t even sway my two-year-old niece to stop dancing while I’m trying to put her pants back on her.  I can’t sway my friend to stop falling for girls who call him “Idiot” within a week of the relationship.  So what hope do I have of reaching out to strangers on the internet, rather yet the powers that be in the business?

But if I do have any influence in the comic book world, I’d use a lot of it to get Beukes an ongoing title from DC or Vertigo, ASAP.  I’ve noticed a lot of writers can’t hit the proper tension at different parts of their stories, either going too big too early and fizzling out, or sticking to a slow burn for too long then throwing in a whole lot of flash and bang at the last second.  Beukes hits exactly the right note for her penultimate issue; you can actually feel the action rising to a climax, with the various characters drawing closer together, setting the stage for the final blowout next month.  You can tell it’s all going exactly according to Beukes’ plan.

Fairest #10 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: Meet the only girl who can have multiple bad hair days in a 24-hour period.

The Review: Now that I think about it, women do make up a substantial part of the Fables population, don’t they?  You can’t deny the popularity of the fairy tale ladies far outstrips that of the guys, which explains not only their prominence in this universe, but also the fact that they can have long, involved storylines that do not center on romantic entanglements—at least, in theory.  Up until this arc, Fairest has tended to focus on the heroines’ love lives.

That’s all changed with Rapunzel’s search for her children.  In addition to the rather scandalous lifestyle choices she’s made over the years, Rapunzel simply seems more raw and primal than her fellow fair ladies.  You certainly can’t see Snow, Briar, Rose, or Cindy, even at their most desperate hour, spinning a nest of their own hair, strung and webbed across the boughs of a forest.  Combined with her urgent, instinctual hunt for her children, Punzel has an animalistic quality that makes her relationship with a kitsune almost logical.

Fairest #9 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: When will people ever learn that you can’t always trust a foxy lady?

The Review: Any time you spin off a title, you’re going to have to run into questions of whether there’s actually demand for the sibling series (and material to meet it), or whether you’re simply being exploitive.  Let’s be honest with ourselves; most spin-offs fall clearly and pathetically into the latter category.  For most of Fairest’s run, the jury was still out on where the series stands.  It’s not as if there’d been a huge outcry for more stories featuring Fables’ most beautiful stars.

Between her rock-solid first issue and the one on review today, Beukes has made a strong case that Fairest has a whole wealth of stories we’d be interested to hear, but which Fables doesn’t have the time to service.  Flashing back to the early days of Fabletown reminds us that while Snow White and Bigby were out determining the fate of fairy tale characters everywhere, every Fable had a life to live, and there’s no reason to believe theirs were any less intriguing or eventful than their deputy mayor and sheriff.

Fairest #8 – Review

By: Lauren Beukes (story), Inaki Miranda (art), Eva de la Cruz (colors)

The Story: And here you thought the most dangerous thing about origami was the paper cuts.

The Review: I consider myself a cautious optimist by nature and practice.  I don’t blind myself to risks, but I tend to bet on the best possible outcome.  With showcase titles, I always look on the next feature with the hope that it’ll be better than the last.  Fairest has so far produced only one complete arc, a harmless but not outstanding affair whose art far surpassed the story.  The standalone that came after, well—I still waver between calling it bad or just mediocre.

But when every new storyline comes attached with a whole new creative team, there’s always a chance a pleasant surprise lies in wait.  Beukes gets your attention right away by setting a trend of defeating expectations.  At first, Rapunzel’s morose opening monologue leads you to believe you’re in for a sizable set-up to a simmering drama, but then the windows burst, showering her and her loyal haircutter Joel with a thousand origami cranes and shards of glass, and you know you’re in for a different kind of treat.

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 #37 – Review

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

The Story: Jack Frost sets out to carve a life of his own as a hero, disowning his mother’s powers and returning to the dead heart of the Empire.

What’s Good: I’m digging the idea of artist Russ Braun taking his revenge on Jack.  Jack of Fables has continuously broken the fourth wall, but this takes it to a whole new, almost Animal Man-esque level.  I’m really looking forward to seeing where this goes and at the very least, it is fun to see an overweight, balding, acne-riddled Jack, who laments that he can’t both be ugly and a jackass.

Once again, I can’t help but find the Page sisters incredibly likable characters.  In an oddly inspiring moment, this month sees Robin, and by extension Willingham and Sturges, acting as motivational speakers as Robin lectures Jack Frost on becoming his own man.  Hopefully this familial bond will reassert itself in future months.

Also, it feels empty and strange and even disturbing visiting the barren, overgrown heart of the Empire.  I really liked seeing the place again and hope that its desolation will continue to be explored in future issues of Jack.  It’s an interesting and dangerous setting that deserves an arc or two.

Meanwhile, Russ  Braun turns in what we’ve come to expect from him.  The character designs for Jack Frost, both powered up and depowered, are nice, with the depowered Jack looking just as he should:  a younger, innocent, “good” version of Jack Horner.

What’s Not So Good: The biggest problem with this issue is that I’m just not buying Jack Frost as a leading protagonist and central focus.  While I do like him contemplating his thoroughly rotten parents, he’s just not a very interesting character.  At times, he comes off as a cliche.  He’s the young man just making his way into the world, trying to be a hero.  What’s worse, he’s defined by his naivety and him being a “nice guy.”  Right now, there’s just not much depth to him. And what’s there just isn’t very interesting or vibrant.  As a result, this issue at times feels more boring than it should, having such a bland character as its lead.  It’s particularly bad given that such a character had to take over Jack of Fables of all comics, where we’re used to having a flamboyant, lively, and impossibly egotistical lead.  It feels like we’ve gone from having an ornate chocolate sundae with all the toppings to a bowl of cottage cheese.

I also really can’t stand this idea that neither Jack nor Gary can remember the events of the crossover or that Gary’s previous powers as the Pathetic Fallacy are also being forgotten.  It just seems lazy, non-believable, and simple.  I hated it when Snow and Bigby forgot everything in Fables, and I’m hating this even more.

Conclusion: Jack and Robin are fun in their respective scenes, but even with a decent action scene, a boring lead character leads to a dry issue.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Jack of Fables #36 – Review

by Chris Roberson (writer), Tony Akins (pencils & inks), Jose Marzan, Jr. (inks), Daniel Vozzo (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Jack = Tarzan? Apparently so, as yet another chapter of Jack’s past is explored.

What’s Good: More or less a one-shot, this comic is a clear breather after the crossover, much as this month’s issue of Fables also was. We get a fun, light story that manages to amuse and strives to do nothing more.

As one can probably gather from the solicitations, if you don’t like apes, this isn’t the comic for you. Thankfully, who doesn’t like apes? Jack’s interactions with the apes, often disparaging, are  golden. It’s that nice blend of egotism and belittling that Jack fans have come to love.

The apes themselves also shine. From the complaints over Jack’s insisting on calling them monkeys, to ape Jane’s ravenous sexual appetite (with no regard for species), it’s hard not to like these guys. Oh and one of the apes is actually a stuffed toy. Entirely random, but it works for that very reason.

A special word must go out to the second to last page of the issue. A picture of Jack in full Tarzan gear, with his ape buddies all getting Matt Fraction-esque captions. It’s an absolute riot and far and away the best humor on offer here.

What’s Not So Good: Unfortunately, Chris Roberson is guest-writing, and he doesn’t quite have the mastery over the character that Willingham and Sturges do. That’s not to say that Jack doesn’t sound like Jack, but Roberson is far less daring in his portrayal of the character. Jack’s egotism never hits the ludicrous heights that it does under his creators, and as a result, he’s not quite as funny as he usually is.  The humor is there, but the more outrageous aspects of it aren’t. One can’t help but feel that Roberson plays it safe, here.

Also, this issue doesn’t so much end as stop. Pretty much no time at all is spent detailing how Jack became Tarzan, which is bizarre given that that’s meant to be the major thrust of the book. Rather, he just meets the apes, spends some time in jail, and then WHAM! Image of him as Tarzan, and that’s the end. It feels as though the really good stuff was glossed over in favour of minor events, showing perhaps something of a lack of creativity.

The art is also something of a head-scratcher. I feel as though there’s a secret support artist working here, as certain pages look distractingly like they were drawn by a different hand. I’m not sure if this has to do with the inking being split, but frankly, it’s not just the inks that feel different from page to page. It’s bizarre.

Conclusion: A laugh here and there, but if you’re short on cash, feel free to skip it.

Grade: C

-Alex Evans

Fables #85 (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 meets his son, offering fatherly advice before he and Rose are shipped off to Wolf Manor.

What’s Good: Jack’s comedy seems to be a bit better than it was last issue. This still isn’t the funniest Jack issue, but it has its moments. Jack’s interactions and the “sagely wisdom” he offers Jack Frost is quintessential Jack and is all the more enjoyable for it. It’s funny, self-centered stuff. I also enjoyed Jack meeting the cubs and giving them an education in vice.  Not laugh out loud funny, but it’s a cute moment that shows Jack mentoring the kids around a poker table.

I also thought Jack’s manipulation of Frost at the end was smart stuff. It was interesting to see Jack reasoning and behaving exactly like a Literal and not realizing that he was. I really do enjoy it when Willingham and Sturges play up Jack’s Literal heritage, as this served as another method of breaking the fourth wall.

Akins’ work is as loaded with comedy as ever. He may be no Mark Buckingham, but he does have a unique style that works well with this story. Once again, Akins manages to draw a wide array of humorous facial expressions that lead to some really memorable panels– Jack’s expression when caught stealing Bigby’s booze is absolutely priceless.

What’s Not So Good: I tried to keep believing in it as long as I could, but the fact is that this crossover just sucks. It just doesn’t have the scope and nuance to demand nine issues to tell it. Fables #85 only provides further proof of this.

This issue is all but completely pointless. The only item of any importance is Jack sending off Frost, which takes all of a single page. That means that plot-wise, this is about 20 pages of filler. Nothing important happens.

What’s worse, nothing RELEVENT happens. For the most part, this issue has absolutely nothing to do with the crossover. Sure Willingham throws in a couple pages of Old Sam planning on stealing Thorn’s pen (and what a “no duh” moment that is) to make us think this is a crossover issue, but it’s not like those scenes were particularly vital either. It’s just the seventh issue of Thorn hesitating. What does the Boy Blue cult have to do with the conflict with Thorn? What does Jack’s arrival in Wolf Manor and his meeting the cubs have to do with the effort to stop the creative Literal? The answers are nothing and nothing; and unfortunately, most of the issue is spent on these two topics. The fact that Thorn isn’t even mentioned by any of the characters on the farm until the very last page certainly doesn’t help.

Conclusion: Fables is a cute, fairly amusing comic that has little to do with the crossover of which it claims to be a part of, having pretty much nothing of importance occurring within its pages.

Grade: C-

-Alex Evans