Jack of Fables Vol. 2: Jack of Hearts [Paperback]

Bill Willingham (Author), Matthew Sturges (Author), Tony Akins (Illustrator), Andrew Pepoy (Illustrator), Steve Leialoha (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2007

In this volume collecting issues #6-11, Jack reveals the secret of his former relationship with the illustrious Snow Queen — when he took her powers and became known as Jack Frost. And in present times, he lands in Las Vegas and meets his lovely new bride, a directionless heiress. Could it possibly be "happily ever after" at last?

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (October 3, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140121455X
• ISBN-13: 978-1401214555
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.3 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew Sturges has written a number of comics for DC, including House of Mystery, Justice Society of America, and the Eisner-nominated Jack of Fables (with Bill Willingham). He has also written the novel Midwinter, available from Pyr, and its sequel The Office of Shadow, which will be published summer 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, November 18, 2007

By 

Stephen Richmond "Librarian/Teacher/Reader an... (Newton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jack of Fables Vol. 2: Jack of Hearts (Paperback)

The second trade paperback collection of this equally successful spin-off of Bill Willingham's FABLES doesn't flag or disappoint in the least. The wildly imaginative adventures of Jack Horner in all his many and varied "Jack-hoods" is intricately plotted and beautifully written. The characters, while reflecting accurately and unflinchingly their archetypal storybook origins, are fleshed-out, hard-living and -loving people at their arrogant worst, providing a wickedly pleasurable reading experience. This is neither Disney nor Little Golden Books fairy tales. There is a Dark Knight-esque undercurrent, despite Jack's eternal bright lightness and mythical blondness. Readers of Charles de Lint, Anne Rice, Pamela Dean, Neil Gaiman, and the adult fairy tale collections of Datlow and Windling will find pleasure with both this series and its parent, as would comics aficionados of the work of Linda Medley, Jeff Smith, Charles Vess, Grant Morrison, and Garth Ennis. Truly fabulous!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jack Makes It and Loses It in Vegas, July 14, 2010

By 

Nicola Manning (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jack of Fables Vol. 2: Jack of Hearts (Paperback)

So, I'm still enjoying "Jack" though it is not nearly as good as "Fables". Jack is not exactly a likable character but there are times when one can't help but laugh along with him and hope he gets out the mess he's in. One thing I'm glad to have found carried over from "Fables" is the directory of characters at the beginning of the book. This helps introduce new characters and remember who old characters are especially the further you get into the series.

This time we start with Jack just after the great escape where he meets up with three other new Fables who have been wandering on their own and they decide to go high in the mountains to avoid recapture from the Golden Boughs staff. The first two issues have them sitting around a fire, while Jack reminisces to keep them all warm by telling them of the time he was Jack Frost. Here we get to see The Snow Queen again and find out how she turned evil. I enjoyed this story and there is a reveal about Jack at the end that we can, hopefully, expect to come into play sometime in a future edition.

The rest of the book is devoted to the title story in which Jack meets up with Gary, whom I've grown fond of, and who has become Jack's sidekick. With the help of Gary's talent they set off for Las Vegas and Jack makes his fortune all over again but little does he know that behind the Vegas scene is the Fable Lady Luck, who brings luck with her wherever she goes but at a price, sucking the luck out of the brains of Vegas' most lucky players. What follows is Jack's typical near death escapades as he tries to beat Lady Luck at her own game and keep his Vegas empire. Lady Luck was a delightful evil character and the ending hints she may show up again. Gary adds tons of humour to the plot, his power is to animate inanimate objects, and he spends the story accompanied by a mannequin named Noelle he has grown fond of.

Generally just a couple of fun stories though we do have some characters and loose ends that are left dangling as possible entries into the plot further down the line. Time to order Volume 3 from the library!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another solid addition to the ongoing Fables sagas, April 12, 2008

By 

Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jack of Fables Vol. 2: Jack of Hearts (Paperback)

This is a worthy addition to the ongoing collection of stories of the Fables world of Bill Willingham, here assisted by Matthew Sturges. I have to confess that it is perhaps my least favorite of all of the Fables books, but it is a testament to just how good the series as a whole is that I still like it very much.

My fear in starting to read the Jack series was that Jack was by far my least favorite major character in the Fables series. The first Jack book was a complete delight partly because Jack was overshadowed by the introduction of a whole new group of Fables. But this book puts him far more front and forward, and as a result the book suffers (at least for me).

The volume is broken into two stories of unequal length. The first concerns his retelling of his earlier adventures as Jack Frost. The second, longer, and better part dealt with Jack's adventures in Las Vegas, as he accidentally marries the daughter of a casino owner and then gets involved in the intrigues that result from the vendetta another Fable -- Lady Luck herself -- has against the family he has married into. As always with the Fables books, the interest lies less with the overall story with the myriad of little details. And Gary the Pathetic Fallacy (my brother wrote his doctoral dissertation on the personification of nature in literature, which is one guise of the Pathetic Fallacy) is back, who struggles throughout the story with his mannikin girlfriend.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this. I have not bought the individual issues that make up the next volume, but I eagerly look forward to purchasing the next collection in the series.