Customer Reviews

Jack of Fables Vol. 2: Jack of Hearts

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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!

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.

- just not this. The stories so far have progressed well, with creative reuses of traditional storybook characters. Artwork meets high standards, and there have been plenty of characters to like.

I regret that this Jack is not among the likeable ones. Egocentric, possibly sociopathic, nothing and no one matters nearly as much as his next moment of fleeting pleasure. I like the Fables world in general. This time, however, I must quote the inimitable Ray Charles, when he says:

"Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more. || Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more."

- wiredweird

This book has two stories. First it tells us about how Jack became Jack Frost. One thing that Willigham is great at, is in creating fairy tale stories for adults. In Fables, besides having the main story arcs, he always dedicates an issue or two between story arcs to give us a new fairy tale. He does this in Jack of Fables too and that is why we have the story of Jack Frost. Jack fools a goddess (winter) to give him her powers. He is excited about it, but then realizes the problems behind being a god that brings cold weather. It is really funny to see Jack realize the disadvantages and then the confrontation with the other season's goddesses is also hilarious. Great job with this story.

The second story is about Jack going to Vegas. He decides to go to Vegas to take advantage of Gary's powers (Gary is able to bring inanimate objects into life and make them do what he wants, for example, making a slot machine give him some quarters to pay for Jack's drinks). What ends up happening in Vegas is a really cool story. The story has as its main villain, Lady Luck. The character is a very attractive woman that eats brains to suck the luck of other people. She and Jack cross paths and a lot of cool things happen. A really good story arc, I specially like the little side story involving Aubrey, a nerd that has a lucky horseshoe. The comic gives us snippets of his blog here and there, and every entry is hilarious.

Overall, this is a great volume in Jack of Fables. It has a very different feel to Fables, being not so serious and very funny. I like it a lot.

I'm not critiquing the artwork. The artwork in every Fables novel is outstanding. I'm critiquing the plot and the character.

If I could have chosen any character from Fables to have their own spinoff series, Jack would be my last choice. He's just sort of boring and predictable. I don't find his stories funny or charming at all.

Although I've lovingly collected the whole Fables series, I have to admit I've decided to sell or give away my two Jack of Fables books, and I don't plan on continuing reading his series. He just doesn't do it for me. Sorry, Mr. Willingham.

The second book of the series that I have read; the Jack tales are told very well and in an amusing narrative. This collection follows his recent escape from a Fable prison and his subsequent marriage to *give away*. This collection included a great deal of Gary, the character who can 'turn' things to life, along with a few shots of the librarian crew, and a funny side-along track about some less-than-socially-adept guys (dorks) who seemed thrown in to resemble your typical comic book fan(s). I found the Jack Frost story amusing and clever. The Lady Luck story was also enjoyable. While I enjoy the Jack books thus far, the only thing that I find dissapointing is the pure surface traits of the series; i.e. there aren't any real deeper concerns going on, or 'issues' tackled below the surface other than Jack's adventure.

Jack of Fables is a fun read and the Fables books are different from most every other comic out there. Definitely more adult themed, if you're easily offended this is not for you.

I don't know about you guys, but I was especially fond of Lady Luck, and what she did in this story. I really liked her as a character, and overall, the entire book flowed along nicely, with the main story and the side-stories. I would have to say that out of the four Jack books currently available, this one would be my favorite.

Second volume to comic book series about a storybook hero, of sorts, and his adventures on his way to Vegas and while in Vegas. Will make you want to continue the series to find out what happens.