Review by Frank Plowright
Throughout Jack of Fables co-writers Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges have been chipping away at Jack’s ego. During The Big Book of War he not only learned that back in the day he was a substitute creation for the real Jack, but The Great Fables Crossover revealed he has a son from seducing the Snow Queen long before the present day events, and it turns out he may not be all Fable after all.
How he copes with all that in the title story is postponed until after an interlude chapter from Chris Roberson, the only writer apart from the co-creators to work on Jack of Fables. Roberson provides the tall tale of Jack as Tarzan. It’s set at the end of the 19th century and differs greatly from the heroic figure resulting from an upbringing by apes. It’s a strange sexual comedy using the possibilities anything connected with Fables provides, but might have been more imaginatively drawn by Tony Akins.
Jack’s son, another Jack Frost is the second Jack of the title, and overall the primary focus in what switches between two stories running parallel without the two Jacks ever meeting. After a battling some monsters the second Jack decides he’s cut out to be a hero, never mind that he’s renounced his birthright powers. To begin with, though, earning his reputation requires helping out farmers with mucky tasks. Meanwhile the Jack who’s carried the series to date is becoming the bloated man seen on the sample art.
The title story is a Fables style On the Road, but presented as a less than compelling series of episodes for both characters. They’re silly adventures padded with items of no consequence, and while professional, artist Russ Braun isn’t greatly inspired either, his monsters similar to those supplied by Jeff Smith in Bone. The concluding chapter pulls things back up to the normal series quality, not least by leaving the primary Jack in one hell of a situation, but it’s far too late to rescue the volume.
The Fulminate Blade follows, or both are combined with the final Jack of Fables volume in Jack of Fables Deluxe Edition Book Three.
