The (Nearly) Great Escape

I'm a huge fan of Bill Willingham's FABLES series, but I was rather loathe to give the Jack books a try. Why? Of all the characters in FABLES, Jack was easily my least favorite. I found nothing about him to be at all interesting and in fact found him to be quite unlikable. So, I figured that this would be an unlikable, unpleasant book. Was I ever wrong! To be honest, I still don't like Jack, but the book introduced a whole new collection of Fables, many of American origin (like Paul Bunyan and Babe or Dorothy and her buds from the WIZARD OF OZ). Maybe of the others seemed to be of more recent origin, like the several characters from Lewis Carroll who populated the story, including Alice. The most surprising fable was Sam, who for the life of me I couldn't identify until very late in the book, when he ran so fast he turned tigers into butter. Very few people today are familiar with the widely reviled former children's classic LITTLE BLACK SAMBO, but Sam turned out to be that story's title character. Goldilocks was back and we learned about her unpleasant (though deserved) fate after her attempt to kill Snow White and Bigby Wolf. All in all, this was just a great collection of characters and I thoroughly enjoyed every page of their story. So if you are like me and don't like Jack, no worries. If you love FABLES, you'll love this. It has all of the magic, originality, humor, and charm of the main series. Even before I had finished reading this I had run to my computer and ordered the second Jack book.

Jack of Fables gets his own spin-off series! I have to admit, at first, I was sort of like, why? But, now I understand. It's because Jack kicks butt! In case you don't know, Jack also goes by Jack of the Beanstalk, Jack B. Horner, Jack of the Tales, and apparently Jack Frost in colder climates. When we last saw Jack in the Fables comics, he had become a huge player in the Hollywood scene, with fame, money and lots of girls, only to have it all taken away from him by the sheriff of Fabletown, The Beast (from Beauty and the Beast, of course). Left to fend for himself, we meet up with Jack as he walks along a highway with the million dollars Beast let him keep. Suddenly he is picked up with a strange woman and two bagmen (men who are, well, bags, it's weird I know) and taken to a place called The Golden Boughs Retirement community. There he finds Goldilocks (missing from the Fables comics for awhile as well) and other various and sundry fable characters many of whom are very obscure. Someone did their research! Among them are Mother Goose, the Pathetic Fallacy, and a quick little guy called Sam. There are also cameos by Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Toto, and many others. There Jack meets a rather nefarious guy called Mr. Revise who runs The Golden Boughs. Mr. Revise's mission is, apparently, imprison fairy tales until the world at large forgets about them, making them less magical. Mr. Revise's sinister intent is to do away with them and rid the world of magic forever As I said before, I was surprised when they decided to spin-off Jack. Now that I can see where the story is going, I totally understand. This series looks to be completely separate from the Fables universe (no Adversary, none of the regulars from that comic) and has a great story going. The parallels to our own world and the issues we face with censorship are expertly addressed in the story arc with Mr. Revise and the Golden Boughs. I can't wait to see where Bill Willingham and crew go with this in the next part of the series. And, as always, the art was simply amazing, especially James Jean's beautiful covers. And, I would advise catching up on the Fables comics, not because this can't stand alone because I think it really can, but because they are just so fantastic they need to be read too!

If there was still the least doubt that Bill Willingham was a masterful writer in the pantheon of comic book genius along with Alan Moore, Kurt Busiek, Linda Medley, and Neil Gaiman, this book surely dispels it. Wit, erudition (absolutely spot-on research on often obscure characters --- loved seeing Little Black Sambo again!), and fast-paced engaging storytelling abound. Toward the middle of the collection, when we find out how Dorothy really has felt about Toto all these years, well, this writer was still trying to compose himself and stop rolling on the floor in spasm of laughter a good forty-five minutes later. Absolutely delicious. As with the other FABLES stories, these are not for the young. Rather, Willingham brings these wickedly flawed characters back to the shady and earthy sexiness and violence from which they originally sprang, before they were tidied up for Victorian and 20th century nurseries. Ironically, this is one of Willingham's themes throughout the FABLES tales (which are all also wonderful and highly recommended).

The "Fables" series never ceases to amaze me. The brilliance of Bill Willingham and Co. consistently maintains a level of high quality. The title has the word "(Nearly)" in it. It should be removed. The title should say, "Jack of Fables: The Great Escape". For those of you not familiar with the Fables universe, here is the premise. The people and creations of folklore (Goldilocks, Prince Charming, Snow White, etc.)really exist. They have been forced into our world after being run out of theirs by the mysterious Adversary. Settling in our boring, mundane world they secretly establish Fabletown. The enclave in Manhattan is for those that are able to appear human. The none-human Fables (Thumbelina, Mr. Toad, the Three Little Pigs, etc.) live on "The Farm" in upstate New York. Of course the story isn't quite what really happened.... These characters are virtually immortal as long as the "mundanes" tell their tales. In fact the more popular they are, the more difficult they are to kill. One of these is Jack Horner. He's also the guy that grew a magic beanstalk. :-) His character is that of a con man and trickster. By nature he is a jerk. This brings us to this new series where Jack is the star. He's been exiled from Fabletown because one of his schemes went too far. After being busted, he is hitchhiking when he is kidnapped by a beautiful woman and her non-human henchmen. He is transported to a very comfortable, remote prison camp. In this prison are other fables like Alice, Mother Goose and the mysterious Sam. They are all there so that they may be 'forgotten'. Well nobody locks Jack up! Thus begins his great escape.... I'd love to tell you more but I would spoil the story. Fans of the series will see this as a worthy addition to the Fables universe. If you're new to Fables, you will be cuirious about some of the back stories of characters like Goldilocks and get hooked yourself. I'd never thought all that much of the Jack character before, but he fills out nicely in his own series. The inventiveness and the creativity of this series is wonderful. Mr. Willingham is a fine student of folklore and mythology as well as clever. Several times he sent me to the Internet to find out more about his characters. Especially the mysterious Sam...... I know we will see more of him. This was money well spent.