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Jack of Fables
The End [JACK OF FABLES V09 END] [Paperback]
Der legendäre Jack of Fables hatte sich in einen Drachen verwandelt und mit seinem ergaunerten Schatz in einer Höhle verkrochen. Aber noch immer sind ziemlich viele Leute sauer auf ihn, und dazu gehören die bis an die Zähne bewaffneten Schwestern Page, etliche abtrünnige Fables, ein wilder Mann mit Schwert und sogar sein eigener Sohn Jack Frost. Eine Schlacht von mythischen Ausmaßen bahnt sich an ...
Unknown Binding
First published July 13, 2011
11 people are currently reading
646 people want to read
About the author
Bill Willingham
992 books2,819 followersIn the late 1970s to early 1980s he drew fantasy ink pictures for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert game rulebooks. He first gained attention for his 1980s comic book series Elementals published by Comico, which he both wrote and drew. However, for reasons unknown, the series had trouble maintaining an original schedule, and Willingham's position in the industry remained spotty for many years. He contributed stories to Green Lantern and started his own independent, black-and-white comics series Coventry which lasted only 3 issues. He also produced the pornographic series Ironwood for Eros Comix.
In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables
In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
July 20, 2015
Don't get me wrong here. I love the Fables series. I'm a missionary for them. I use them like a gateway drug to get non-comic people into comics.
I really enjoyed this spinoff series too...
...up to a point. Specifically up to about book six in this series when it had a crossover with the main fables storyline and brought a series of lovely plot arcs to good resolution.
(Warning here. I'm going to spoil some stuff at the end.)
But after that... I trailed off.
But recently, when I saw there was an end to the series. So I picked up the last two books.
You see, I admire a comic series that comes to an end. Too many trail on endlessly, or keep going until they get canceled. That's all kinds of irritating to someone like me, who loves story.
And stories, you see, have an ending.
Without an ending, it is not a proper story. It's just things happening. It's a ramble.
Unfortunately, this ending... (Gech. I hate writing this because I hate being openly critical of other author's work. Especially Bill Willingham's. I adore so much of his stuff.)
But this ending? I hated it. It felt like I was being given the finger. They just killed everyone off. Seriously. They made them all fight, and everyone killed everyone else.
It was really disappointing, and I felt not only was my money wasted on the book (something I rarely feel.) But I felt my trust was betrayed, and that my overall enjoyable experience with this whole series was soured.
So... Yeah. My advice? Read up to book six, then stop. It's a much better ending than this.
I really enjoyed this spinoff series too...
...up to a point. Specifically up to about book six in this series when it had a crossover with the main fables storyline and brought a series of lovely plot arcs to good resolution.
(Warning here. I'm going to spoil some stuff at the end.)
But after that... I trailed off.
But recently, when I saw there was an end to the series. So I picked up the last two books.
You see, I admire a comic series that comes to an end. Too many trail on endlessly, or keep going until they get canceled. That's all kinds of irritating to someone like me, who loves story.
And stories, you see, have an ending.
Without an ending, it is not a proper story. It's just things happening. It's a ramble.
Unfortunately, this ending... (Gech. I hate writing this because I hate being openly critical of other author's work. Especially Bill Willingham's. I adore so much of his stuff.)
But this ending? I hated it. It felt like I was being given the finger. They just killed everyone off. Seriously. They made them all fight, and everyone killed everyone else.
It was really disappointing, and I felt not only was my money wasted on the book (something I rarely feel.) But I felt my trust was betrayed, and that my overall enjoyable experience with this whole series was soured.
So... Yeah. My advice? Read up to book six, then stop. It's a much better ending than this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 23, 2021
It's the final volume of the Fables sister-series and it still feels like they were trying too hard to be funny, and too hard to be distinct from Fables. This final volume sees the return of a few familiar faces as well as a new mission for Jack Frost and MacDuff. 6 out of 12.
April 11, 2020
It's now years later for all of our characters, even though the writing doesn't make that clear. Don't let the return of the Page sisters fool you into thinking this book is finally back on track. The book has gotten worse and worse since The Great Fables Crossover. Willingham and Sturges act like two spoiled brats who are told to share their toys. Instead of giving readers a fitting ending to the series, they decide to break all their toys. None of it makes a bit of sense. Aaaahhh! This ending made me so angry!
June 3, 2014
The finale spinoff to the FABLE series doesn't really measure up to the quality of the earlier graphic novels. There are some nice tie ins to main and sub characters but it's all pretty basic without any innovative twists.
The Vegas kid who married the mannequin was a very nice touch but it wasn't mined for all of its potential and therefore a letdown. The Raven spirit bird was the best sub character. The end was very Shakespearean and the author admits it and contrary to what claim I doubt Shakespeare would be upset as he had endings like this in several of his plays. So that's the end of JACK OF FABLES. I would have hoped for better in the ending but maybe the creative team was burning out and should have ended this earlier.
STORY/PLOTTING: C plus; ARTWORK: B; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: C plus to B minus; OVERALL GRADE: B minus; WHEN READ: Dec 2011
The Vegas kid who married the mannequin was a very nice touch but it wasn't mined for all of its potential and therefore a letdown. The Raven spirit bird was the best sub character. The end was very Shakespearean and the author admits it and contrary to what claim I doubt Shakespeare would be upset as he had endings like this in several of his plays. So that's the end of JACK OF FABLES. I would have hoped for better in the ending but maybe the creative team was burning out and should have ended this earlier.
STORY/PLOTTING: C plus; ARTWORK: B; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: C plus to B minus; OVERALL GRADE: B minus; WHEN READ: Dec 2011
August 6, 2011
"We've painted ourselves into a corner, storytelling-wise."
"Yeah. Plus, I'm kind of bored with this now. What should we do?"
"I have the BEST IDEA EVER."
Dudes. This was a waste of my time.
"Yeah. Plus, I'm kind of bored with this now. What should we do?"
"I have the BEST IDEA EVER."
Dudes. This was a waste of my time.
June 13, 2013
The first six volumes of this spin-off series were fun, but the last three were really bad. I don't know what was supposed to be fun at all about this last volume. Bad things happen to everyone I like, why is that fun? I think that the one character I don't care about at all may have survived. And Babe, of course, that would have been an true mistake. The issue of Jack being a literal was never addressed, or being related to the Page sisters, so what was the point of introducing that? I don't even know what the point was of having Jack Frost be Jack's kid really, other than a tiny bit of anticipation early on in the series, their relationship was never really addressed either. There were so many dangling a storylines, it isn't worth even going into it here. And yet I wish the author had just left it after the crossover issue and the wrap of the literals story. This whole arc stunk in every way. It felt like the author really did disliked Jack as much as he said he did in volume 7, and that he carried that dislike over into the rest of the characters too. If he wasn't having fun with it he should have just ended it. Maybe I'm reading that wrong, but either way, it wasn't fun for me.
January 10, 2014
Thank God it's done! Holy crap this series took a dive bomb so bad that I don't ever want to hear of it or read it again. I love the fables universe but I just HATE JACK HORNER. And the ending. Fuck don't even get me started. Don't even bother.
November 8, 2011
Dragons and Heroes, forgotten Fables and hot librarians; Shakespearean ending. Pretty much tops the graphic-novel-without-capes genre, and a fitting finale for/to Jack and all his incarnations.
May 15, 2020
The best thing about this volume is that it was the last one!
August 7, 2016
What a total cop-out. This series was fairly amusing (although not as good as Fables) but the last two volumes were not as good as the rest. The ending was disappointing, . The only clever part of the story was when . Also, there was an unforgivable art "typo" near the beginning...for several panels we see Jack Frost inexplicably without his eyepatch.
November 21, 2011
The ending of this series is an exemplar of terrible writing. Bad enough that I suggest no one should read "Jack of Fables," and I might go as far as to extend this to the entirety of "Fables" and the other spinoffs (the spy mode of Cinderella became predictable within the first story line).
Much like grade school, the authors apparently got bored with things and decided 'hell with it! Let's just blow everybody up!' And they did. They killed every character I had been mildly enchanted with, happily destroying all of the reasons why I read the damn thing in the first place.
Perfect.
Much like grade school, the authors apparently got bored with things and decided 'hell with it! Let's just blow everybody up!' And they did. They killed every character I had been mildly enchanted with, happily destroying all of the reasons why I read the damn thing in the first place.
Perfect.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2011
Blah...blah blah.
That's how I feel.
Children can we gather around and just pretend that Jack of Fables ended with the Great Fable Crossover? Please for the children!
In the end Jack seems to have lost it's vision. As a series I was impressed as it made a series with a Fable I was not in love with that at times was really really good.
Bring on Cinderella volumes...because Jack is thankfully done!
That's how I feel.
Children can we gather around and just pretend that Jack of Fables ended with the Great Fable Crossover? Please for the children!
In the end Jack seems to have lost it's vision. As a series I was impressed as it made a series with a Fable I was not in love with that at times was really really good.
Bring on Cinderella volumes...because Jack is thankfully done!
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July 19, 2015
Wow. Huh. I mean... But... What the...?
February 23, 2018
It sort of amazes me this series made it to 50 issues. It just wasn't that good to be honest. The main character was unlikeable and the stories were mostly comedy, but the comedy wasn't all that funny. The ending was...well, it sure was a true ending, I'll give them that. This series just seemed to flounder the entire time and never truly got going. Fables was great, and this was the opposite of great. I mean that in general for the entire series. There are a few Jack of Fables issues that tie directly into the Fables series, so if you're a new reader just read the few Jack of Fables issues you have to and avoid the rest. It's just not on the level of the main Fables series.
August 22, 2020
Dumb. Very dumb. Super super super dumb. I’m sad about it.
September 2, 2025
It's done.
And if we're to judge how an artist end a book, then Ol'Bill should never right again.
It feels rushed and long at the same time... like he developed parts that didn't need to and shortened what should've longer.
Over all, it's ALMOST a shitshow.
How do you solve all the problems and plotholes and...
Easy: they all kill each other.
and by the end, Jack's ghost give us a VERY POOR simulacrum of the best John Constantine and flee the devils.
Horrible series, not worth your time and one of the worse comics I read in a LONG time
And if we're to judge how an artist end a book, then Ol'Bill should never right again.
It feels rushed and long at the same time... like he developed parts that didn't need to and shortened what should've longer.
Over all, it's ALMOST a shitshow.
How do you solve all the problems and plotholes and...
Easy: they all kill each other.
and by the end, Jack's ghost give us a VERY POOR simulacrum of the best John Constantine and flee the devils.
Horrible series, not worth your time and one of the worse comics I read in a LONG time
August 15, 2011
This was a very nice surprise. I was prepared the drop the series before its cancellation was announced. Perhaps it was the fact that they writers knew they had to end things, or co-writer Bill Willingham took a little more creative control from co-writer Matthew Sturges. As it is we get 3 Jacks, and a big ending (and one that probably won't please a lot of people). Truthfully, the end for Gary and the Paige sisters was a little disappointing for me. Especially, as this volume helped to re-establish the sisters as fun characters in my eyes. Be prepared for the the beginning to not make sense as depending which world the charcater is on months or years have passed between this volume and the one before it.
June 28, 2013
I quite liked the first four issues of this, but the final flopped for me pretty dramatically. To be less polite: it felt like it spit in the face of fans of the series.
Overall, now that Jack of Fables is done, I can't say I was super thrilled with it. Without the Fables name, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I’m not convinced I would have even stuck through all of the original Jack stories, let along the Jack Frost junk that followed it.
Overall, now that Jack of Fables is done, I can't say I was super thrilled with it. Without the Fables name, I probably wouldn't have finished it. I’m not convinced I would have even stuck through all of the original Jack stories, let along the Jack Frost junk that followed it.
August 28, 2011
Ugh...well, I guess they decided to go out with a whimper rather than a bang. This comic shows just how much Fables caught lightning in a bottle, because the same basic premise is on display here. Yet it somehow never worked. Maybe because Jack was an asshole that it was impossible to like? Too bad this one could never quite get going.
October 1, 2012
This series is not quite as good as Fables, but I recommend it.
October 11, 2016
You could really tell they were running out of steam on this series.
May 21, 2020
Reprints Jack of Fables #46-50 (August 2010-April 2011). As Jack adjusts to life as a dragon and hangs out with Gary in a cave in Canada, Jack’s past is coming back to haunt him. The Page sisters are seeking True Books to become Literals again, Jack Frost has been hired to hunt a dragon, Raven is leading the refugees of Golden Boughs to help Jack, and Wicked John is a quest to regain his sanity. All of their paths lead to a cave in Canada and the end is coming!
Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges, Jack of Fables Volume 9: The End is a DC Comics comic book collection printed under the Vertigo imprint. Following Jack of Fables Volume 8: The Fulminate Blade, the series finale features art by Tony Akins and Russ Braun. Issues in this collection were also collected as part of Jack of Fables: The Deluxe Edition—Book 3.
Jack of Fables has been a rocky ride. The series has had ups and downs, but due to the focus on only Jack, I have always enjoyed Fables more. Despite this, I kind of admire Jack of Fables 9: The End…because it definitely is that.
With Fables still running when Jack of Fables ended, I kind of expected Jack of Fables to quietly merge back in to Fables after having ended with the status quo and characters of Jack of Fables taking supporting roles there…but this story ends a lot of those ideas.
For the last few volumes, Jack Horner has pretty much become a supporting character in his own series. Jack Frost took up the lead of the series when Jack was transformed into a dragon, but with Jack being the king of slick, I thought it would just be undone. Jack Frost was a solid lead and in ways better than Jack. Here, the series ends up very Shakespearian with Jack Frost killing his own father (and his father killing him) with the Page sisters (his aunts) and Gary (his great, great grandfather) also being killed…along with most of the supporting cast which not only is very “un” comic book, but kind of out of line with the tone of this book.
Despite that, I kind of like the ending. Jack gets his comeuppance (kind of…his soul gets to wander) and most of the other Fables, Jack Frost, and the Page sisters never knew what they were fighting. It is dark and exactly the ending you’d expect from a con-artist who actually wasn’t that good at what he did.
Jack of Fables is over. Due to his wandering soul and the extension of Fables lives due to their popularity, it is possible for Jack to come back along with most of the Fables killed in this volume, but it feels pretty permanent and an end to a series. Spin-off series often don’t have much of their own identity, and Jack of Fables at least attempted to differentiate itself from Fables (more so than Fables’ other spin-off Fairest). Give Jack a hand as he rides out of town for the last time and read Jack of Fables 9: The End.
Written by Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges, Jack of Fables Volume 9: The End is a DC Comics comic book collection printed under the Vertigo imprint. Following Jack of Fables Volume 8: The Fulminate Blade, the series finale features art by Tony Akins and Russ Braun. Issues in this collection were also collected as part of Jack of Fables: The Deluxe Edition—Book 3.
Jack of Fables has been a rocky ride. The series has had ups and downs, but due to the focus on only Jack, I have always enjoyed Fables more. Despite this, I kind of admire Jack of Fables 9: The End…because it definitely is that.
With Fables still running when Jack of Fables ended, I kind of expected Jack of Fables to quietly merge back in to Fables after having ended with the status quo and characters of Jack of Fables taking supporting roles there…but this story ends a lot of those ideas.
For the last few volumes, Jack Horner has pretty much become a supporting character in his own series. Jack Frost took up the lead of the series when Jack was transformed into a dragon, but with Jack being the king of slick, I thought it would just be undone. Jack Frost was a solid lead and in ways better than Jack. Here, the series ends up very Shakespearian with Jack Frost killing his own father (and his father killing him) with the Page sisters (his aunts) and Gary (his great, great grandfather) also being killed…along with most of the supporting cast which not only is very “un” comic book, but kind of out of line with the tone of this book.
Despite that, I kind of like the ending. Jack gets his comeuppance (kind of…his soul gets to wander) and most of the other Fables, Jack Frost, and the Page sisters never knew what they were fighting. It is dark and exactly the ending you’d expect from a con-artist who actually wasn’t that good at what he did.
Jack of Fables is over. Due to his wandering soul and the extension of Fables lives due to their popularity, it is possible for Jack to come back along with most of the Fables killed in this volume, but it feels pretty permanent and an end to a series. Spin-off series often don’t have much of their own identity, and Jack of Fables at least attempted to differentiate itself from Fables (more so than Fables’ other spin-off Fairest). Give Jack a hand as he rides out of town for the last time and read Jack of Fables 9: The End.
November 18, 2020
Oy. Jack of Fables should probably have ended back with Jack of Fables, Vol. 6: The Big Book of War. It wrapped up everything nicely enough. Instead it just keeps going. But here, we have a finale! Except... Not even kidding. After we've come to know and love all these characters, the big finale is them all getting together for one last battle ... and every one of them . I guess that's one way to end a series.
Sucks.
Heh. It's funny because dragon. I guess. Why does Gary stick around with him?
The sections with this art style are at least pretty amusing, specifically because of the style.
Woo Page sisters. Who for some reason are carrying around a baby? When did that happen? And then the baby is sent to his father, never to be seen again.
Oh right. John. He's still around. Only to like everyone else.
That was kind of a bummer ending to what was never my favorite of the Fables series. So it goes. Onward and back to Fairest and the mainline for the last few!
Sucks.
Heh. It's funny because dragon. I guess. Why does Gary stick around with him?
The sections with this art style are at least pretty amusing, specifically because of the style.
Woo Page sisters. Who for some reason are carrying around a baby? When did that happen? And then the baby is sent to his father, never to be seen again.
Oh right. John. He's still around. Only to like everyone else.
That was kind of a bummer ending to what was never my favorite of the Fables series. So it goes. Onward and back to Fairest and the mainline for the last few!
August 7, 2017
Overall, I have to say that Jack of Fables isn't really worth hunting down for Fables fans unless you're a true aficionado. There were some quality stories in the series, Americana being the best one, but overall the series was just ok and the events don't have that great of an effect on the main series. Fables Vol. 13, the Great Fables Crossover, won't make a whole lot of sense without reading Jack of Fables, because it's mostly based on events from Jack's series. And Americana does introduce the American Fable lands, when we've seen European and Arabian lands in the main series. We also see some character development for various characters like Goldilocks and Dorothy who pop up in Fables or other spinoffs.
All that being said, the story is only ever ok. The best part is obviously Babe the Blue Ox, who starts regularly having one page gags fairly early in the series.
This volume has the end for Jack and all of these characters, apparently in the future, including his grown son. And it's literally the end, as everybody dies. It's honestly a bit offputting and lazy; I see why they were going for the big finish, but I don't think they really needed to kill off all of these characters. It's a bit silly, but then I guess so was the whole series.
All that being said, the story is only ever ok. The best part is obviously Babe the Blue Ox, who starts regularly having one page gags fairly early in the series.
This volume has the end for Jack and all of these characters, apparently in the future, including his grown son. And it's literally the end, as everybody dies. It's honestly a bit offputting and lazy; I see why they were going for the big finish, but I don't think they really needed to kill off all of these characters. It's a bit silly, but then I guess so was the whole series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2021
You know what I was gonna be nice and give this two stars because I haven't given something 1 star in such a long time and it sucks to have to do 1 star books in a row from the same series, but this is just truly awful. Seriously we just jump around grab every single character that's been in the series at some point basically and then And apparently the reason for this, as said in the author's note at the end, is because they wanted to end the series on issue 50 but didn't know what to do [I guess explaining dropped plot points like what the significance of Jack being half-literal was were entirely out of the question?]. That's some Game of Thrones level not caring about your fanbase bullshit right there. If you're going to read this series just read up to the crossover volume and then drop it because there's really nothing worth it after that.
September 29, 2017
Jack finisce. Lutto. E' forse il riassunto più efficace per la mattanza dell'ultimo episodio. Spettacolare. Nelle ultime pagine dello spinoff (sul personaggio) più fico degli ultimi anni ci lasciano le penne tutti, ma proprio tutti, dalle sorelle Page, all'uovo parlante, al figlio e padre Jack, a John il perfido. Lo scontro finale vede convergere Jack Frost e un nutrito manipolo di fiabe nell'antro dell'ormai drago Jack Hornet. Per Jack Frost e il suo fido gufo è solo l'ultima avventura prima della pensione, gli altri hanno mire diverse. L'importante è che per tutti (tranne che per la birichina anima di Jack, contesa fra troppi diavoli) cali la parola FINE INESORABILE. Bello, bello che sia finita così, e non per esigenze economiche. L'antipatia di Jack mancherà a tutti i suoi lettori.
March 17, 2022
The final story of Jack of Fables. It made me sad when I finished the last issue, I started reading fables months ago and read the series at a slow pace, and now to finally have the last story of Jack of fables finish is satisfying but sad.
I honestly like this story, it was one of the better Jack of Fable stories. I think this volume is 2nd only to Turning pages (jack of fables vol 5), I really like how they brought every character together from past stories to all have one big clash in the last issue. Everyone dies, literally everyone the only survivor being Babe but he wasn't even in the fight. Very sad to see the characters I've grown to love all die, I can't imagine what this feeling will be like when I finish the main series Fables. Overall 8/10
I honestly like this story, it was one of the better Jack of Fable stories. I think this volume is 2nd only to Turning pages (jack of fables vol 5), I really like how they brought every character together from past stories to all have one big clash in the last issue. Everyone dies, literally everyone the only survivor being Babe but he wasn't even in the fight. Very sad to see the characters I've grown to love all die, I can't imagine what this feeling will be like when I finish the main series Fables. Overall 8/10
January 24, 2017
It's over!
If you read all og the Jack books in order to read the "great" (not so) Crossover event and then decided you couldn't take one more Jack story, I understand. However, I am glad that I finished the series, otherwise trudging through those seriously terrible books would have been even less meaningful.
This final volume succeeds in confirming that the entire series was a waste of time. It brings just about every character introduced by this series together and ends their stories with finality.
A mostly satisfying ending.
If you read all og the Jack books in order to read the "great" (not so) Crossover event and then decided you couldn't take one more Jack story, I understand. However, I am glad that I finished the series, otherwise trudging through those seriously terrible books would have been even less meaningful.
This final volume succeeds in confirming that the entire series was a waste of time. It brings just about every character introduced by this series together and ends their stories with finality.
A mostly satisfying ending.
June 22, 2020
That was a pile of garbage. It has been about a year since I read the last volume, which I remember liking somewhat since the focus went to Jack Frost. What happened in this was is a big mystery to me. I really have no clue what was going on. Either I forgot a lot or it just completely went off the rails. It could be both. Also - I hate Babe. That never amounted to anything but a waste of space. The only reason I don't give it one star is because there is some fun here and there and I like the artwork.
September 14, 2017
Even at it's best Jack of Fables was never as good as the series it spun off from. Still, at times it had its moments. Towards the end it though it all sort of fell apart. This conclusion to the series does nothing to redeem things. Frankly, it's a mess.
Oh, and to this day I still have no idea what the deal with the repeated Babe the Blue Ox bits are about.
Oh, and to this day I still have no idea what the deal with the repeated Babe the Blue Ox bits are about.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews