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Fables
Fables, Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Winner of Fourteen Eisner Awards
When Fables Collide!
As the free Fables struggle to regroup following the destruction of their New York City stronghold, they are suddenly faced with a wholly new menace - one that threatens not only their adopted planet, but all of reality itself!
Against such a terrible power, can even the combined abilities of these legendary storybook heroes prevail? Only one thing is certain: once the battle is joined, the world of Fables will never be the same!
Deftly crafted by writers Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges and artists Mark Buckingham, Russ Braun, Tony Akins, Andrew Pepoy, José Marzan, Jr. and Dan Green.
Collecting: Fables 83-85, Jack of Fables 33-35, The Literals 1-3
When Fables Collide!
This is it - a story so grand, so epic in scale that no single series could contain it!
As the free Fables struggle to regroup following the destruction of their New York City stronghold, they are suddenly faced with a wholly new menace - one that threatens not only their adopted planet, but all of reality itself!
Against such a terrible power, can even the combined abilities of these legendary storybook heroes prevail? Only one thing is certain: once the battle is joined, the world of Fables will never be the same!
Deftly crafted by writers Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges and artists Mark Buckingham, Russ Braun, Tony Akins, Andrew Pepoy, José Marzan, Jr. and Dan Green.
Collecting: Fables 83-85, Jack of Fables 33-35, The Literals 1-3
224 pages, Paperback
First published February 9, 2010
84 people are currently reading
2443 people want to read
About the author
Bill Willingham
993 books2,818 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 702 reviews
January 5, 2022
From left field comes this new bad guy who is Literally going to write the universe out of existence.
If anyone can stop him, it's going to be our beloved Fables.
This was a fun plot device and it felt very much like Willingham was having blast, creating an evil immortal writer with the power of a god who is hampered only by his twin brother Writer's Block.
The gist is that there are a group of Literals who sort of control the narrative of the universe, the main dude is Kevin Thorn. <--the god with a hankering to do a rewrite
The Genres also show up and several interesting characters like Sam who Kevin resurrected to advise him.
As much as I enjoyed this volume, I also spent a lot of time feeling lost. Like there was something else I should have read first so that I could understand where these characters came from.
I'm assuming that I needed to have been reading Jack of Fables along with the main Fables title?
Overall though, I thought this was another great volume.
If anyone can stop him, it's going to be our beloved Fables.
This was a fun plot device and it felt very much like Willingham was having blast, creating an evil immortal writer with the power of a god who is hampered only by his twin brother Writer's Block.
The gist is that there are a group of Literals who sort of control the narrative of the universe, the main dude is Kevin Thorn. <--the god with a hankering to do a rewrite
The Genres also show up and several interesting characters like Sam who Kevin resurrected to advise him.
As much as I enjoyed this volume, I also spent a lot of time feeling lost. Like there was something else I should have read first so that I could understand where these characters came from.
I'm assuming that I needed to have been reading Jack of Fables along with the main Fables title?
Overall though, I thought this was another great volume.
November 14, 2011
This volume was OFFICIALLY THE WORST. Uhhh, just uhhhhh. For a while, I almost thought I would check out the Jack of Fables spin off, but this pretty much seals the deal on that never happening. Jack sucks. And it's not just that he's an unrepentant asshole (because I can love me some fictional unrepentant assholes), it's that he's a BORING asshole. His shtick gets old, fast. Jack is written for 12 year old boys, but not even cool 12 year old boys. The worst 12 year old boys. (Example of Jack plots: Jack has sex with EVERYONE! Lol, Jack had sex with his SISTERS...who are librarians with BIG BOOBIES and BIG GUNS. LOL BOOBIES!) Plus...who the hell are these literals and why should I care??? Stop changing the mythology around, just so you can make something as "dramatic" (emphasis on the sarcastic quotation marks) as someone who can rewrite the universe. This volume was a complete chore to get through. And yes, WHY DID I read it if I hated it so much? Because I'm a completist, that's why.
April 2, 2023
And because we love everything literal 5 stars !!!
This story was amazing i thought before i even read it that it will be just some cheap way to link fables with jack of fables.
But it was not it was a great story that i enjoyed so very much.
The whole idea is bloody crazy and the whole idea sparked from the conversation between the animal and frau totenkinder.
I am just glad i got to read such a crazy idea, with such a great ending.
The only bad thing about this is that we lost the literals once and for all sadly.
This story was amazing i thought before i even read it that it will be just some cheap way to link fables with jack of fables.
But it was not it was a great story that i enjoyed so very much.
The whole idea is bloody crazy and the whole idea sparked from the conversation between the animal and frau totenkinder.
I am just glad i got to read such a crazy idea, with such a great ending.
The only bad thing about this is that we lost the literals once and for all sadly.
March 18, 2021
The Great Fables crossover would have been fab written in the style of Fables... unfortunately it was written in the style of Jack of Fables! 6.5 of of 12.
September 20, 2019
Literally a crossover in that Jack Horner, Snow White, and Bigby trade not only books but artists as well. Kevin Thorn has realized he has the power to rewrite our world. Bigby and Snow White team up with the Jack of Fables supporting characters to go stop Thorn. The story is a culmination of a long running plotline from Jack of Fables. While really funny at times, it feels a bit too absurdist for the ongoing Fables story.
September 20, 2019
I feel like this volume was a reset, or a break in the momentum of the story in many ways. It seemed to be more about Jack Horner than what was really happening in Fabletown. We have that new evil presence that has taken up residence in NYC and no one knows much about him and nothing was done with him.
Rose Red is very depressed and she was punishing herself by sleeping with Jack Horner. I thought that was pretty amazing storytelling. I have heard people say they do just that too.
The series has been so strong that I guess they had to drop the bar a little so they can build it back up. I really hope the next volume can take the story off.
The best part of this story was seeing Bigby when he was turned into a murderous little girl in a frilly dress. That was a great twist.
I just can’t read these fast enough. I am looking forward to Vol. 14 and it probably won’t be that long until I read it.
Rose Red is very depressed and she was punishing herself by sleeping with Jack Horner. I thought that was pretty amazing storytelling. I have heard people say they do just that too.
The series has been so strong that I guess they had to drop the bar a little so they can build it back up. I really hope the next volume can take the story off.
The best part of this story was seeing Bigby when he was turned into a murderous little girl in a frilly dress. That was a great twist.
I just can’t read these fast enough. I am looking forward to Vol. 14 and it probably won’t be that long until I read it.
July 30, 2023
OK yeah, sorry, but no. Just no. This wasn't very good at all. The way was introducted (and not just with that uglier-than-usual art) was just so utterly nonsensical. Are we really to believe that turned evil just because and ?! *snorts* Gimme a break!
And that's just one example of what was wrong with this filler volume. uite disappointing.
And that's just one example of what was wrong with this filler volume. uite disappointing.
June 18, 2010
Two thirds of the way through this half-baked excuse for a story, Willingham makes one of the Page sisters remark, "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." Sadly, this seems to have been the guiding principle of this installment in the once-brilliant Fables series. The Great Crossover is characterized by a bizarre combination of exaggeration and under-development. Some elements, such as the farcical humor of the Jack spin-off and irregular outpourings of gory violence, are present to such a degree that they are irritating and function primarily as filler for the lagging plot. The characters, originally one of the strong points of the series, have grown increasingly flat and boring for the last few volumes. There are some great ideas, mostly ones that were hinted at in early chapters, they are wasted through weak and wandering execution. And I think the author(s) knew it. The whole thing really feels like they were only bothering out of some obligation to produce a volume. Even visually this is not on par with earlier publications. Few of panels stand out in any way, and the pages that separate the chapters instead of having different full-page illustrations are the same ugly mustard/gold sheet with the same small image of three ugly fairies over a one-liner from the upcoming chapter, such as "Sometimes the only way to deal with a recalcitrant relative is with a good bludgeoning." Really? That's the best you can come up with? Pathetic. Almost as pathetic as the ending, which is an unoriginal cop-out. If the next volume isn't a major improvement I'm giving up on this series.
June 14, 2025
An untimely side trip, too soon after the launch of the second story arc in the last volume, so I don't see the need to go on a side story on the immediate next volume, while the story was good but I'm feeling irked by the placement in the chronology of the series, if it came later on would have been better, but that's me!
This volume doesn't just take a side step away from the main story, but also the satirical tone of events and dialogue, and the entry (and exit) of a new cast of characters (The Literals folk) is a deviation from the stream line of the series thus far. But there was no folling around from the start, the book is titled as a cross over event, so we were clear from the start that this is an out of norms volume...
MiM
This volume doesn't just take a side step away from the main story, but also the satirical tone of events and dialogue, and the entry (and exit) of a new cast of characters (The Literals folk) is a deviation from the stream line of the series thus far. But there was no folling around from the start, the book is titled as a cross over event, so we were clear from the start that this is an out of norms volume...
MiM
July 4, 2015
I think the Jack of Fables series was losing readership (because Jack is an asshole and even the most hardcore fans are eventually going to tire of reading about a fictional asshole when there are so many actual assholes making life less enjoyable), so the Vertigo crew thought, "Hey! Fables is actually a great series, and since we can't admit we screwed up in flogging the dead horse that is the story of Jack, we *can* cross the two over and people will *have* to buy Jack's comics because, hey, loyal fans? Fuck 'em!"
And thus, this unnecessary pile. I stopped reading Jack's story here and haven't missed him. Fortunately, my library system has invested heavily in graphic novels so no actual dollars of mine were wasted... just precious, irreplaceable minutes.
And thus, this unnecessary pile. I stopped reading Jack's story here and haven't missed him. Fortunately, my library system has invested heavily in graphic novels so no actual dollars of mine were wasted... just precious, irreplaceable minutes.
December 25, 2022
Reading this was like watching one of those episodes of Grey’s Anatomy when the whole segment is centered on 1 character, and may not even take place in Sloane Memorial Hospital. Do you know what I mean? It’s like the writers didn’t have a full script ready; or the studio gave most of the cast a week off... So for whatever reason, there is no regular show, and the fans get a non-show.
This was confusing. The characters were not even their usual selves. The plot -did it even belong to the previous storyline? Will it even be relevant to the next issue? It was a non-graphic novel. It was a waste of artistic talent.
This was confusing. The characters were not even their usual selves. The plot -did it even belong to the previous storyline? Will it even be relevant to the next issue? It was a non-graphic novel. It was a waste of artistic talent.
September 21, 2012
I followed Fables through this crossover in single-issue format and stopped as soon as this crossover was finished. This was the end of a brilliant series as far as I was concerned. I hnestly have no idea what Willingham was thinking, but this is far too campy, far too goofy to be considered in the same literary category as the previous 12 or so volumes. There isn't much to say about it. You'll read it anyway if you've been following the series, but don't expect it to feel anything like the Fables you know and love.
October 30, 2023
Carino, specialmente come concetto.
Ma è un crossover incentrato sulla serie di Jack, non su Fables (che per l'occasione mette in pausa la trama dell'oscuro signore), con personaggi e riferimenti a me sconosciuti, uno stile differente da quello di Fables e Jack come voce narrante.
Insomma, una buona storia di metafumetto/metaletteratura, che però manca degli spunti che caratterizzano le buone storie di Fables.
Ma è un crossover incentrato sulla serie di Jack, non su Fables (che per l'occasione mette in pausa la trama dell'oscuro signore), con personaggi e riferimenti a me sconosciuti, uno stile differente da quello di Fables e Jack come voce narrante.
Insomma, una buona storia di metafumetto/metaletteratura, che però manca degli spunti che caratterizzano le buone storie di Fables.
March 3, 2014
I think it's probably the fact that I haven't read any Jack comics, but this one kinda lost me a little. The idea of the literals is interesting but I just felt that suddenly huge chunks of story around kevin thorn just got skipped (again, probably in the Jack stories) meaning I felt confused half the time. This wasn't fun. There were good bits though. I just... Maybe I'll come back to this another time, when I've read the other series...
June 21, 2015
This is the first Fables volume I have given less than five stars in a while. I think it was because I just don't like Jack. He annoys the heck out of me. Much of the dynamic I love about this series isn't there. While I have come to love the Fables even when Snow and Bigby aren't front and center, I just can't stand Jack. I wonder if I am the only way who feels that way. And many of the other characters I've come to know and love aren't in this volume enough for me.
I didn't feel as strong a connection to the Literals storyline. I'm guessing the Literals play a larger role in the Jack of Spades series, and hence the crossover here. It's interesting from a literary perspective. I love exploring literary devices and archetypes, and it was pretty cool how all the genres show up in this story. And the whole aspect of the Literal family plays around with metafiction and the power of the creative writing process. I didn't quite get the motivation of the main 'villain.' It didn't' seem like he had anything to gain from what he wanted to do.
I think the humor is a lot more sarcastic and incisive in this volume, but the storyline fits it. There are parts that don't seem as cohesive, and I often wondered where the story was going here. But even the less interesting Fables are still pretty good! I think this is a low four star read for me.
I didn't feel as strong a connection to the Literals storyline. I'm guessing the Literals play a larger role in the Jack of Spades series, and hence the crossover here. It's interesting from a literary perspective. I love exploring literary devices and archetypes, and it was pretty cool how all the genres show up in this story. And the whole aspect of the Literal family plays around with metafiction and the power of the creative writing process. I didn't quite get the motivation of the main 'villain.' It didn't' seem like he had anything to gain from what he wanted to do.
I think the humor is a lot more sarcastic and incisive in this volume, but the storyline fits it. There are parts that don't seem as cohesive, and I often wondered where the story was going here. But even the less interesting Fables are still pretty good! I think this is a low four star read for me.
November 10, 2018
This was a filler and completely unnecessary. Take my advice and go from volume 12 to 14 and you would have missed nothing.
Jack was my favorite fairy tale character growing up but this series makes you hate him. Same with Peter Pan. I love Peter but so many spin offs portray him as a villain. All my favorites are branded as bad guys lol.
Jack was my favorite fairy tale character growing up but this series makes you hate him. Same with Peter Pan. I love Peter but so many spin offs portray him as a villain. All my favorites are branded as bad guys lol.
March 13, 2010
I usually love Fables, and I absolutely loved "Peter and Max." But like other readers have mentioned, there's a reason why I stopped reading "Jack of Fables" - so to see it absorb the story so much without necessarily knowing much of the backstory was a little frustrating.
I surprised myself with how much I disliked this particular collection - I kept waiting for the action to get back to something interesting. Similarly, I couldn't muster any enthusiasm for Kevin Thorn or any of the Literals. I felt that the volume was far too self-referential and it also seemed to pat itself on the back way more than any of the previous issues. There were moments where I would simply think, "Gosh, they must be really proud of themselves right now."
Primarily, I felt so distanced from the story that I just couldn't really immerse myself into it like I can with all the other Fable volumes. I'm looking very much forward to when the story returns to the Fable characters and leaves Jack and company behind.
I surprised myself with how much I disliked this particular collection - I kept waiting for the action to get back to something interesting. Similarly, I couldn't muster any enthusiasm for Kevin Thorn or any of the Literals. I felt that the volume was far too self-referential and it also seemed to pat itself on the back way more than any of the previous issues. There were moments where I would simply think, "Gosh, they must be really proud of themselves right now."
Primarily, I felt so distanced from the story that I just couldn't really immerse myself into it like I can with all the other Fable volumes. I'm looking very much forward to when the story returns to the Fable characters and leaves Jack and company behind.
June 22, 2019
Vol 13 gives us a break from the story arc as we deal with issues in Fabletown, including a fight between Bigby and the Beast, and a somewhat clever "enemy" in the literary writer who can "change reality". Without any more spoilers there is not much to say. It's a good issue, but not to compare with the others. It seems like a break similar to what mangas do. The concept of the writer and the changes he was able to make were interesting. It is also a tongue in cheek "criticism" of this volume itself. That's what takes this from a meh 2-star rating to a good 3 star. I can appreciate some self-deprecating humor. But, let's get on with the story of the Dark. Oh and it seems many dark things are escaping now, so on to Vol 14 where the story picks back up.
September 19, 2015
• Bigby's storyline was hilarious and gave me some genuine laugh out loud moments.
• Some days you're the bug, and other days you're the windshield. After reading this, I can firmly say that Jack is always the bug. What a cad, and not in the sexy way either.
• Not as good as the previous issues but solidly entertaining. The levity was nice after so much darkness.
July 4, 2010
My guess is that money dictated this merging of the story lines in Bill Willingham"s (and Matt Sturges) Fables titles. While the ending was not wholly satisfying, Willingham's admitted use of a deus ex machina fits the tale. In addition, IMO, Willingham takes his shots at multiple generes of fiction through his use of the characters, the literals.
April 8, 2017
This was interesting right until the end. That DEX just killed the whole story.
April 1, 2024
Now that Fables is in the 'Public Domain', I thought it was time I read the entire series (including all spinoffs and specials) from start to finish in sequential tpb reading order. Here we go!
Fables First-to-Finale reading #22
Fables vol 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Snow wants to know who the Literals are and which one might decide to rewrite the universe? Let's find out! But first, Bigby and Jack throw down. Kind of. Jack Frost Jr. shows up at Jacks door. Bigby is rewritten by Kevin. The Page Sisters go up against the Genres. Everyone vs. Kevin. Then it's Deus Ex Machina. Sigh.
In the end, this turned out to be the 'just ok' Fables Crossover.
Fables First-to-Finale reading #22
Fables vol 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Snow wants to know who the Literals are and which one might decide to rewrite the universe? Let's find out! But first, Bigby and Jack throw down. Kind of. Jack Frost Jr. shows up at Jacks door. Bigby is rewritten by Kevin. The Page Sisters go up against the Genres. Everyone vs. Kevin. Then it's Deus Ex Machina. Sigh.
In the end, this turned out to be the 'just ok' Fables Crossover.
September 15, 2016
Wow, I would've never guessed my one of the best-read series in recent times could've contained one of the WORST books I've read not only this year but in all my life as well! Holy shit was this book bad or what! Its a total incomprehensible incomparable mess where not only the reader didn't have any fucking idea what the fuck is going on whatsoever (apology for the swearing, but I'm seriously mad in red hot rage right now) the characters themselves didn't have any lick of an idea whats going on, and were perplexed all the time. I can only imagine writer Bill Willingham purposefully played a cruel joke on his avid readers of Fables, by assigning this volume as a Fables story, while in reality, other than making some Fables regulars forcefully appear in the spin-off and completely different series Jack of Fables, this volume has NOTHING with the continuing storylines of Fables and instead felt more like an installment in the Jack series. And let me assure you, those characters themselves absolutely DIDN'T want to appear in this mindbogglingly awful, gimmicky "crossover", and were just as relieved as the reader when all these unpleasantness were at long last over. This is a complete and utter nonsense which didn't have any purpose other than to waste times of the poor fans of Fables in expanse of sullying the name of a great series and all the fond memories of those once epic and mindblowing stories of that series, with pages after pages after pages wasted in senseless babbling which didn't have any meaning or objective. This atrocious book just took a huge pile of dump on everything that the readers come to love, and quite literally in fact, because believe it or not, there was a full page dedicated in visualizing huge piles of smoking hot shits laying on the ground. No, I'm not making this up. I couldn't if I wanted to.
Thankfully, by the end it looks like this volume won't have any impact on the continuity, and also the memories of Bigby Wolf and Snow White were wiped clean lest all the pathetic happenings of the book scarred them for life. If only my memory of reading it could've wiped clean as well. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 (which it deserves thoroughly) only for the artworks and illustrations, but even those are quite below the average mark. And I kinda chuckled a time or two when in the Farm "Jack Horner as Boy Blue returned" farce was going on, mostly because by then I long surrendered to all the incoherence and was just trying to go with it.
To the new Fables readers like me, don't do the same mistake I did: Skip this one as if it never existed (which should be the case if the world was fair) and go to the next true volume of the series. Seriously, AVOID THIS LIKE THE PLAGUE!
Thankfully, by the end it looks like this volume won't have any impact on the continuity, and also the memories of Bigby Wolf and Snow White were wiped clean lest all the pathetic happenings of the book scarred them for life. If only my memory of reading it could've wiped clean as well. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 (which it deserves thoroughly) only for the artworks and illustrations, but even those are quite below the average mark. And I kinda chuckled a time or two when in the Farm "Jack Horner as Boy Blue returned" farce was going on, mostly because by then I long surrendered to all the incoherence and was just trying to go with it.
To the new Fables readers like me, don't do the same mistake I did: Skip this one as if it never existed (which should be the case if the world was fair) and go to the next true volume of the series. Seriously, AVOID THIS LIKE THE PLAGUE!
July 24, 2011
A great number of people have seemed particularly grumpy about this one, especially since it largely pauses the storyline present in 12 (which is then resumed in 14) to follow the Jack of Fables series that broke off [rightly so] from the Fables universe. On one hand, I understand this, as having to wait for the continuation of plot can be annoying and it takes a while to fully understand the "Literals" plot line from Jack of Fables.
On the other hand, this story arc made me laugh out loud while sitting by myself, which is a feat in itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its sheer entertainment value. And frankly, I think the series needed a bit of that, before moving into the next major crisis. Thus, I, for one, think this was ultimately pretty masterful and a nice move on the author's part to provide some comedic relief for a while before having to resume the otherwise very serious and dire plot lines.
On the other hand, this story arc made me laugh out loud while sitting by myself, which is a feat in itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its sheer entertainment value. And frankly, I think the series needed a bit of that, before moving into the next major crisis. Thus, I, for one, think this was ultimately pretty masterful and a nice move on the author's part to provide some comedic relief for a while before having to resume the otherwise very serious and dire plot lines.
July 18, 2012
I have mixed feelings about this one, which is appropriate given that it's a mix of Fables and Jack of Fables storylines. If you glance over the ratings I've given each of those series, it's pretty obvious that I prefer the main Fables books over the Jack spinoff. The purpose of the crossover was to bring the main Fables characters into the Literals drama, and I was disappointed that the dark villain storyline from Fables almost ground to a halt while all the Literals took over. In the end, I don't feel like the Fables characters had much impact on the resolution of the story, which makes me think the crossover was an economic decision and not a creative one.
On the bright side, it seems like a good place to stop following the Jack of Fables series.
On the bright side, it seems like a good place to stop following the Jack of Fables series.
April 19, 2018
Definitely not the usual five star Fables rating for this one. It was still very very good but the "crossover" between Fables and Jack also meant that we had different artists and an attempt to take the different feel of each book and have it meet in the middle. On some levels it worked but at the end of the day a compromise means a degradation in something.
Plus
I just really don't like Jack that much at this point. My feelings for him have changed over the years but this incarnation of Jack just doesn't do it for me.
This sounds like a terrible review/rating but that only because of what it's compared to - the usual brilliance of Fables and this one was not brilliant, it was just very very good.
Plus
I just really don't like Jack that much at this point. My feelings for him have changed over the years but this incarnation of Jack just doesn't do it for me.
This sounds like a terrible review/rating but that only because of what it's compared to - the usual brilliance of Fables and this one was not brilliant, it was just very very good.
January 4, 2016
Who would have expected a crossover in the literal sense of the word? But that's just what we get as Jack goes to Fables and Bigby and Snow deal with his Literal problem. I quite enjoy the Jack at the Farm storyline, which is a good continuation of the current Fables storylines. However, the story of the war against Kevin ended up too stretched out, probably because of the inclusion of the Literals title. The metatextuality of the story is also delightful and often funny, though it's not something I'd want to see all the time. [7/10]
November 12, 2022
The weakest volume of Fables I’ve read thus far, though still extremely entertaining in patches. No big surprise that the Crossover element is what held it back for me- having never read any of Jack of Fables the majority of the characters were brand new to me and I didn’t find them terribly appealing, sexy badass librarians notwithstanding.
March 17, 2016
The idea of the liberals is great but the ending left me very much annoyed at how very dues ex machina it was. Still worth a read.
December 4, 2011
Kind of falling out of love with the Fables series now, and this collection assembles the big crossover with the Jack spin-off series (which I didn't read past the first couple of trade paperback collections, because Jack is just such a prick.) So, basically this large story arc is a "time-out" from the large one set up in the previous volume with the new Big Bad, Mister Dark, who barely appears at all here. Instead, Jack comes to the Farm to warn the Fables about a new threat to the entire world: Kevin Thorn, a writer who can literally rewrite reality, and is about to erase all of existence.
Uh, what? Yeah, Kevin Thorn kind of comes out of the blue, though his children and the Literals he spawned were introduced in the first Jack books. So, since I am not a Jack-of-Tales fan and the whole arc seemed like a distraction, like one of those episodes in the middle of a season of Buffy where they apparently all decide to forget about the main Big Bad who's been plaguing them all season for one episode, this couldn't get a 5-star rating from me.
That said, I liked all the literary in-jokes. The Literals are the living manifestations of literary devices: the Page sisters (hot censorious librarians with guns), the Pathetic Fallacy, Mr. Revise, Kevin Thorn's dreaded twin, Writer's Block, and the Genres, whom Kevin summons to advise him and then fight for him. The banter between Westerns, War, Mystery, Romance, Horror, Noir, Comedy, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy twins is amusing, though they are the very crudest of genre stereotypes. And in the end, Dex (Deux Ex Machina) appears out of nowhere to offer them a solution. Har har, so meta!
Also, Bigby Wolf finally shows his bad-ass self more than once in this book. Since he's supposed to be the biggest, baddest Fable in existence, watching him become a happily married family man for all these years has had an aura of sad slapstick. In this volume, he does some serious bloodletting -- albeit he does it while trapped in the body of a little girl.
So the whole book is pretty surreal, it's got some humorous bits, and it's got an entire save-the-universe self-contained story arc within, but I will be glad to see Jack wandering back to his own series (he's such a prick), and I'd like to see Willingham start dealing with the Mister Dark storyline, and hopefully not take the next five years wrapping it up.
Uh, what? Yeah, Kevin Thorn kind of comes out of the blue, though his children and the Literals he spawned were introduced in the first Jack books. So, since I am not a Jack-of-Tales fan and the whole arc seemed like a distraction, like one of those episodes in the middle of a season of Buffy where they apparently all decide to forget about the main Big Bad who's been plaguing them all season for one episode, this couldn't get a 5-star rating from me.
That said, I liked all the literary in-jokes. The Literals are the living manifestations of literary devices: the Page sisters (hot censorious librarians with guns), the Pathetic Fallacy, Mr. Revise, Kevin Thorn's dreaded twin, Writer's Block, and the Genres, whom Kevin summons to advise him and then fight for him. The banter between Westerns, War, Mystery, Romance, Horror, Noir, Comedy, and the Science Fiction and Fantasy twins is amusing, though they are the very crudest of genre stereotypes. And in the end, Dex (Deux Ex Machina) appears out of nowhere to offer them a solution. Har har, so meta!
Also, Bigby Wolf finally shows his bad-ass self more than once in this book. Since he's supposed to be the biggest, baddest Fable in existence, watching him become a happily married family man for all these years has had an aura of sad slapstick. In this volume, he does some serious bloodletting -- albeit he does it while trapped in the body of a little girl.
So the whole book is pretty surreal, it's got some humorous bits, and it's got an entire save-the-universe self-contained story arc within, but I will be glad to see Jack wandering back to his own series (he's such a prick), and I'd like to see Willingham start dealing with the Mister Dark storyline, and hopefully not take the next five years wrapping it up.
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