Monday, September 6, 2010

Fables TPB 13: The Great Fables Crossover


I'm afraid I'm a bit of a moron. I stopped reading Jack of Fables around trade number five, so I think I missed out on a fair amount of the Literals lead in. The problem is that the Literals are the core of this crossover, and so I found myself a bit confused about these... "ultra-Fables," one of whom has the power to destroy reality.
The threat is as big as it gets, and yet other than some clever meta-commentary about where the Fables comics have taken some classic characters (Snow White marrying the Big Bad Wolf? Preposterous!) I never got into this. I laughed at the silly Literal genres, they were very entertaining, but I never really worried about the outcome. Jack was great, of course, and he ends up being the best part of this trade. He totally doesn't care about the Literal part of the crossover, he just wants to cause trouble at the Farm and hook up with Rose Red. I found his chapters of this collection the easiest to understand (and therefore, the most enjoyable). I never quite understood why Thorne couldn't see Writers' Block, I don't get Deus Ex Machina, and the Page sisters are fun, but I don't understand their purpose.
The art is great, of course. Mark Buckingham, Russ Braun, and Tony Akins have been directing this world for so long that everything looked spot on. I do love the new Jack Frost design, too. Overall, this is one of the weaker chapters in the still-excellent Fables ongoing.
Average

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