GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Fables, Vol 13, The Great Fables Crossover
Title: Fables, Vol 13: The Great Fables Crossover
Author: Bill Willingham
Illustrators: Mark Buckingham
Series: Fables (Vol 13)
The following review has spoilers for previous volumes in the Fables Series. Any spoilers for The Great Fables Crossover are placed under a cut.
The Fables are about to be written out of existence. The creator of all of the Fables, Kevin Thorn, feels that his world has developed beyond his control, so he's decided to scrap it all and start anew. Snow White, Bigby Wolf, and Jack of Tales are determined to stand in his way, but how will they stand up against his army of Literals, individuals that are complete embodiments of a particular literary genre?
The Great Fables Crossover is a crossover event between Fables, Jack of Fables and a three issue mini series called The Literals. The book is very stand alone. You don't have to be fully familiar with Fables, or Jack of Fables to understand it, and it contributes very little to the current Fables storyline. I've read elsewhere that you can actually skip over this volume, and just move onto the next without really missing anything. Unless you're a completist like me, I would suggest taking that path. Despite some really nice artwork, The Great Fables Crossover never delivers on it's admittedly interesting premise.
The Great Fables Crossover abandons the dramatic, character focused storylines of Fables for a fast paced, metaficional comedy. Unfortunately, most of the jokes fall flat to me, resulting in a disappointing read. I feel like there were a lot of things that I should have enjoyed about this graphic novel but they never really came together in a satisfying way. For example, it was nice to see Snow and Bigby leave the cubs at home and throw themselves back into the action for a little while, but their presence in the story seemed pretty inconsequential. The main focus here is really on Kevin Thorn, the Literals, and Jack of Fables. This really didn't work for me as I can't help but find Jack to be an utterly unlikable character. The character of Kevin Thorn was really underwhelming for me as well. I understand his point is to be a metaphor for the role of a writer of a story, but he doesn't really work as a character. He's pretty much supposed to be God in the Fables Universe, but the strongest feeling he got out of me was mild annoyance. The Literals, on the other hand, are interesting and their presence even coaxed a few chuckles out of me. Unfortunately there are so many of them that they end up feeling incredibly shallow. I think they were supposed to feel shallow and two dimensional, but even if that was what the author was intending, it still didn't really work for me.
For the last part of this review, I'm going to venture into some small spoilers so skip to the end if you'd like.The part of the graphic novel that worked the least for me were the scenes with Rose Red, which actually made me a little uncomfortable. When we enter the story, Rose Red is consumed by grief. Jack, upon seeing an old girlfriend, immediately takes of his clothes and has sex with her. Rose Red, overwhelmed by the loss of Boy Blue, calls out Blue's name during sex. The local farm animals hear this and assume that it's a sign that Boy Blue has returned in Jack's body, a storyline that ends up as ridiculous as it sounds. This scene bothered me for two reasons. One is it drives home how much I dislike Jack as a character, as he's pretty much taking advantage of Rose Red in her grief. And secondly, we're supposed to find this intensely depressing moment to be funny because of the farm animal's folly. I'm sorry, I know that Rose Red has not always been the most likable Fable but this feels incredibly cruel to me.
Final Thoughts: Perhaps I haven't been in love with every one shot found in the Fables comics but up until now I have been satisfied with every graphic novel on one level or another. This is far from the case with The Great Fables Crossover, which completely ignores the exciting events raised in The Dark Ages in favor for a pointless crossover starring an uninteresting villain. The majority of the jokes in this humor-focused volume fall flat, and the book''s positive elements are overwhelmed by it's negative ones, some which are almost offensively bad. The artwork is as strong as always, but the story falls short. Two stars
Next I will be reviewing The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Author: Bill Willingham
Illustrators: Mark Buckingham
Series: Fables (Vol 13)
The following review has spoilers for previous volumes in the Fables Series. Any spoilers for The Great Fables Crossover are placed under a cut.
The Fables are about to be written out of existence. The creator of all of the Fables, Kevin Thorn, feels that his world has developed beyond his control, so he's decided to scrap it all and start anew. Snow White, Bigby Wolf, and Jack of Tales are determined to stand in his way, but how will they stand up against his army of Literals, individuals that are complete embodiments of a particular literary genre?
The Great Fables Crossover is a crossover event between Fables, Jack of Fables and a three issue mini series called The Literals. The book is very stand alone. You don't have to be fully familiar with Fables, or Jack of Fables to understand it, and it contributes very little to the current Fables storyline. I've read elsewhere that you can actually skip over this volume, and just move onto the next without really missing anything. Unless you're a completist like me, I would suggest taking that path. Despite some really nice artwork, The Great Fables Crossover never delivers on it's admittedly interesting premise.
The Great Fables Crossover abandons the dramatic, character focused storylines of Fables for a fast paced, metaficional comedy. Unfortunately, most of the jokes fall flat to me, resulting in a disappointing read. I feel like there were a lot of things that I should have enjoyed about this graphic novel but they never really came together in a satisfying way. For example, it was nice to see Snow and Bigby leave the cubs at home and throw themselves back into the action for a little while, but their presence in the story seemed pretty inconsequential. The main focus here is really on Kevin Thorn, the Literals, and Jack of Fables. This really didn't work for me as I can't help but find Jack to be an utterly unlikable character. The character of Kevin Thorn was really underwhelming for me as well. I understand his point is to be a metaphor for the role of a writer of a story, but he doesn't really work as a character. He's pretty much supposed to be God in the Fables Universe, but the strongest feeling he got out of me was mild annoyance. The Literals, on the other hand, are interesting and their presence even coaxed a few chuckles out of me. Unfortunately there are so many of them that they end up feeling incredibly shallow. I think they were supposed to feel shallow and two dimensional, but even if that was what the author was intending, it still didn't really work for me.
For the last part of this review, I'm going to venture into some small spoilers so skip to the end if you'd like.The part of the graphic novel that worked the least for me were the scenes with Rose Red, which actually made me a little uncomfortable. When we enter the story, Rose Red is consumed by grief. Jack, upon seeing an old girlfriend, immediately takes of his clothes and has sex with her. Rose Red, overwhelmed by the loss of Boy Blue, calls out Blue's name during sex. The local farm animals hear this and assume that it's a sign that Boy Blue has returned in Jack's body, a storyline that ends up as ridiculous as it sounds. This scene bothered me for two reasons. One is it drives home how much I dislike Jack as a character, as he's pretty much taking advantage of Rose Red in her grief. And secondly, we're supposed to find this intensely depressing moment to be funny because of the farm animal's folly. I'm sorry, I know that Rose Red has not always been the most likable Fable but this feels incredibly cruel to me.
Final Thoughts: Perhaps I haven't been in love with every one shot found in the Fables comics but up until now I have been satisfied with every graphic novel on one level or another. This is far from the case with The Great Fables Crossover, which completely ignores the exciting events raised in The Dark Ages in favor for a pointless crossover starring an uninteresting villain. The majority of the jokes in this humor-focused volume fall flat, and the book''s positive elements are overwhelmed by it's negative ones, some which are almost offensively bad. The artwork is as strong as always, but the story falls short. Two stars
Next I will be reviewing The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson