132. Jack of Fables: Jack of Hearts

Jack of Hearts by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges. Art by Tony Atkins (Canada) - (USA)
Jack of Fables, Volume 2


Pages: 143 pages
Ages: 18+
Finished: July 12, 2010
First Published: 2007
Publisher: Vertigo
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

Look, there's another one of the Golden Bough's kidnap vans prowling around down there.

Acquired: Borrowed a copy through Inter-Library Loan.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

So, I'm still enjoying "Jack" though it is not nearly as good as "Fables". Jack is not exactly a likable character but there are times when one can't help but laugh along with him and hope he gets out the mess he's in. One thing I'm glad to have found carried over from "Fables" is the directory of characters at the beginning of the book. This helps introduce new characters and remember who old characters are especially the further you get into the series.

This time we start with Jack just after the great escape where he meets up with three other new Fables who have been wandering on their own and they decide to go high in the mountains to avoid recapture from the Golden Boughs staff. The first two issues have them sitting around a fire, while Jack reminisces to keep them all warm by telling them of the time he was Jack Frost. Here we get to see The Snow Queen again and find out how she turned evil. I enjoyed this story and there is a reveal about Jack at the end that we can, hopefully, expect to come into play sometime in a future edition.

The rest of the book is devoted to the title story in which Jack meets up with Gary, whom I've grown fond of, and who has become Jack's sidekick. With the help of Gary's talent they set off for Las Vegas and Jack makes his fortune all over again but little does he know that behind the Vegas scene is the Fable Lady Luck, who brings luck with her wherever she goes but at a price, sucking the luck out of the brains of Vegas' most lucky players. What follows is Jack's typical near death escapades as he tries to beat Lady Luck at her own game and keep his Vegas empire. Lady Luck was a delightful evil character and the ending hints she may show up again. Gary adds tons of humour to the plot, his power is to animate inanimate objects, and he spends the story accompanied by a mannequin named Noelle he has grown fond of.

Generally just a couple of fun stories though we do have some characters and loose ends that are left dangling as possible entries into the plot further down the line. Time to order Volume 3 from the library!