190. Jack of Fables: Turning Pages

Turning Pages by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturgess. Art by Tony Atkins & Russ Braun (Canada) - (USA)
Jack of Fables, Volume 5

Pages: 144
Ages: 18+
Finished: Sept. 13, 2010
First Published: Mar. 10, 2009
Publisher: Vertigo
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

Looking back, anyone would have to admit that 1883 was a strange and wild year, and not by any definition a good one.

Acquired: Received a copy through Inter-library Loan.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

This has got to be my least favourite of the Jack volumes. This one contains two completely unrelated story arcs. The first one called 1883 goes back into Jack's past and the 2nd one is back to the present day continuing the overarching theme with the new villain and focuses on each of the Page sisters in turn.

1883, takes us back into Jacks past. This is obviously a western and Jack is using the Candle name here while he is the leader of a gang. Back in Fabletown Ichabod Crane sends Bigsby Wolf out to bring Jack in for violating all sorts of Fables rules, the biggest being killing Mundies. The story follows the gang's dastardly deeds and Bigsby's hunting him down. It ends in a showdown and anyone can guess who the winner is. This story seemed out of place in the whole scheme of things as there was no segue into it or obvious purpose to it except perhaps to show why Jack and Bigby hate each other so much now.

Turning Pages is back to the Jack of Fables story at hand. We learn more of the Page's as we see them from their childhood years and growing up. Three chapters, each focusing on a different Page sister show us the instability going on at Golden Boughs, and the advancing evil of The Bookburner as he gets closer to his goal with his army. This man is a threat to all Fables everywhere. The family dynamics of the Page sisters if further explored and a new reveal is exposed. Enjoyable but I'm left with the feeling "that's all?". Let's get on with Volume 6.