10. Jack of Fables: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack

The New Adventures of Jack and Jack by Bill Willingham, Mark Sturges & Chris Roberson. Art by Tony Akins & Ross Braun. (Canada) - (US)
Jack of Fables, Vol. 7


Pages: 126
Ages: 18+
Finished: Jan. 11, 2011
First Published: Jun. 29, 2010
Publisher: Vertigo
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy, fairy tales
Rating: 5/5


First sentence:

Anchorage, Alaska.
"It is cold, Jack."

Acquired: Purchased a new copy via an online retailer.

Reason for Reading: next in the series.

I've never liked Jack of Fables as much as the original Fables series but it has been more than interesting enough to keep me reading. A lot of fans were somewhat disappointed with a "Great Crossover", however I was not one of them. I was very excited to read this new volume of Jack, knowing that a whole new story arc would be starting from the remnants that remained from the "Great Crossover". The new Jack, Jack Frost, is a lovable character, so unlike the original Jack Horner that I was greatly expectant to see where he would fit into the new storyline.

The volume opens with Jack H. and Gary sitting in a diner where Jack tells Gary a story from his past that he had never told before about landing on an island full of fabled apes and helping them with their troubles where he eventually became king of the jungle for a while. There he met such fables as George, the ever curious, a gorilla by the name of Magilla and of course the great Kong. This was fun old usual Jack stuff.

Then we moved onto the titular story arc with the remaining four chapters which switch back and forth between Jack and Gary and Jack Frost who has set off to be a hero with a wooden owl as his sidekick whom he names MacDuff. Jack is in great trouble as it seems that he is transforming into something, he starts gaining weight, his skin goes all pimply and he's losing his hair. His T-shirts are hilarious! As he continues to transform into some large creature he has an instinct to reach a certain place before the transformation completes. Meanwhile, Jack Frost is having a tough time finding anyone who needs rescuing or the the real services of a hero until he advertises and a young woman comes to him to help save her town from the night walkers, man-eating monsters that live in the forest. As he sets out to take care of the night walkers they in turn seek him to save them from an evil sorcerer and Jack has the potential to save two clients all in one go.

I love, love, love the new direction Jack of Fables has taken. Jack Frost is a welcome addition to the cast and is going to be a much more fun character than Jack ever was. It isn't clear how (or if) the old Jack in his new form will be part of the story arc now so that remains to be seen. If he is still going to remain in constant play I think he'll be much more interesting this way! The only thing that disappointed me was the cover (which is really cool!) but not representative of anything that happens in the book. The Snow Queen, nor any of those cool characters make an appearance in this volume.