161. Jack of Fables #8: The Fulminate Blade

The Fulminate Blade by Bill Willingham & Matthew Sturges. Art by Tony Akins & Jim Fern (Canada) - (US)
Jack of Fables, Vol. 8

Pages: 126
Ages: 18+
Finished: Jul. 21, 2011
First Published: Feb. 1, 2011
Publisher: Vertigo
Genre: graphic novel, fantasy
Rating: 3/5


First sentence:

I appreciate the honesty of monsters.

Acquired: Purchased a copy through an online retailer.

Reason for Reading: next in the series.

This volume collects 5 issues together of a mini arc called "Kings of Earth and Sky".  The Fulminate Blade is the title of the first chapter and the magical sword Jack Frost must obtain to kill the giant terrorizing the village.  Fairly well-used plot, only there are lots of twists and everything is not as straight forward as it first appears.  Jack finally delivers a village from a tyrant and really feels like he is the hero he has wanted to be all along and learns that heroes are a rare breed indeed.

This volume really didn't appeal to me all that much.  Yes, the story was good and an enjoyable read but as a whole it was not a satisfying read in the "Jack of Fables" series.  First of all, because the real Jack, Jack Horner, was not in this volume at all.  The whole volume was a side-story for Jack Frost alone.  Now, I've been quite fond of Jack Frost since he first appeared but all alone like this without his father's presence I didn't feel he was that worthy of carrying a book.  Especially, since I know this is the second  last book in the series.  The real Jack, of course, is a character that I don't like, but really have fun not liking and I must say he was missed.  If this had been a one-off titled "Jack Frost" something or other, so that I had known I was just going to get a side story I think I would have enjoyed it more, but as a volume in the Jack of Fables canon it is disappointing when the main character is nowhere to be found.  The Babe the blue ox one-pagers are still kept at the ending of each chapter so at least that kept some continuity with the series as a whole but, to tell the truth, I don't "get" the humour of the Babe pages more than half of the time so his presence was no biggie for me.

Now, sadly, there is just one more volume to read and then "Jack of Fables" is over.  I already have the book so will read it in a while.  I really hope the ending is worthy of the rest of the series.  Would it be too much to hope for that some of the old characters come back, like the Page Sisters, Gary and the real Jack Horner (not the dragon)?  We'll see!