Fables- Great Fables Crossover Review

An article by Brad    1 Comment

Warning:  Spoilers below

It’s hard to call any book published by Vertigo as poor. 

In fact, a mediocre Vertigo story is better than 95% of the other stuff out there.  Ever read Preacher?  I am a die-hard X-men fan, but Preacher is the best book ever published, and even the worst story in this 60-something book run was better than most stuff I have ever read.

That being said, while not poor, the Great Fables Crossover was nothing special.  Still a good read, still entertaining, still a necessary read if you are a Fables junkie, but not great.  I don’t dislike it as much as the guys over at IGN.com, who consistency gave the issues ratings between 4-6, but  it wasn’t what it could have been.  let’s take a look

1.  First off, this was really a Jack of Fables story.  Let’s be honest here.  Let’s call a spade a spade.   Bigby and Snow White played a role, and there were several cut scenes to the farm, but the biggest problem with this whole concept was that it could have been contained in a separate 6-issue Jack of Fables-only story arc.  The main characters are the ones we were introduced to in J of F: the Literals, Revise, Thorn, the Sisters, Jack, Pathetic Fallacy, etc.  Fable characters were thrown in to give the story the sense of a crossover event, but as any true comic book fan knows, you can cross characters between books without calling it a crossover.

 2.  While called “Great”, the story did not have the epic feel you expect from a story with the word “Great” in the title.  Yes, the world was at stake; Kevin Thorn was threatening to write the universe out of existence, but you know, because the series are not ending, that he would not succeed.  So while the story had far-reaching ramifications, the reader never really felt that there was anything at stake.  When I think of “Great”, I think of stories that have a huge impact on the universe.  But really, once this story ended, it doesn’t feel as if the events will have any real ramifications on the Universe.  Of course I could be wrong, and there may be earth shattering consequences, but it doesn’t feel like it.  The story just didn’t feel epic and worth the 9 books.

3.  Of course, the largest problem is that the event put the progress of the real story, the story of the Dark Man, on hold.  he appeared briefly at the end of teh first issue, but that was it.  For the past several months, Fables has been leading up to the real “next big story” with the Dark Man.  Come on, the Fables home in NYC was blown up and everyone was forced to the farm.  But this whole storyline was suspended so Fables issues could be part of the Crossover.  Yes, we do see the Farm every issue, but the only real Farm storyline involves the small animal fables believing  Jack is Boy Blue re-incarnated.  And yes, in the first issue we see some of the Fables overwhelmed by dark thoughts.  But that’s it

Now, some small interesting things did happen in the story. 

1. Jack Frost was the hero, written into the story specifically to be the hero.  Will he play a larger role in the future of Fables. 

2.  Rose Red is breaking down badly, and now both she and jack are staying at Bigby’s.  Will Rose’s continual descent play a role in the future?

3.  Where does jack go now?  Will he be integrated into the main Fables story on a more permanent basis?

4.  Though thron was defeated, will any of the changes he made affect the world in the future?  If not, it could be said that the whole story was kind of a waste, from an evolutionary context.  If Thorn did not affect the Universe, did this story even need tio be written?

But this all comes back to the main point I made.  These things are Jack of Fables related, and I wonder if they will have any affect on the main Fables storyline.  We can only hope.

So overall… I enjoyed the read.  I enjoyed it because it was written by Buckingham and was a Fables story.  I enjoyed it because it was well written, and when everything is said and done, it was interesting.  I think that the problem people have with the story is the expectations that were raised by the title of the crossover; and because the crossover was not epic, and because it seemed to have little relevance to the main Fables story, readers were disappointed.

Part of the reason i was not disappointed, though, is because I enjoy Jack of Fables.  Though not as good as Fables, I read it every month and rarely find myself disappointed.  Over thecourse of the 30 or so issues, there have only been a handful I haven’t liked.  Many people don’t like the Jack series, but I find it very entertaining

But all that being said, it wasn’t a waste of time.   But you have to get past your expectations of what the book should have been.

And, quite honestly, if you don’t read Jack of Fables, you will not like the story, and probably not understand it, and definitely not appreciate what is going on

Any questions, or if you want to discuss this, drop a comment or an e-mail

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