Jim Fern

Out of all the installments of the main series and the spin-offs, this HAS to be one of my absolute favorites! The title for this collection is more than appropriate, and I sincerely hope that Ozma's past is explored more in future issues so we can see how she is so powerful, and why she chooses to maintain such a youthful - even child-like - appearance.

One thing I was more than satisfied about was learning more about Frau Totenkinder. We learn more about her abilities and power, and a few show more things about her history and tools. The story of Mister Dark is also explored, and though I wished for a little more, it was overall very satisfying. The story arc within this volume greatly pleased me, and I would be doing this book a injustice by giving it anything less than the five stars it deserves. show less

Sooo... meet the new Jack, better* than the old Jack?

Jack's son (by way of the Winter Queen, many books ago) is now the Jack of the Fables and old Jack has managed to convince him that the way to great power and fulfullmet is through quests and adventures. Which... sure. In this world it might even be the right way to go.

So new Jack sets aside his powers (it wouldn't be fair after all), teams up with one of Geppetto's creations (a wonderfully snarky wooden owl) and goes on an adventures to show more save the princess, slay the giant, and earn himself the titular Fulminate Blade. It's quite and adventures, chock full of weirdness:



It's a fun story and of course tries to fit in a lesson about being too trusting, which for the most part bounces right off Jack. It works.



Arthur C. Clarke, eat your heart out. show less

I read this book back in September but have been putting off reviewing it since then. Originally, it was due to the fact I thought I already had reviewed it. I expressed my opinion of it to Jonas, after all, and likely to several others (I think I mentioned it to Sharon in passing, as she was playing The Wolf Among Us then). Since I was talking about it so often, hadn't I reviewed it?

Apparently not.

Once I discovered my mistake I began putting it off for an entirely different reason. Namely, show more the fact that this book was remarkably unimpressive.

I'm a big fan of the Fables series. I read through the books up to the most recently published Deluxe edition each year, and have played the Tell Tale game. Intermittently I'm one of those people obsessively checking for the rumors of a sequel. I read through the comics faithfully enough to have won the first-reads edition of [b: The Wolf Among Us|23784080|Fables The Wolf Among Us #1|Matthew Sturges|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1418406313s/23784080.jpg|43399884] book - which was great, by the way. All of that meant little, however, when faced with this book. It's an anomaly of sorts. How could a [a: Bill Willingham|12444|Bill Willingham|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1347423972p2/12444.jpg] authored chapter in the Fables books be so, well, painful to get through?

There are two things that make comics work - a good plot, and good artwork. [b: Werewolves of the Heartland|7619569|Fables Werewolves of the Heartland|Bill Willingham|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375405928s/7619569.jpg|10092138] had neither. The plot, while it did tie back to Bigby's WWII days and prove an interesting mystery, in the end went nowhere. It seemed as if the book was more of an excuse to have a massive werewolf fight than to actually be an intriguing mystery or further any sort of characterization of Bigby, or indeed, any other characters.

The artwork, on the other hand, seemed plainly sloppy. While I didn't mind the werewolf nudity, as other reviewers did, I did mind the lack of detailing in the characters overall. The book seemed hastily done, rather than the intricate artwork Fables nearly always has. The Arabian Nights Snow White story had better artwork than this, truly.

So, in essence, while this story has a decent idea at the heart of it the execution of exceptionally poor. It could have been more than a werewolf fight-fest, but it really wasn't. The action of the fight could have been more clearly rendered, the mystery could have been stronger... but it ultimately wasn't. An embarrassing hiccup in Fables history, this is best left only for completionists to read. show less

Begins with promise--I just can't get enough of stuff with wizards and their secret worlds and secret societies and parallel lives--and there are some cool moments, but in the end it feels a bit unsatisfying. Let Bufkin beat Baba Yaga and that evil genie, fine, and the least of us save all, but make it a little more convincing/singular, or all you accomplish is to diminish them as adversaries. And we get some cool backstory on the Dark Man, who I guess is meant to be this show more boogieman/dullahan-type character. But a lot of subplots idle, and overall this feels like it starts with momentum and squanders it, reminding us that Fables is really not a trade-oriented series. show less