Jack Of Fables 2: Jack Of Hearts by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, Tony Atkins and Steve Leialoha
01/01/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Titan Books. 143 page graphic novel. Price: £ 8.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84576-628-3. Buy Jack Of Fables 2 in the USA - or Buy Jack Of Fables 2 in the UK  check out website: www.titanbooks.comand www.dccomics.com
There are books you can read in the middle of a series and some you can't. This one is amongst the former mostly because its format is based around the adventures of characters that can be told out of sequence.
The premise is rather straight forward. Various fairy tale characters have been exiled from their native lands into alternative realities, including our own. They aren't normal people. As with Jack of Hearts aka Jack Horner aka Jack the giant-killer aka any other name you want to prefix with Jack. He demonstrates great resilience. He's also an opportunist rogue looking out for sex and money, not necessarily in that order.
The five stories here follow his life with the Snow Queen who when she becomes ill, passes her snow making ability making him Jack Frost. As he spreads across the kingdom, he creates havoc and mayhem. Forced out of that reality and powerless, Jack spends a lot of time in Las Vegas with Jerry, another fable character who is never revealed by his full name, but is very lucky and on a winning streak. With this three-part story, we see the characters interact more with our kind of reality.
I didn't know quite what to expect when I started reading this book. The sexual content, even though its implicit, makes this a book for adults although the humour would probably reach anyone who reads it. These fabled people do have a harsher background and things should not be taken on face value of the snow job (sic) given in the stories about them. If anything, these stories get beneath the surface and give the characters more human dimensions. If I have to be critical then I wish there was more reference to their backgrounds and any potential inside jokes. Even so, these stories propel nicely without them and if you want a light chuckle then you'll love this.
GF Willmetts |
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