Eh, I like fables and the first Jack book. This one just didn't strike my fancy. The first story showed some interesting fables, who then doesn't have any part in the story. The rest of it Jack uses his near immortality to prove that no matter what happens, he stays the same. Kinda like Star Trek. Oh well.

Jack goes to Las Vegas and gets married. The Pathetic Fallacy also finds a "girlfriend". Wonderful series. ( )

The FABLES series is so much fun because it combines folklore and the modern world in a way that takes advantage of both traditional fairytale structures and new forms of storytelling. The large cast of familiar characters is also a real treat.

This spin-off series is fun too, but it's not quite on the same level as its predecessor. Make no mistake, Jack is a great character, but one of the best things about FABLES is the ensemble cast. All-Jack-all-the-time looks set to get old a lot faster than Jack-some-of-the-time-plus-twenty-million-other-potential-Fables.

The writers seem to recognize this, though, and so far they've managed to play to the character's strengths. His schemes inevitably bring other Fable-types into the mix. This time around, he's paired up with Gary, the Pathetic Fallacy with the ability to communicate with inanimate objects. The two of them are still on the run from the folks at the Golden Boughs Retirement Village, from which they both escaped in the last collection. When Jack realizes that Gary's abilities allow him to cheat at games of chance, he heads straight for Las Vegas and gets all tangled up with a Fable called Lady Luck.

His adventures there are, of course, peppered with hot girls and get-rich-quick schemes. It's hardly great literature, but it's entertaining stuff. Willingham and co-writer Matthew Sturges do some great things with the medium, too. Jack frequently breaks the fourth wall in such a way that the reader knows that he knows that he's smack dab in the middle of a story. The little blurbs at the end of each issue are especially good; Jack introduces the next installment of the story in typically irreverent fashion, focusing on how wonderful he is and how many amazing things he's going to do next.

All in all, this is another good collection from the creator of FABLES, but it's not exactly rush-out-and-buy-it-right-now stuff. But if your library carries it, I'd definitely recommend picking it up. It's a fun, quick read.

(This review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina). ( )

Summary: This volume consists of two main story arcs. In the first, Jack tells of his time in the Homelands as Jack Frost, and we learn how it was the the Snow Queen turned evil. In the main story, "Jack of Hearts", a freshly-escaped-from-"prison" Jack heads for Vegas, ready for a little sin and debauchery, and hoping to tempt Lady Luck into helping him make back a little of his lost fortune. Of course, this is the Fables universe, so Lady Luck is a little more... incarnate... than we usually think of her, and she's got plans of her own.

Review: Another fun installment from the Fables folks, although I don't think the Jack of Fables series is ever going to quite have the same draw as the main series. No matter how snarky a narrator Jack is, all-Jack-all-the-time just doesn't have the same appeal as the huge cast of the main series, and although other Fables are certainly around, it does kind of feel like all the good Fables are taken, and they're scrounging a bit for guest stars. It's also really not a stand-alone series... they never really explain much about the Fables universe, and what's happened in the past, and while I suppose it could be ferreted out from context, why would you want to deprive yourself of the fun that is the main series? Enough with the negatives, though; I actually did have fun reading this book. Jack's boisterous self-aggrandizement and crazy schemes are thoroughly entertaining, and even though it's never going to supplant the original series in my heart, it's a good way to get a Fables fix while waiting for the next volume. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Not the Best Thing Ever, but certainly an entertaining way for Fables fans to spend an hour or two. ( )

We start with a story about how Jack seduced the Snow Queen and became Jack Frost. Then a story arc about Jack's adventures in Vegas. Lots of gambling and women. Jack loses his money, regains it. My favorite part was Lady Luck, personified.

See all my reviews at www.tushuguan.blogspot.com ( )