Jack of Fables, Black Widow

Jack of Fables 1-20

I clearly bought this title because Bill Willingham’s run on Fables ranks up there with the best, and more in the same universe by the same writer must be a good things.  Right?

Yeah, no.  The problem is clearly Jack.  He’s a cad, and an unlikeable one at that.  Every one of his decisions is driven by his base need for sex, money, or power.  Not to say that it isn’t possible to create compelling stories with those motivations, but at some point, I need more than out out of my protagonist.  Jack has no heart of gold, like Tommy Monaghan in Hitman.  Unlike Cassidy in Preacher, he doesn’t even attempt to struggle again his weaknesses.  And he’s not funny enough to get away with it the way How I Met Your Mother’s Barney can.  

The result is a character who bounces from adventure to adventure with no consequences.  He inevitably ends up where he started, no lesson learned. His companions don’t add anything to the mix - Wicked John and Raven have no personalities, the librarian sisters seem to exist solely as objects of lust for Jack, and Gary the Pathetic Fallacy is as sad of a sack as his title suggests.  

The only bright spot in this title starts his glorious string of appearances in issue 13: Babe the Ox.  The blue bovine get a page of monologue per issue, and he never fails to make it count.

The only thing keeping me from cutting these issues from my collection was the fact that I’d be losing these inspired nuggets of storytelling.  Luckily, I discovered these pages, and with these works of art now safely saved away, I can happily divest myself of this mediocre title.      

Shoutout to Tony Akins for perfectly depicting the look of someone who really doesn’t want to do something:

"But I don't wannaaaaaaa!!!!"

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? No

Would read again? No

Rating: Fine, sliding down to Didn’t Suck by the end.  (Cutting)

Black Widow vol 3 3

I found this online to fill the gap in my collection.  It gets the same grade as the rest of the series.

Regret buying? No

Would buy again? Yes

Would read again? Yes

Rating: Nice