Jack of Fables

Jack of Fables is a spin off of the comic Fables, both published by DC Comics as part of that company's Vertigo imprint. It shows the adventures of Jack Horner after his exile from Fabletown. A preview of the series was shown in Fables #50, and the series itself debuted in July 2006. It is written by Fables writer Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges.

Plot

The series follows Jack's adventures following his time in Hollywood where he successfully completed a hugely popular series of movies based on himself and his life. However, he had his power and money stripped from him by Fabletown authorities. In the first issue Jack was abducted whilst hitch-hiking across America and taken to the Golden Boughs Retirement Village, where he is essentially held prisoner. Following his first encounter with Revise, he then plans and executes the first successful breakout from the Golden Boughs. While some of the escapees were captured or killed, many are now free and on the run from Revise's team. Following his escape, Jack met up with some other refugees in the Rocky Mountains and hid there, until he made his way to Las Vegas. After meeting up with the Pathetic Fallacy, he decided to swindle The Grande Duche de Luxembourg casino, only to find a bride in Holly Wagner, the daughter of the owner. Tragically, Holly and her father were killed by Belgian mobsters working under the orders of Lady Luck. The first issue also sees the return of Goldilocks, who seemingly died in a much earlier issue of Fables.

Story

An important location for the series is the Golden Boughs Retirement Village, named after Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough, a wide-ranging comparative study of mythology and religion. Despite its innocuous name, not all the residents live there voluntarily. In the first issue Jack is abducted to there while hitch-hiking.

Storylines

Four storylines have been published/announced so far for the series; The (Nearly) Great Escape was the first one, detailing Jack's capture and time in the Golden Boughs. Jack of Hearts recounts his brief tenure as Jack Frost as well as his trip to Las Vegas after escaping from the Golden Boughs. The current ongoing story is titled The Bad Prince as a counterpart to the current Fables storyline, The Good Prince, and involves Jack in the tale of the Sword in the Stone. With Jack as the stone. Following this, Matthew Sturges has confirmed the fourth story to focus on Americana, which is described in issue seventeen as "the American Fable land". Issue sixteen, which was released in October, was a special holiday issue that retold Jack's time as Jack-O-Lantern.

Collected Editions