| Title | : | Jack of Fables, Vol. 3: The Bad Prince |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401251161 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401251161 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 126 |
| Publication | : | First published July 8, 2008 |
Jack of Fables, Vol. 3: The Bad Prince Reviews
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In which we find out some really important things about Jack's past; about the Fables themselves and the 'Literals'; about Jack O'Lantern; and most of all... out of nowhere we get physical, get physical, get meta physical and I like it :). 8 out of 12
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Jack learns about his origins and how he is tied to Wicked John. One of the Page sisters plans a top secret mission with Paul Bunyan. The metaphysical portion of the series kicks off in this volume as we learn about who Kevin Thorn really is and that Jack has grown so popular that he has become a story magnet. Babe the Blue Ox's one page daydreams start in this volume and continue throughout the series. We also hear how Jack become Jack O'Lantern.
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Now that Fables is in the 'Public Domain', I thought it was time I read the entire series (including all spinoffs and specials) from start to finish in sequential tpb reading order. Here we go!
We open with Jack pissing into the Grand Canyon. And we're off! Jack is on the road again with Gary. Hijinks ensues. We've got a sword, car crashes, tall tales, and a talking dog! Oh, and let's not forget, Kevin!
Sure, the story here isn't significant to the main Fables title, and that's ok. It's building something of its own, and Jack is at the absurd center of it all! -
Jack's adventures continue. This is a very funny spin-off from the Fables comics and this third volume keeps things moving.
Jack and Pathetic Fallacy are on the run from the Golden Boughs and their adventures lead to Jack getting Excalibur stuck inside his stomach. As this is happening, we find out more about Wicked John and his relationship with Jack. The whole idea of the "first" Jack was interesting, and certainly does make for a funny dialogue. More than that I shall not spoil.
The volume ends with a Jack story which explains where he got the Jack O'Lantern moniker. I rather enjoyed his deals with the various devils.
A funny and amusing, though nowhere near as deep as the original Fables, romp with Jack of Fables. If you want some good humor and entertainment, then you can't go wrong with Jack of Fables. However, I would advise a working knowledge of the Fables world first. -
Jack is such a great character to spin off from Fables and this book made me laugh far too much for a surreptitious read when i should have been working.
It's been a long time since I read book 2 but as always they do a good job of recapping the previous volumes so I didn't feel like I was missing out by having a bad memory.
At times it verges on being silly but overall there is a great sense of fun and some intelligent playing with words, literature and storytelling that more than makes up for those moments where they go too far. -
actual rating: 3.5
I think this might be around the point I got to when I originally started this series because I remember the one page asides from Babe but not the Jack O Lantern issue that closes out the volume. Lots of interesting stuff here about Jack's origins with Wicked John and some hints at how the overarching 'story' works in this world. Definitely hoping things get a bit more detailed plotwise after this point because Jack himself is kind of hit or miss to me depending on what exactly he's doing in any given issue. -
3 1/2 Star review! Original review on A Great Book Is The Cheapest Vacation!
Bill Willingham knows how to put together an interesting read. His dark twist on the classic fairy tales are always engrossing. This read was no different!
The Fables series is a long running, fantastic ride. Animal Farm has so far been my favorite, but all of them are great. This series is a spin-off of the Fables tales, following the many trials and failures of "the famous (and infamous) Jack of Fables".
As always, the characters are absorbing and entertaining. I get a kick out of Gary (or maybe Kevin *winks*), the ever indecisive sidekick of Jack *laughs* I also enjoyed Wicked John, who is connected to Jack, whether Jack or himself like it or not.
My favorite was Part 2: I forgot and Jack O`Lantern.
"You rubes! Once I get my angel wings
I'm going to fly down here and
piss of every one of your
miserable peasant heads!"
I really enjoyed the Jack O`Lantern tale. It was dark, clever and an example of Jack's ability to make poor decisions from the start. You'll never be bored while reading a tale of Jack.
I highly recommend you check this enchanting series out. You won't regret it! -
![[Name Redacted]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1347082397i/287915._UY200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
Dagnabbbit. My OCD/completionism compels me to read the whole spin-off so that i won't miss anything when it crosses over into the regular series. Thank goodness for eBay!
Jack is NOT charming, he's NOT clever, and he was introduced to readers of "Fables" as a pathetic loser of a con-man, an interesting background or minor character, but hardly a "leading man". It seems they've tried to retcon him into a more solid trickster character, but it just doesn't work. He simply comes off as arrogant, self-aggrandizing and boorish, which is hardly the recipe for an interesting and compelling protagonist.
That said, this was a surprisingly good entry in the series. I doubled the number of stars I gave this entry compared to the previous two, and I think that had something to do with the lack of Jack's scamming anyone. We weren't being forced to believe that this lout is the next Reynard or Coyote or Puck or Don Juan; nobody was buying what he was selling. This one focused mainly on the relationships between various characters and on Jack being faced with his own origin; also, it included an amusing (and quite dark!) end-cap story about how Jack managed to stay alive so long. -
Same as the other volumes, I like this series but just not as much as Fables. In this one we see Jack impaled with Excalibur and also hear the story of how he was Jack O' Lantern for a while, roaming around aimlessly with an ember from Hell. We also get a twist about how Wicked John was the real Jack, and Jack is just a copy. (It's complicated.) There's also hints dropped about the creation of the Fables, which I'm sure will be followed up on later.
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Acutallly 3.5 Stars.
Good Jack and the Beanstalk story, the excalibur story line was weak and felt incomplete, maybe it will advance later on.
Not my favorite series of the Fableverse but an entertaining book.
Not much more to say. -
The Bill Willingham Fables Universe (BWFU) is still very much alive and kicking over two decades from its initial publication in 2002. This spinoff starting from incidents happening in Fables 6 feature Jack and started in 2007.
This series featuring Jack the free spirited, charlatan and cunning trickster of the fables, who has featured in several adventures with Jill, the Beanstalk, Giant-killer, Jack Frost, etc.
This is the third story in the series and after the hullabaloo of the last volume where Jack went from nothing and on the run to a huge inheritance and finally back at the starting point, nothing.
We have Jack and Gary on the run and Jack not very happy with the results of their last adventure. Getting all the dominoes aligned and fallen and then falling foul of an entity.
The Revise group are after them and one of the Paige sisters gets her hand on Jack and nabs them. The story introduces Wicked John, Jack's doppelganger another Fable who's already nabbed. The two Jack's or John's (that's a good one) can't stand each other and their fight derails the vehicle and they plunge down a mountain into water and survive.
The fables are safe but escape seems impossible and they settle down to hope for a rescue. An unknown comes and plunges Excalibur into Jack and not a stone and promptly dies. The irony of the entire incident will engage most readers. The story shifts focus from this to back at the Revise' village where plans are being made and preparations and reparations for the break-out including long distance memory wipes.
John reaches and John and Jack keep bickering before Gary gets angry.
Gary proceeds to tell back stories to confirm who among the two is the original Fable and why.
This edition is quite a funny edition and can be compared with the Fables series in terms of humor. The story also goes into irony as Jack proceeds to tell about his deals with the Devil(s).
Intriguing, spooky, funny and Jack's still the biggest lout of them all.
Enjoyable story arc in the long line and starting the next one soon. -
Reason for Reading: next in the series.
This entire volume except for the last chapter is devoted to the title story arc "The Bad Prince". Jack has a run in with Excalibur and learns a shocking truth about his existence. All the regulars are here and it was great to see the return of Paul Bunyan and Babe from Vol. 1, though they've been shrunk down in size as punishment for their part in the Great Escape. A new character is introduced and an old character from Fabletown shows up. This is a minor character who pops up now and then, though he has caused trouble in Fabletown, and in this volume we learn his true identity, which is a bit of a shocker and questions are answered in this series "and" ones that have been posed in "Fables" are also being answered.
I really enjoyed this volume. The story arc is a lot of fun. Jack is not able to take advantage of anyone this time around as he is the one getting the short end of the stick through out. But in a twist of events, this time, he's the one who wins in the end. A bit of a turn around on Jack's usual plights. The volume ends with a single Hallowe'en issue where Jack reminisces about the past and tells the story of how he came back from the dead, bargained with the devil and got the name Jack o'Lantern. A fun story. Loved this volume and am on my way to place an order for Vol. 4. -
I don't really love Jack of Fables but since I do love the original series and there is a crossover coming up I do have to read this series as well. That said this was somewhat enjoyable
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Surprisingly entertaining again, something about this series is working better than the main Fables series for me at this point. It has a wry humor, but more importantly a clear focus that seemed missing in a lot of the other series. The growing Revise tale has a great twist in this volume. There is some stuff with Babe the Blue Ox that's just great. At first I felt bad when I saw that she got shrunk down to a size that's smaller than even my greyhound, but her imagination is so large, size doesn't seem to matter. Will her being a (really funny) storyteller be important as things move forward? And Jack and John and Gary and Excalibur and the devils, and dont forget thatJack's son is still out there too, there was a lot happening in this volume. Oh, and a librarian rebellion too, what's Hillary up to with Paul? It was a substantial volume that moved the story forward a great deal while still being quite a page-turner. It definitely left me wanting more, can't ask for much more than that.
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Okay so I absolutely loved this volume. The relationship between Wicked John and Jack was absolutely hilarious and this volume definitely answered some questions I had from the main series. There were characters from the main Fables series that I did not understand or their role was rather confusing; however, by the time I got to this volume a lot of it started to make sense. These spin offs really tie a lot of information together that I wasn't presently aware of and I absolutely love that. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into the next volume. Once I've finished volume four I'll be doing a full review of both on my blog.
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This is my favorite in the series so far, as it was much more humorous than the last two volumes AND becomes much more meta--in a good way. I always like "self-aware" books when done well, and this one definitely works. The art, too, seems to have hit its stride, as the artists has some spot-on facial expressions for Jack.
The best, too, are the mini-stories from Blue, Paul Bunyan's ox.
Good stuff, people. Check it out. -
I;d really been enjoying the Jack of Fables spinoff so far, and this installment did not disappoint. We learn a very interesting backstory - of how he became the Snow Queen/s lover, and took on her powers for a while (becoming Jack Frost) Various myths are interconnected in here, making for a fun read and a fun peek in the past of various Fables. I never cease to be impressed with how cleverly some stories could be linked or woven together within the Fables universe.
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You know, I'm not big on Jack. I don't particularly like him, and I don't particularly care what happens to him one way or another.
Other than a few entertaining moments with Babe the ox and a few zingers from Jack, I was fairly bored throughout this book.
I do like PF, though. Or Gary. Or Kevin. Or whatever he's going by these days. -
There was a time when I thought, who would ever want to read a series about Jack. Jack is really not that interesting. Well I have been proven wrong.
I've never seen a plot point about having a sword stuck in you be so dang effective. -
Jack is still Jack but Gary and the supporting cast are great.
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Jack is still on the run! With Gary. And one of the Page sisters? And himself/]> of Fables?
This time around, we find out far more (weird) backstory on the Fables Universe--including more backstory on exactly what Mr. Revise is and why Gary (the Pathetic Fallacy) does what he does.
Quite a crazy story. I wonder if this will have any implications on the mainline Fables stories?
Crazy scenes and spoilers:
Man, he could totally Flintstones a car couldn't he. But he's also not wrong about Jack.
That... did not go where I expected it to go.
You know, I really like this. He's spent so long putting himself in all of the stories and now the universe is apparently trying to appease him. But he can't be King Arthur--we already have Flycatcher--so instead? The stone. Because of course.
Wait. What? What is Gary exactly? The Metastory?
Heh. Jack has a history of just doing what he thinks should work and expecting the universe will go along with it... and for now the universe is actually listening to him.
The short asides from Babe the Blue Ox, Philosopher are bizarre and kind of hilarious.
Making a deal with the devil is a common trope, but selling that over and over again to more and more devils is even better. A fun idea. -
I enjoyed this volume much more than the last one.
In this set of issues we learn about how Jack became Jack O'Lantern, the origins of Wicked John and how those tie in to our dear Jack, and more about the logic of the Fables universe. Jack becomes impaled with Excalibur, and surprisingly the reasoning behind this skewering actually makes some twisted sense. We learn a bit more about Gary (or is it Kevin?) and his history, as well as Revise.
The logic of these books is fascinating to me, and I'm enjoying the direction that it's going in. It's meta, a bit on the experimental side, and deeply engaging. It must have been cool following it all in real time! Curious where it will go next.
The main series is still far superior (particularly The Good Prince arc) but this is still a worthwhile supplement to the main action. It fits well. I wouldn't recommend skipping it. -
Well, this one was odd. Not sure if I liked it or not, but it was undeniably satisfying to finally see Jack be put in his place, even if it only lasts a moment.
I don't get how Jack was suddenly capable of drawing Excalibur without being the rightful king.
And I'm just gonna have to throw this out here: Excalibur isn't actually the Sword in the Stone. Excalibur is the sword thrown to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. The main Fables-series makes the same mistake.
However, the series *is* about Fables, so I guess I see the justification. But then you might as well lob all magic hero swords into one, I guess.
Finally, I was rather disappointed that the Jack o' Lantern-story didn't reference neither Lucifer nor Hellblazer - it would have been such an easy reference in the context of the story and absolutely awesome! -
The Bad Prince was an alright story. Not as good as the first volume but definitely better than volume 2. Jacks whole plan on being the most popular and immortal fable backfires and because of that gets a sword stuck through him. He also gets trapped in the Grand Canyon with Gary and Priscilla. It's a fun story where Jack learns a few things. The last issue about the whole deal with the devil was alright. Overall 6/10
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Much better than volume two, but suffers from many of the same issues. I guess what appeals to me most about Fables is its ensemble nature. The cast of this book changes very rapidly, and the only character who sticks around is annoying.
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4.5
Very cool concept of Jack being a replica of the true story, looking forward to seeing how that develops. These are light and fun and I prefer them to the war story of the main Fable Town stories. -
Three stars mainly because of Excalibur and Blue.
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An interesting companion to the Fables series. It does get a bit bizarre as the book goes on.
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the plot begins to thicken as our protagonist proves why he is an antihero, and some of Mr. Revise's motivation starts to appear.
