Jim FernRecensioni

Sooo... meet the new Jack, better* than the old Jack?

Jack's son (by way of the Winter Queen, many books ago) is now the Jack of the Fables and old Jack has managed to convince him that the way to great power and fulfullmet is through quests and adventures. Which... sure. In this world it might even be the right way to go.

So new Jack sets aside his powers (it wouldn't be fair after all), teams up with one of Geppetto's creations (a wonderfully snarky wooden owl) and goes on an adventures to save the princess, slay the giant, and earn himself the titular Fulminate Blade. It's quite and adventures, chock full of weirdness:



It's a fun story and of course tries to fit in a lesson about being too trusting, which for the most part bounces right off Jack. It works.



Arthur C. Clarke, eat your heart out.

How does Catilla get killed by a single swordblow? Was it an incredible fluke? It must have been millions to one.

Pretty good but why would the desert heat of Mexico be too much for Carnivac but not for the Mayhems? Poor design of his pretender shell?

A hellhound? What? Why? Do Transformers have hell? Do Transformers have dogs? What? Extra half-a-star for Carnivac.½

Nightbeat outwits death. Nice work, gumshoe.½

Guest artist, which kind of works for me. The story is somewhat of filler as well, but some interesting development of Multiple man and Quicksilver.

This series is off to a very promising start! Having seen Carey work within the realms of Christian mythology (to great success) and the Western literary tradition (to a slightly less successful degree) I am very interested to see how well he handles Japanese folklore and mythology. He's already brought kami and youkai/yokai into the fray, so it'll be interesting to see whether he chooses to rework the traditional stories of Japanese mythology and work with the range of established gods and goddesses, or if he goes the more general route of fox spirits and nature gods - or a blend of the two. I just hope the he manages to keep his plot line a little more tight than in the Unwritten, since it didn't really work out so well in the long run.

Jack Frost, not Jack of Fables, leads this volume, and I pined for the lazy bastard's return.

Love it! Can't wait for volume 9 :)

I'm liking this series less and less as it goes on. I DON'T CARE ANYMORE. You're out of stories, and that's fine. But don't waste paper printing books that are boring.

Obviously, I'm going to read the next one. I didn't read eight other volumes to give up now.
See you next time, Jack.

My blog post about this book is at this link.

Jack of Fables does not make an appearance in this volume, instead it is entirely about his son, Jack Frost and his quest to be a hero for the ages. Jack Frost gets some important life lessons in this issue as to who to trust. He does solve the problems for the city of Landfall, but the end of the book finds he and McDuff off to find new adventures.

Babe, the miniature blue ox also makes a few appearances but I am myself over him and I did miss the bad boy himself, Jack of Fables.½

Superb. Gutted to find out that the end wasn't the end... and then excited for the next two :)

Summary: Jack Frost, the son of Jack Horner (i.e. the original Jack of the Tales), is eager to prove himself a hero, and has even got himself a magical sword as a first step. First stop: the kingdom of Landfall, where a giant demands a yearly tithe of gold... and virgins.

Review: Decidedly meh. A lot of the fun of the Fables and Jack of Fables series is watching the characters from different familiar stories interact. By this point, however, it's an entire book about Jack Frost as he goes on his adventure, which doesn't star any other familiar faces, and it's a fairly predictable fairy tale adventure to boot... except it's a fairy tale with the inexplicable addition of robot soldiers and space stations, for no good reason. And even Babe's pages, which are usually the funniest part, just felt tired. I think the Fables Crossover marked the place where Jack of Fables ran out of ideas, and started floundering. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: It would actually work just fine - if not better - as a stand-alone story, but in the context of the larger whole, it was disappointing.

Mike Carey crafts an immediately engaging story of Japanese gods and spirits. Toshi and Kaikou are twins born on either side of midnight, and their family becomes caught up in the machinations of spirits beyond their understanding. Smooth artwork and inventive storytelling throughout. I know this series only survived for three trade paperback volumes, so I am hopeful but not expecting that there will be a satisfactory ending to this story.

This excellent comic book takes place in Japan, instantly making it a lot more interesting to me - at last something different! With slight touches of suspense and horror, the story draws us into the fascinating world of Japanese Kami, the world of spirits who reside in just about everything...

Read more on: http://henwen.net/Review.aspx?rev=Crossing_Midnight_1

The first installment in the Crossing Midnight series which sadly didn't sell too well and only consists of three collections. Set in Nagasaki, Japan, twins Toshi and Kai Hara are born one each side of midnight. This time difference leads to major differences in their lives. Toshi (the sister) manages to survive impaling herself on iron railings causing her to discover she cannot be harmed by blades. Toshi has no power and spends much of his time looking after his sister despite her invulnerability.

One evening a strange man appears who can control blades called Aratsu claiming to be Kai's master. Each time she refuses to go with him he kills someone close to her until she eventually gives in. To aid Kai get his sister back Nidoru who has power over needles comes to his aid, but there will be a cost in the future that Kai cannot know about.

A great mixture of Japanese mythology and folklore with lots of blood and death along the way. There is a really interesting section at the back explaining some of the Japanese ideas behind the story and hinting at how the plot will unfold in later collections. I adored this opening volume and it will definitely appeal to fans of Fables and Sandman for it's darkness and mixture of myths. Drawn interestingly, again it's a shame it only lasts 3 volumes.½

There is definitely some gore in this title. Twins, whose birth is separated by midnight, must battle evil spirits who demand repayment of a debt incurred by their father. One of these spirits is the spirit of knives who can command thousands of blades at once (which results in much of the aforementioned gore.). The story uses elements of Japanese mythology.½