Fables, Band 14 - Das große Fables-Crossover

Von Bill Willingham und Mark Buckingham

WENN FABLES ZUSAMMENKOMMEN!. Hier ist sie – eine Geschichte, die so groß ist, dass eine einzige Serie sie nicht aufnehmen kann! Als die freien Fables darum ringen, sich neu zu formieren, nachdem ihr Bollwerk mitten in New York zerstört wurde, stehen sie plötzlich einer neuen Gefahr gegenüber – und die ist nicht nur eine Bedrohung für ihren angestammten Planeten, sondern für die gesamte Realität! Können die vereinten Kräfte dieser legendären Helden gegen eine solch schreckliche Macht bestehen? Nur eins ist sicher: Wenn die Schlacht erst angefangen hat, wird die Welt der Fables nie mehr die alte sein! Das grosse Fables Crossover, ausgearbeitet von den Autoren Bill Willingham und Matthew Sturges sowie den Zeichnern Mark Buckingham, Russ Braun, Tony Akins, Andrew Pepoy, José Marzán Jr. und Dan Green, enthält alle neun Hefte eines absolut einmaligen Ereignisses, ursprünglich erschienen als Fables 83 – 85, Jack of Fables 33 – 35 und The Literals 1 – 3.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: DC COMICS bei Panini Comics
• Erscheinungsdatum: 28. Jan. 2020
• ISBN: 9783736711129

Bill Willingham

Bill Willingham never fought a desperate and losing battle in a good cause, never contributed to society in a meaningful way, and hasn’t lived a life of adventure, but he’s had a few moments of near adventure. At some point in his life Bill learned how to get paid for telling scurrilous lies to good people, and he’s been doing it ever since. He lives in the wild and frosty woods of Minnesota with a dog and a cat he hasn’t met yet.

Buchvorschau

Rezensionen für Fables, Band 14 - Das große Fables-Crossover

[readingover50 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I requested this book from the library. I tried to request volume 1, but instead I was sent volume 13. I decided to read it anyway, so I jumped into this series knowing that I had missed a lot. I definitely would have enjoyed this more if I knew all the backstory. I did enjoy what I read and I liked the element of humor. If I can start from the beginning, I would give this series another chance.

[rores28 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Great metafictive elements. This series is significantly better after "The Dark Ages.

[nesum_1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

My least favorite of the Fables volumes. It really seemed like half of the book was missing the point, or didn't really know what the plot was, or who the characters were. The main problem here didn't really even make sense until the end, and not in a cool "ending revelations change everything" sort of way, but more of a "we really should have had a little more dialogue toward the beginning about what was happening before starting the adventure."Granted, a lot of my frustration in this book is probably merely Jack being Jack. I don't read Jack of Fables, so I'm not sure what all has happened since he left, but he seems quite a bit more annoying since last we say him. And in a book that features him a lot, that's a problem.The bottom line is that I really didn't get a sense of the conflict or threat here (except the generic "the world is going to end"), so it was difficult for me to care all that much. A great disappointment after volume 11 was so strong.

[aerrin99 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I have adored every inch of this series to date, but this was a volume better left unread. Although I knew it was a crossover (conveniently labeled thus in the title), I expected the book to explain the concept firmly enough that it was understandable to either side - but it definitely did not. I spent most of the book confused and the first half trying to decide if I'd missed an important volume somewhere or something. Worse, the story isn't even that engaging. The concept of the Literals doesn't seem to fit well into the world of Fables, I didn't find any of them that interesting, and the 'threat' of Thorn writing everything out of existence wasn't half so threatening or impressive as a little old man with wooden soldiers managed to be. This is a cheap crossover story with little care for the characters and a lot of cheap 'laughs' that doesn't, to me, fit the mood of the series at all. Basically worth it only for the artwork of Bigby as a little girl. I can like the pictures even when I hate the concept, right?

[rosa.mill · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Another great volume of Fables. I think I definitely need to read some more Jack of Fables cause I love the Page Sisters. I hope to see more of them in the future.

[tayitude-1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

I think I have to come back to this one after reading more Jack of Fables.

[ecataldi-1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

What a fun crossover volume! Jack (of Jack and the Beanstack fame) has been exiled from the fables for a long, long time for his tricks and nonsense. But when he calls up Bigby and tells them about a new threat to Fables, the literals and who can rewrite the universe or destroy it, Bigby decides it's time to step in. Together they step in with a bunch of good literals: Revision, the Page sisters (badass librarian sisters), and others to try and save their lives and their universe. It's an ambitious and wonderful crossover. Rose Red is still a hot mess, Jack is up to his Shenanigans, and Bigby's temper is getting the better of him, and I loved every second of it!

[fyrefly98 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Summary: Jack, the Page sisters, and the rest of the refugees from the battle at the Golden Boughs are holed up in the desert, and Jack decides it’s only fair to let the rest of the Fables – now all living at the Farm, after Mr. Dark destroyed Fabletown – about the newest threat: Kevin Thorne, erstwhile journalist and currently pissed-off Literal, with the power to rewrite the entire universe as he sees fit… or to erase it altogether. Kevin has recruited the Genres into helping him out, and even with Bigby, Snow, Jack, and all of the other Literals working together, how can they ever hope to stop him from rewriting their stories forever?Review: I was sort of surprised at the balance of stories in this volume. Because it’s listed as Fables Vol. 13, but not Jack of Fables Vol. 7, I was expecting the focus of the story to be primarily on the Fables storyline, with Jack & Co. as supporting characters. In reality, it’s exactly the opposite; the story focuses almost exclusively on the things that have been happening in Jack of Fables, with the Fables story mostly sidelined – Mr. Dark is only even mentioned once or twice. While this surprised me, it didn’t actually bother me – I think the Literals are the most interesting thing to come out of the Jack of Fables series, and spending time with their stories was certainly interesting, enough so that I’m sad to see that arc come to an end. On the other hand, I can see this uneven focus really annoying a reader who had only been keeping up to date with Fables and not Jack of Fables – I don’t know whether anything that goes on in this book would be at all clear without knowing who the hell all of these characters are, and what they can do. For those in the know, however, this was a very satisfying volume – thicker than normal, with a greatly satisfying story arc, some real pathos (nothing on the level of The Good Prince, but still pretty intense), and tons of hilarious bits (watching the Genres interact is cute, Babe gets in a few good pages, and Bigby has the worst day ever.) 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Required reading for Jack of Fables fans, for sure. For those who just read Fables, I can’t really say yet if this one is skip-able if you really dislike Jack, or if any of the developments here will become important later on, but I thought it was enjoyable enough to be worth reading anyways.

[macha_4 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

lots of good stuff in here, but ultimately it doesn't have much of a storyline, the pacing screeches to a halt, and it spends way too long self-obsessing about the writer's block problem. maybe it fell head-first into some of the excesses to which the postmodern style all-too-easily lends itself? too bad, in a series that has never faltered in the previous 12 volumes of intricate and seamless storytelling. on the other hand, maybe the unevenness of this one is inevitable given its unusual form, collecting parts of three different series (Fables, Jack of Fables, and The Literals) from two different writers. still, there are a lot of clever bits herein, mostly deriving from the writer's dilemma and the personification of writing conventions from pathetic fallacy to deus ex machina and various genres, all of which the writer attempts desperately to make use of to find a way through the impasse he's written himself into. which is by now tending perilously to the writer's magic pen writing a final-solution sentence of "and then the world ended" - raising its own questions as to the nature of the creator's responsibility to his work, once it develops a life, many lives in fact, of its own. so, it's an interesting crisis, and an honest one for Willingham at this point, given the towering achievement of this series, but it seems there are too many cooks in this one, headed in different directions in the interest of too many disparate series, to make the volume work as a thing in itself. which of course is sort of the whole point of the writer's lament. luckily, he never quite writes with the magic pen onto the terrifying blank page that last desperate sentence, or this series would have been 13 volumes long instead of 22, and that's not even counting the spinoffs yet to come.

[andreablythe · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Jack Horner was exiled from the Fables community ages ago and soon began appearing in his own spin off series [Jack of Fables] (which I haven't read). This volume shows the crossover of the Fables series and the Jack of Fables and I was kind of meh about it. The story was too wacky to me (though seeing Bigby as a cute, pissed off little girl was priceless) and I wasn't in love with much of the art. Also, Jack is such an epic douche that I had a hard time reading any scene in which he appeared. If this is what the Jack of Fables series is like, then I have no interest in it.

[deltaqueen50 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This was an excellent episode. Lots of action and drama. One of my favorite couples, Snow White and Bigby Wolf, were front and center, and Bigby goes through a lot of changes. Jack (of Fables) was up to his old tricks and uses his charm to wiggle back into the Farm and Rose Red's bed and then, having no shame, taking advantage of the situation to put himself in power. Jack is in for a surprise in this issue as a unknown son of his shows up.The Fables are still reeling from the destruction of Fabletown when Jack arrives to tell them of the even greater threat of Kevin Thorn and his rewrites. It takes a group of both Fables and Literals to find a resolution to this disaster.The Great Crossover was an epic! Advancing both the stories of the Fables and also that of Jack, I am looking forward to both the next Jack and the next Fables to see where they go next.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Bewertung: 1 von 5 Sternen]

The basic premise of Fables is that the characters from our fairy-tales are real people. They fled their homeland, pursued by a nameless enemy, and ended up in New York City, where like all immigrants they struggled to both assimilate and stay true to themselves.

The plot behind this particular collection is that someone has regained the power to rewrite the universe, and intends to scrap the world and start over. The Fables and the Literals team up to stop this from happening. But really, not much happens, and what does happen is cartoonish and silly. There are something like 5 pages of Bigby as a pink elephant. It's just...not good.

[krizia_lazaro_3 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Currently, this is the funniest Fables I've read but not the best though. A lot of Bigby and Snow White, again. I'm starting to dislike those two because every Fables book is about them. Its like when you eat chocolate everyday you get tired of it in a matter of time. I also used to be indifferent to Jack Horner but through this Fables book, I've grown to love him. I'm thinking of reading "Jack of Fables". He's really funny. a comic relief and the most unusual story hero. The Literals are also interesting. I loved seeing the different genres personified. I would love to see a second volume of "The Literals". Over-all, it was an okay book.

[librarycin · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

4.5 starsJack Horner is back in this volume of Fables, along with a whole new bunch of characters. Kevin is an author, trying to rewrite all his previous stories, but he needs help from the Genres. This could threaten the lives of all the Fables.This is right up there with Vol. 1 as my favourite of the series. I loved most of the new characters, the Genres, as well as the Page Sisters (especially the librarian). I hope to see some of these characters return in future volumes.

[5eva5 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Jack was banished from Fabletown a long time ago, but in this installment, he trades places with Snow and Bigby and goes to the farm and they get to battle an enemy that should truly be his. This is my least favorite installment in the series so far - mainly because the crossover doesn't quite work. Jack is the one with the funny/flippant storyline and Snow and Bigby should be big and bold heroes (although one of Bigby's transformations is quite hilarious - and he gets out of it with his dignity intact). Hopefully, Snow and Bigby get to return to their proper storyline in future installments and leave Jack with the jokes.

[krau0098 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

This is the thirteenth book in the Fables series. It was an interesting and amusing read, but still one of the weakest books in the series so far.This book features Jack (I guess he is supposed to be crossing over to Fables from his own series). Jack shows up at the farm and is mistaken by Stinky to be a reborn Boy Blue. Meanwhile Jack introduces the Fables to the Literals...a group of genre based characters and their creator Kevin Thorne (The Storymaker). Fables and crew have to stop Kevin Thorne from rewriting the universe.I’ll be completely blunt here and say I just don’t like Jack as a character, he bugs me and so a story featuring him wasn’t my favorite. While the Literals are an amusing set of characters and an interesting idea, they didn’t really match well with the rest of the Fables characters. After being so excited by the appearance of a new baddie for the Fables to face off against in the last book, I was left confused when Mr. Dark wasn’t in this story all that much.I was kind of left feeling like this installment was an effort to get Fables’ fans to go and read the Jack series, and that just didn’t work for me.That’s not to say it was all bad. The Page sisters are funny and kick-butt and Kevin Thorn is an oddly disturbing villain. The story is creative and amusing but doesn’t build on the rest of the Fables story all that much.The illustration is in keeping with previous installments and was generally well done and in keeping with the story. The book was amusing and interesting but not as gripping as previous installments. Mostly I was just happy to see the end of the Literals and Jack. I am eager to get back to the main story and find out what happens with Mr. Dark.Overall an okay installment in the series but one of the weakest. This book revolves more around Jack and the Literals; they are all mildly interesting but I missed the main story of Fables new dark adversary. I don’t really enjoy Jack as a character, so was disappointed that so much of the story revolved around him. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Witches, and am hoping that the next book will go back to the storyline that was started in The Dark Ages.

[josh314 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Like a number of the other reviewers, I'll call this volume a low point for Fables. I read both Fables and Jack and while they are both in the same universe, they have vastly different tones that don't mix well. In general Jack of Fables is a bit silly and light-hearted. It takes very little seriously, contains many metafictional elements, and is totally amoral. The last point is important; the main character is a "magnificent bastard" type who just does what he wants. The series is funny in that cringe-inducing sense that you get when you watch complete a-holes do their thing (I liken Jack to Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm). Fables, on the other hand, is much more serious work, in characters live, love, die and struggle with real moral issues. The Crossover pretty much just had the tone of Jack of Fables take over the Fables series. If you don't read Jack, you can probably skip this volume. Of course, if you are a Jack reader, then this is the culmination of the story arc of Kevin Thorn and maybe all the Literals. So you probably want to read it.I need to comment on the Rose Red arc, too. I'm of two minds on this. First, it is obviously pretty gross and disturbing. But then I think that that is the point, Rose is at rock bottom. Still, because Jack is basically a comedic character, it comes off as too much. It isn't just some bad decision of Rose's; since it involves Jack, it's part of a gag. Rose has been too much of a punching bag lately, and if Willingham is just going to keep degrading her, I'm going to be discouraged from continuing with the series.

[elizajane_1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.First thing I couldn't help but notice was that a-zon dot com has an average rating of three for this and that means there must be quite a few unhappy reviews out there. I won't read any until I'm done my own review, but what can I say. I love Fables! I guess I'm a pushover and not that hard to please because I thought this issue was great; the only storyline I don't like is the one of Rose Red. Otherwise, this volume felt special and the balloons on the cover really worked with the celebration it felt like with the combination of Fables and Jack of Fables together in one volume. This book contains 9 issues: 3 each of Fables, Jack of Fables, and a mini-series titled The Literals.So here we have the "bad guy" from Jack of Fables reaching his ultimate point and the entire book focuses on the fight of the Fables and the Literals joining together to hopefully defeat him. We are briefly reminded of the Dark Man occupying the ruins of Fableland at the very beginning but otherwise that storyline is set aside for the one involving The Literals. It was pretty much a "day in the life of" for the Fables and when vol. 14 continues the plot will pick up where it left off. This is a whole different story for Jack of Fables though. The story that has been working up in the previous 6 volumes is culminated here, so it is essential that Jack of Fables readers read this volume whether they regularly read the original Fables books or not. Without giving any plot away, I'm excited about the direction the new Jack of Fables will take. The new Jack is a very promising character, the story could go in any direction, but enough old characters have been left in play that we'll still see familiar faces.All in all, I loved the story. The writer's block was creepy and brilliant at the same time. There are a lot of mini storylines to follow and while I liked some (the addition of the Genres as characters) more than others (the depressed, I'm-not-worth-dirt Rose Red), I found it all very entertaining with a great climax to Jack of Fables, and another major battle in the life of the Fables. I'm ready to proceed with both titles now and I just have to catch up with that novel "Peter and Max".

[stephmo_1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Really? This really had no business ever being marketed as part of the Fables series - even if Bill Willingham wanted to claim that issues #83-85 were included in this volume. I don't follow Jack of Fables at all (I was more than happy to see that character take leave of the Fables world), so I have no idea if an equal sham is being pulled for their issues or not. Theoretically, we're also reading issues 1-3 of the Literals, so I guess we can't complain that's gone off the rails right?But, seriously? Really? I left Fables being taken over by Mister Dark bringing an evil that has all but destroyed Fabletown. I've lost a major character. Blufkin is trapped in an office that no longer exists and it's with Baba Yaga. How do you only resolve a scuffle between Beast and Bigby and call that moving the story forward? And then pretty much hand me Jack walking in and forcing himself on Rose Red in an all-but catatonic state and tell me that it's supposed to be funny because he breaks the fourth wall? Or is it because Rose's personal hygiene has fallen to the wayside that it's super-funny that Jack will have sex with her anyway? Yeah, rapey Jack is hi-lar-i-ous like that. The rest of the storyline involves bringing everyone together to stop Kevin Thorne, the man who has actually written the entire universe, from writing an end to the world. I'm sure how this was discovered was covered in Jack of Fables, but here we are in Fables trying to stop the universe from ending. It's a self-contained story and since we all know that Fables and Jack of Fables have both continued...I'm sure we can all guess how this adventure turns out for everyone. I'm now preparing myself mentally for that time where I will know that The Great Fables Crossover simply never happened.

[sr_moreno · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Definitely the poorest of the Fables books to date. The story is fragmented and uses characters and concepts from the Jack of Fables books with little or no explanation or background given. If you're familiar with Jack of Fables this probably won't be a problem (though the weak storyline will be) but this is marketed by Vertigo as Fables Book 13, which seems dishonest on their part. The "Boy Blue religion" sub-plot is hardly explored before it is apparently finished off, and the central plot barely makes sense (the villain's procrastination is ridiculous). The Jack of Fables characters also gleefully destroy the fourth wall at every opportunity, which is jarring in what is nominally a Fables book.I'd advise Fables readers to skip this one.

[lithicbee · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

This cross-over has funny moments, but for me as a Fables reader, I was not thrilled with the break from the main storyline and with the major fourth-wall destruction wrought by Jack and the Literals. There were bits about a religion being created around Boy Blue that were fun/interesting, but they were sort of glossed over in favor of Jack's story.

[girl_detective · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

A welcome respite from the near-unrelenting darkness and violence of the last few volumes. How thoroughly you enjoy this book may depend on how well you like the character of Jack. You know, Jack: Frost, Horner, the Giant Killer, Be-Nimble, etc. I stopped reading the Jack of Fables series, as I found him more insufferable than funny. And while he has some funny bits in this volume, especially his meta-textual intos and outros, anytime he was on page I couldn't wait for him to get off. More entertaining, I thought, was learning more about The Literals, characters like Gary the Pathetic Fallacy, Mr. Revise who can edit stories permanently (ever heard of the four little pigs? He's why not.), and the Page sisters, who are kick-ass librarians with magic powers.Kevin Thorn, who is able to write worlds in and out of existence, is struggling for the words to unmake the world, which has gone on so long without his intervention that he's appalled by how things have turned out: The Big Bad Wolf is in human form, married to Snow White, and a father? Gepetto became so much more than a puppet maker? As he struggles against his twin, Writer's Block, the Fables and Literals race to eliminate Kevin before he does the same to them.Pink elephants! Theocratic badgers! Girls with glasses and really big guns! Babe the blue ox, insane and funny! Plus a little girl who's not as sweet as she looks. This is a fun, clever diversion, far too heavy on Jack, until we get back to the grim stuff, which I'm sure will happen soon.

[meditationesmartini · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

So the last one was Wolverine kung-fu noir ruined by orientalism--this one is wild/crazy metafiction partially ruined by misogyny. Jack Horner brings the Literals, the crew of allegorical beings representing the writing process, genre fiction, the library, the deus ex mchina, ervision, etc., screaming into the main Fables comic, where their main number, Kevin Thorn (?) is going to rewrite reality to give himself a blank page. Chaos and fun do ensue, but the part where Willingham decides to totally degrade Rose Red sexually in a completely unbelievable way and then play it for laughs makes this a not entirely pleasant read.

[merrymeerkat · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Out of all of the issues combined into this volume, the first one was my favorite and I feel like they all went down hill after that. As usual the art was great, but the story annoyed me this time.



I loved that Bigby gets a talking too from Snow in the first issue. In the second of nine stories I felt really confused as to what was going on. By the 3rd part, I finally figured out that the Fables world was being rewritten. Bigby is turned into a chimp which is amusing. I was curious to see where this was going but I was disappointed. The lettering for when Jack is rewritting the story is annoying and hard to read. I don't know if its like that in the paper copy but on Kindle it was hard to read.

Story 4- Realized I'm confused with too many people named Jack. In Story 5, I loved the quote "Please don't poop on me again Mr. Bigby." Bigby is turned into a donkey, elephant and a little girl. While amusing, not really much point to it. By story 6, I'm still confused. Story 7, boring. Story 8 I felt was scatterbrained, though the listing of the characters was useful. At this point I was waiting for this volume to be over because I was basically bored although there were amusing moments. I was also missing the regular characters. The final story was a lame ending. Hoping the next volume is better.

[wanderlustlover_1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

The trade I have to rank the same as Trade #1. I was so disinterested in this crossover all together, that the further i pushed myself, dragging feet through it, it almost felt the worst it got. Things that made it livable:


1. Blue

2. The Page Sister's

3. The Literary Tropes

4. The culmination of the Little Girl gag

[bdgamer-669415 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Felt disjointed.

[melrailey-412132 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

I continue to like the way that Willingham plays on words and ideas and makes them literal people. I don't think this "crossover event" is quite as compelling as the individual series are on their own. I did love the Genres though.

[skybalon · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

My first less than 4 star review. Still wonderfully illustrated, just not that good of a story.