Graphic Novel Review – The Great Fables Crossover (Fables, Book 13) By Bill Willingham (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Size: 232 pages
Publisher: Vertigo
Release Date: February 9, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1401225728
Stand Alone or Series: 13th book in the Fables series
Source: Gift
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Graphic Novel Challenge
– Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
– 150+ Books Reading Challenge
– TBR Pile Reading Challenge