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Author: Bill Willingham, 2009.
Genre: Graphic Novel. Re-told Fairy Tales. Myth and Legend. Metafiction.
Other Details: Trade Paperback. 224 pages.
This collection is rather a hodge-podge combining Fables Issues #83-85, the spin-off Jack of Fables Issues #33-35 and a 3-part mini-series, The Literals. It takes a side-step from the on-going story arc of the aftermath of the war to explore the danger presented by Kevin Thorn, who popped up briefly in earlier Fables issues and was apparently developed further in the Jack of Fables series. He is one of the Literals, beings that represent literary devices rather than characters. In the Great Fables Crossover, he is revealed as being the creator of the Fables who feels that his creations have slipped out of his control. He has decided to scrap the Fables universe and start over again. Jack returns to the Farm, causes minor havoc and enlists the assistance of Bigby and Snow to deal with the threat from Kevin and other Literals allied to him.
As I have ignored the Jack of Fables series, I knew nothing about the existence of the Literals so felt rather confused about what was going on though managed to figure it out with a little assistance from Wikipedia. I loved the art work here, especially the cover. However, there was little in the story to get excited about. Some attempt at humour was presented mainly in the form of the Genres but there were a lot more misses than hits in terms of it actually being funny. The Page sisters were fun but the introduction of the Literals wasn't handled well as I felt I'd come into a story half-way through, which of course was the case.
So as much as I love Fables and Snow & Bigby especially, I found this crossover issue rather a distraction. I got the impression that part of it was to promote the Jack of Fables spin-off series though nothing would endear Jack to me as a character. Overall, this felt like a damp squib compared to others in the Fables series.
