FREE JACK OF FABLES: THE FULMINATE BLADE VOL. 8 PDF Andrew Pepoy,Joe Rubinstein,Tony Akins,Jim Fern,Matthew Sturges,Bill Willingham | 128 pages | 01 Feb 2011 | DC Comics | 9781401229825 | English | New York, NY, United States Jack of Fables, Vol. 8: The Fulminate Blade by Bill Willingham The idea for the spin-off comic came after editor Shelly Bond suggested to put Jack in a separate comic when Willingham planned to write him out of the series. While Jack of Fables focused on the eponymous Jack Horner, the spin-off also allowed Willingham and Sturges to expand upon the Fables Universe by adding new characters, settings, and anthropomorphic personifications of philosophical and literary ideas in Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 series. A preview of its first issue was shown in Fables 50, and the series itself debuted in July It ran for 50 issues from July to Marchand received positive reception from critics and fans alike during its release, though over time would be criticized because of the main character's abhorrent sociopathy. The series has since been collected in both trade paperback and deluxe edition hardcovers. The decision to remove the character of Jack Horner from the series came when artist Mark Buckingham proposed to expand the Fables' logic of "popularity equals power", which meant that fairy tale characters were only as strong as their popularity in Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 real mundane world. This story arc was supposed to be the last time Jack Horner would appear in Fablesand Willingham initially wanted to write him off the series. However, editor Shelly Bond suggested that Horner be put in a separate comic instead, stating that she did this because she didn't want to lose her "favorite" character in the series. Jack of Fables was the first project that Sturges worked upon in the mainstream comic book industry. Bond and Willingham originally chose Sturges to act as a second voice on the new series, [2] and Willingham himself have previously known Sturges during their founding of the independent publishing label Clockwork Storybook. Todd Kleinin particular, was chosen to add humor in the story, and Sturges praised him for his work in doing so while avoiding a "cartoony" feel. In writing the story, Willingham and Sturges both made sure to keep the spin-off independent and not overlap too much with the main series, which Willingham felt would have made it a "Fables Jr. Like in Fablesthe series takes place in the contemporary world albeit with characters from fairy tales and folklore living alongside normal humans in secret, known as Fables. He got his nigh-immortality after creating a film trilogy about himself to raise his popularity with the Mundies, and is also reinforced by other causes as well such as his part-literal nature and his many deals with various devils in his Jack O' Lantern days. The Fables soon found out about his deed and they sent out the town sheriff Beast to apprehend him for his crime. Unfortunately for Jack, Beast managed to find him in Hollywood, confiscated all the money and properties he had built, and was told that he can never set foot on Fabletown again. The series then starts off after Jack left Hollywood. While hitchhiking, Jack was captured by an armed group of magical creatures calling themselves Literals. They imprisoned him in a place called the Golden Boughs Retirement Village ; a magical community owned by Mr. Revise where Fables are trapped, censored and they lose all their powers. Afterwards, he befriended a Literal named Gary the Pathetic Fallacy and together they became entangled in more adventures. Jack's adventures consisted of him getting married in Las Vegas and fighting a Fable mob leader named Lady Luckgetting stabbed by the Excalibur in the chest and finding out that he was just a copy of another Fable named Wicked John, heading out into Americana to find lost treasures with Humpty Dumptyand returning to the Golden Boughs just in time to lead them in a fight against a powerful Literal named Bookburner. However, the Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 they've hoarded had a drastic effect on the two, and Jack himself suddenly lost his immortality and started aging and bloating. After taking refuge in a cave to stash their treasure, Jack was then transformed into a dragon similar to Fafnir and forced to stay in that form until a hero comes and slays him. The story then shifts to Jack's son Jack Frost, who was born from his brief romance with the Snow Queen before the events of the overall series. After learning of his mother's apparent Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8, Frost, who's been locked up in her castle since birth, finally left and set out on his own adventure. He lets go of his winter powers that he inherited from his mother, and travels into the Homelands to become the legendary hero he's always dreamed off. Though he found difficulty fighting without his powers, he nonetheless killed them all with the help of a mechanical owl, whom he named MacDuff. His next adventure came when a girl hired him to save her kingdom from monsters they called Night Walkers. Unfortunately for Jack he was soon trapped and captured Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 these monsters. However, he also discovered that they too were being tormented, this time by a powerful sorcerer who ruled both the Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 of the monsters and the humans they were preying. He agreed to save the Night Walkers from the sorcerer, but in return they must also learn to coexist with the humans in peace. Jack then tracked down the sorcerer in his own castle, killed him and finally freed the two races. This victory turned him into a well-known hero in the Homelands. He and MacDuff continue their adventures, making new allies and lovers, discovering new weapons and battling other monsters from both fantasy and science-fiction. After becoming the legendary hero he always wanted, Jack Frost decided that his final quest before retiring was defeating a ferocious dragon, rumored to be hiding inside a cave filled with treasure, which he didn't know was actually his own father Jack Horner. Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 nonetheless prepared to defend it and each other Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 the very end. Meanwhile, Frost successfully tracked him down alongside other supporting characters, who also ended up in the same location. Both Jacks then fought a bloody duel that eventually killed the two as well as those who were present. After Jack Horner died, the devils that he tricked in his Jack O' Lantern days finally came to collect his soul. However, all of them ended up bickering to which of them can claim it, and this gave Jack the opportunity to slip away and escape. While locked away, Jack discovered that he actually had a tiny portion of reality-bending powers because of his half-literal nature, which he then uses to resurrect Gary and restore his powers. With Gary's powers, Jack invented his own new universe where "he is king, tacos are grown in trees, everyone has a pet dinosaur, and every woman is buxom and in heat all the time. Unlike Fables which was written as a mature comic with serious human drama and a gritty tone, Jack of Fables was written as a comedy story with slapstickviolence and fourth wall breaking. The spin-off series also gave Bill Willingham more freedom in expanding the series' universe. At one point, the editors became concerned when Bill Willingham added the character of Sam from the controversial book Little Black Sambobut he pushed on with the character in order to explore and add more concepts in the overall series. Revise who is the embodiment of censorship and revisionhis brother Bookburner who is the personification of book burning, their father Gary the Pathetic Fallacy who is the personification of anthropomorphic non-living objects, Dex the Deus Ex MachinaKevin Thorne who was the embodiment of actual writing and his archenemy Writer's Block. After the release of its first issue, Jack of Fables was received positively by critics and fans alike. While not Jack of Fables: The Fulminate Blade Vol. 8 the same large sales as its parent FablesWillingham described the series as a "pretty strong" seller. During an interview with Willingham, Vaneta Rogers from Newsarama praised its four years of "thrilling readers with Jack's ridiculous, wild, and often borderline-offensive acts. However, the series also drew negative criticism from comic book reviews as well, particularly on the character Jack Horner and his detestable, selfish and sociopathic personality. IGN journalist Jesse Schiedeen praised issue 33 which he described as a "certain sense of fun and whimsy" but was critical of the character Jack, whom he described as an "annoying braggart who did well to get himself booted out of the main series. He also had a mixed review of the spin-off comic, describing its story as fun but not as good as the original series. He compared both Fables and Jack of Fables in his review, and he described the former as a gritty, realistic series focusing on human drama", while the latter was just a "side of slapstick humor with fourth wall-breaking moments and a focus on comedy. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Art by James Jean. Comic Book Resources. Sturges, Matthew.