Mini Trade Secrets #1: Fables #11

What we have here is the first of what I assume will be many one off stories dealing with the Fables and their adventures. This one, which I again assume will be a recurring theme, deals with a Russian folk tale involving a soldier, a sack, and some cards. Of course, since we’re talking Fables here, the soldier isn’t exactly the standard poor down on his luck soldier for the original tale, but is instead young rapscallion and con artist Jack of the Tales (AKA Jack of Fables AKA Jack Horner). And instead of being poor, he’s stacked to the gills with trinkets and winnings from his profiteering from the Civil War. There’s a very simple reason why I loved this issue. I have a personal attachment to that folk tale. When I was a kid I vaguely remembered seeing this kickass Jim Henson puppet show about these folk tales. I think it was on HBO or something, and this must have been the early 1990’s, because I was only three when the series originally aired in 1987 (and as an interesting aside, the writer for nearly every episode was Anthony Minghella, the writer and director of The English Patient, Cold Mountain and other such films). That’s one of those seminal moments you get as a kid when you see the power of true imagination come alive in front of you. Flash forward to my Sophomore year in college up in Boston, and for whatever reason, I started thinking about that show, discovered that its official name was Jim Henson’s The Storyteller, and it had just been released on DVD. Well, awesome. I picked it up, and all the memories started flowing back.

So what’s the point of this little jaunt down memory lane? Well, that should be obvious by now, but one of the episodes from that show (entitled The Soldier and Death), which happens to be one of the ones I remember so well (it’s not my favorite, considering that The Three Ravens has both Miranda Richardson and Jonathan Pryce in it) covers the exact same folk tale that gave us Fables #11. There are differences, of course, with the biggest one being the person the soldier attempts to save from Death (the king becomes a nubile young woman, of whom Jack naturally takes advantage), as well as Death’s responses at the end of the issue, but it was a very nice surprise for me, and something I could start to guess once they started talking about the magic sack.

It’s a very good issue. I’m part of the way through the third trade of Fables at the moment, and I’m really enjoying the quirky little world that Willingham has carved out for us. Brian Talbot drew this issue (presumably to give Buckingham a break), and you can’t really tell the difference between his work and Buckingham’s, which is the type of thing that’s hard not to notice when you’re reading the story in trade and it’s immediately followed by the standard Buckingham/Leialoha team. I really like Willingham’s writing style (the text piece at the end of the first trade was awesome. It read like a true fable that you would see as a kid), and it’s a very good look at this folk tale, which succeeds in both telling a good and fun story and furthering the characterization of Jack Horner. And that’s what I like to see from one shots. It’s not a disposable story. James Jean did the cover, and big shock here, it’s completely fabulous like every other cover he’s done for Fables or otherwise (I loved those Umbrella Academy covers). It’s just a very solid overall package that I’ve come to expect despite the fact that I’ve only read about 14 issues of the series.

Tags: Vertigo, Fables, Bill Willingham, Jim Henson