Fables offers Bill Willingham a canvas to work on with such scope that I can't imagine he'll ever get bored. The immortality of its lead characters and their varied interests gives him an unusually wide leeway in terms of genre, and in this story, he takes advantage of that leeway to tell a Hollywood story ala The Player. Jack is perhaps perfect for Hollywood, as he is young, charming and utterly full of bullshit, and it's a lot of fun to watch him wheel and deal with people who have no idea just who they're getting involved with. David Hahn provides guest art, and his clean lines and innocent-looking characters are perfect for the story, as he brings the glitz and glamor of Hollywood to life but he also gives Jack just the right touch of snake oil salesman.
To be completely honest, whenever the story diverts from the ongoing tale of Fabletown, I tend to lose a little interest, and that's no exception when it comes to this tale of Jack's Hollywood adventure. This ultimately has little to do with what happened to Bigby, who the Adversary is, how Little Boy Blue is faring in the homelands and other ongoing elements of the tale that I'm dying to know the answers to. However, what "Jack Be Nimble" lacks in immediacy it makes up for in charm, as there are any number of really fun scenes at work here, and given that Jack is on this path thanks to the shake-ups in Fabletown, it feels more directly related than the previous Jack flashback early in the series.
I'm a sucker for Hollywood insider stories, especially those with a satirical bent, like Get Shorty or Fortune & Glory. Willingham is playing with a familiar cast of characters here, from the washed-out agent to the hungry young shark executive, but rather than playing these characters against one another, he's just using them as backdrop in a larger tale of how Jack manipulates Hollywood to get what he wants. What exactly Jack is hoping to get out of this except maybe money and/or fame is uncertain, of course, and that's where the mystery of the story lies, and what will have me anxiously coming back for part two.
Willingham has always had a way with words and with memorable scenes, and there are several in this issue. The decision to break the story up into chapters narrated by different third parties who observed Jack's time in Hollywood helps give the sense that something is going to happen to bring it all crashing down at the end, and it also helps build up the mystique around Jack that is so crucial to his dealings in Hollywood. There are also a number of memorable moments, two of them revolving around the rapid-fire turnover in the Hollywood business and another a short sequence showing the scouting of the films, which helps to establish the nature of the business that Jack has gotten himself into.
For me, Mark Buckingham has become an essential part of Fables, but the wide-ranging nature of the stories allows guest artists to step in more easily, and I didn't miss him that much on this story. Of course, that's partly because David Hahn's work is terrific, reminiscent of Javier Pulido's work on Human Target but with a slightly amped-up level of background detail and a much lighter touch. Hahn brings the bright, attractive lure of Hollywood to life, with flashy clothes and flashy cars and plenty of sunshine, but he's also quite capable of conveying the sudden and crushing disappointment of a job gone wrong or the frustration that Jill feels with Jack. "Jack Be Nimble" is a bit of a diversion, off the beaten path for the overall Fables story, but it's a fun detour. 8/10
