Jack of Fables #41 (2010) page 18: Twin guardians

Jack is a lovable rake who skates through life on luck and charm. This issue begins the flashback story "The Fulminate Blade: Kings of Earth and Sky," an homage to John Carter and similar planetary romance heroes of the pulp age.

On this page, Jack has entered an ancient tomb to claim a magic sword, but to get out again, he will have to defeat its guardians. I'm not sure how safe the hilt of Jack's current sword is, so it's good that he's going to get an upgrade.

Akins goes for "fun" in the layout; not a single rectangular panel to be seen here, with two panel breaks and one borderless panel to boot. Andrew Pepoy inked the first half of this issue, and Joe Rubinstein the second half.

The last panel features MacDuff, Jack's artificial owl sidekick, presumably a nod to the similar creature Bubo in the 1981 film "Clash of the Titans." Bubo didn't talk; he just burbled like R2D2. But MacDuff does, allowing him to function as a Greek chorus for Jack.