Kevin Thorn is a former New York City journalist who has the ability to see behind the illusions cast by Fabletown magic-users. After the Battle of Fabletown, the anchorman on the news show Thorn worked for reported an out-of-control block party, a building fire and a gang fight in the Upper West Side; minutes later, the details were fading from everyone’s head but Kevin’s. After reporting this to his boss, he was fired for “going all X-Files”. Kevin has now dedicated himself to discovering what exactly is going on in the Upper West Side. He is leaving a complete paper trail in case of his sudden death (which he now considers to be a strong possibility). During the Sons of Empire story-arc, it is revealed that Kevin is acting as a superintendent at a house three blocks away from Fabletown. This house is also now occupied by Hansel and his staff, though Kevin seems unaware of their true identities. In Kevin’s free time (when not spying on Fabletown residents), he is writing a book describing what it is he has discovered of the Fables. He has been keeping an eye on them for long enough now to be familiar with many of the regulars and has noticed the disappearance of several – Bigby Wolf, Snow White, Boy Blue and so forth – linked with references to “The Farm“. He has come to the conclusion that “the Farm” is actually a euphemism for execution, giving him the mistaken impression that the Fables willingly kill their own without reservation. He is aware that Tommy Sharp was also investigating Fabletown and was subsequently murdered, which has only served to heighten his misgiving about the Fables.
During the Jack of Fables arc The Bad Prince the reason for Thorn being able to see through the Fables’ illusions is finally given: he is, in fact, a Literal, beings who are like Fables, but represent literary devices rather than actual characters. Like many Fables, though, he was taken to Golden Boughs Retirement Village and was stripped of his memories so that he could be made into an ordinary human being. When he begins to regain his memories, he is recaptured so that the process can be repeated. In that process, it is implied he is one of the most powerful Literals in existence, and the soldiers sent to capture him imply that even all of them with their guns could only irritate him, at best, if he fought back. Nonetheless, they manage to bring him back peacefully, where it is revealed Revise is actually his son, and the Pathetic Fallacy is his father. Though who his mother is, has never been stated. It seems that he became a mundane by choice, and doesn’t refuse the notion of losing his memories again.
It later emerges in the storyline Jack’s Big Book of War that Kevin has powers leading to the creation of Fables themselves; however, it has not yet emerged what they actually are. It seems that Kevin refers to Fables as his creations and he consents to the revisions of his son Revise as the lesser of two evils, in an attempt to protect them from his other son Bookburner. With the revelation of his heritage, it also points out that the Page Sisters are his granddaughters.
In The Great Fables Crossover he’s revealed to be truly the creator of the Fables, the embodiment of the storytelling. Having been able to break in a new pen, after destroying the pen (a simple goose-feather) used to write the Fables (and possibly the mundys as well) in the attempt to stop the Writer’s Block, he becomes displeased with the current events, as the Fables themselves had grown beyond his control (he explicitly claims that Geppetto’s transformation in the dreaded Adversary was something he couldn’t even fathom), and decided to uncreate them, rebuilding a new world from scratch.
During this time to get over his Writer’s Block, he had called upon the help of the Genres, though none of their ideas helped. In another attempt he called upon Hansel and Sam for help. Hinting that he had at some point a type of friendship with these characters. It is possible that Hansel’s over religious zealot attitude inspired him to recreate his world from scratch. In hopes of stopping that scheme, Old Sam quickly disposed of Hansel. Even while Snow, Bigby, Gary, and Mr. Revise were headed to stop him; Kevin showed no mercy.
Either to humiliate or torture Bigby, he forced him through countless transformations from a donkey, to a chimp, and even a normal and pink colored elephant. And for his ultimate humiliation he turned Bigby into a little girl. Kevin did finally get over Writer’s Block by killing his brother, much to Sam’s horror. Sam convinces him to shower before writing, when he goes Sam tries getting rid of his pen.
But the pen literally fried his brain, when he grabbed it due to an overload of information contained in the symbolic pen. As punishment he sent Same to a world where no one could see or hear Sam, living in an apparent permant isolation. After a series of fighting the Genres and eventually meeting up with Jack’s son, the group makes it to the house. But they are apparently too late. Kevin took one of Science Fiction‘s advice and created a shield to protect himself from them.
As the group looked in defeat, Kevin promised Snow personally, if he brought her back he’d give her castle and tiara back. Apparently showing disdain for Bigby, saying she wouldn’t have a mutt. Not knowing what else to do, Jack Frost II is able to freeze him before writing the word end.
Dex, the Deus Ex Machina and the most powerful of the Literals, creates a new, empty universe for the Literals to inhabit and fill out as they please. Despite having a new occasion to create, Kevin expresses displeasure and worries, as after thousands of years spent dreaming the end of the universe, he’s unable to write out a beginning to a new universe.
Although he’s a minor character, Kevin is one of the few still alive from the Jack of Fables story.