Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics | Tagged: bill willingham, fables

Bill Willingham Says He Has "Fired DC Comics" Over Fables

Bill Willingham took to TwitterX saying "I’m tempted to explain the delays in issues of Fables: The Black Forest, since DC refuses to do so."

Bill Willingham is the author and co-creator of the series Fables at DC Comics, which launched from its Vertigo imprint in 2002 and concluded in 2015. Willingham has written the entire main series, currently heading towards #162, plus all manner of spin-offs, with Mark Buckingham pencilling more than 110 issues. It was revived in 2022 with a 12-issue continuation to the main series and the spin-off Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham, now both published under DC Black Label. The series features characters from classic fairy tales and folklore, known as the Fables, who have formed an immigrant community in New York, known as Fabletown, after being exiled from their Homelands. It follows all manner of dramatic tradition, though it is best known for using film noir tropes.

Since the new series began, delays have plagued it, and Bleeding Cool recently reported that "Fables #160 has a new date of the 10th of October 2023, when the original on-sale date was the 4th of April. Fables #161 has a new date of the 14th of November 2023, when the original on-sale date was the 13th of September." And that the final planned Fables #162 has not been solicited yet. Most suspected that artist Mark Buckingham, also drawing and redrawing Miracleman for Marvel Comics, may have been a source of delays. But maybe not?

Bill Willingham took to TwitterX after concerned comments were made, saying, "In answer to far too many requests, I'm tempted to explain the delays in issues of Fables: The Black Forest since DC refuses to do so. Short version: I handed in every script more than two years ago and, for multiple reasons, haven't worked with/for DC since. I fired them." Any chance of a longer version, Bill?

Recently, Bill Willingham did comment on DC Comics releasing Fire And Ice: Welcome To Smallville, a month before his own Fire And Ice comic book series was published by Dynamite and announced one year previously. He wrote, "I went out to pick up a copy of my FIRE and ICE # 1 to show off at the convention, but something seems a little off. These aren't the pages I recall writing; this art looks nothing like what I saw Leonardo Manko turn in. What happened?" Could it have been just down to this, or is there more?

FABLES #160 (OF 162) CVR A CORINNE REID (MR)
(W) Bill Willingham (A) Mark Buckingham – Steve Leialoha (CA) Corinne Reid
A storm rages outside the Last Story Home. A long-overdue battle plays out in the wind and rain…Bigby Wolf and Peter Pan have finally come face-to-face. But while these two deliver their deadly blows, an even greater threat has found its way into the Wolf cabin, putting Snow and her children at risk! Retail: $3.99 In-Store Date: 10/10/2023

FABLES #161 (OF 162) CVR A CORINNE REID (MR)
(W) Bill Willingham (A) Mark Buckingham (CA) Corinne Reid
In this penultimate issue, with the lives of the inhabitants of the Black Forest on the line, Peter Pan and Herne enter a bloody battle that will bring both to their knees. But when Tinker Bell comes to the aid of her beaten boss, she'll unleash an unimaginable fury, and there's no telling who will live and who will die. Retail: $3.99 In-Store Date: 11/14/2023

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