Fables, the long-running Vertigo series by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and many others, will make its return later this year and in 2022 with several new projects.
First, September brings Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham, a six-issue miniseries featuring Fables’ resident detective, Bigby Wolf, teaming up with Batman for a case in Gotham. It will be released under DC’s Black Label imprint. Willingham will work with Brain Level, Jay Leisten, and Lee Loughridge on the project.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the very first year of Fables,” Willingham said. “Why? Because Batman is a detective, and Bigby is a detective, and I love a well-crafted story crossing over characters from two different fictional worlds. It’s automatically a fish-out-of-water story for at least one of the main characters, and that sort of story always works. Plus, I knew from the very beginning of Fables that my fictional universe would allow for many ways to get Bigby Wolf into the DCU and Gotham City. Even though those cosmic story structures wouldn’t be introduced in the Fables books for a year or more, they were baked in from the very beginning.”
In 2022 — the 20th anniversary of Fables — the creative team of Willingham, Buckingham, Leialoha, colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Todd Klein will reunite for Fables #151, which picks up after Fables #150, the series’ final issue that came out in July of 2015. The story’s titled ‘The Black Forest” and will run for 12 issues. Here’s the cover:
“We introduce a great new character and catch up with many of our most beloved characters from the previous issues,” Willingham said. “Mark Buckingham has agreed to draw all 12 issues of this tale, and I believe he’s doing the best work of his career. Yes, I know I’ve said that several times before, but can I help it if he keeps getting better and better?”
Finally, DC announced Cursemas, a 48-page standalone holiday special written by Willingham featuring the Justice League. No release date was given.
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