Bill Willingham says ‘Fables’ is now in the public domain; DC says ‘Nope’

Willingham severs ties with the publisher with extreme prejudice.

Citing ongoing problems in working with DC Comics, Fables writer Bill Willingham has said he is releasing Fables into the public domain.

The quick version:

  • On Sept. 14, Willingham sent out on a press release on his Substack saying that as of Sept. 15, “the comic book property called Fables, including all related Fables spin-offs and characters, is now in the public domain.”
  • Willingham followed the next day with another post where he interviewed himself, citing problems he’s had with DC in recent years and saying “DC doesn’t seem to be capable of acting fairly and above-board.”
  • DC responded with their own statement, saying that they own Fables and that the company “reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.”

So what’s this all about? Let’s break it down …

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‘Fables’ returns from DC Black Label for a crossover + a new 12-issue run

Bigby Wolf will meet Batman in a six-issue series this September as ‘Fables’ returns for a 12-issue run next May.

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.”

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Comics Lowdown | UCS will no longer distribute DC Comics starting in January

Plus: News on Terrific Production, Archie Comics, Rebellion, L.A. Comic-Con and more.

Distributors: UCS Comics Distributors, one of the two comics distributors that began working with DC Comics during the COVID-19 industry shutdown earlier this year, has told retailers they will no longer distribute DC’s books as of January 2021. Their accounts will be serviced by Lunar Distribution, the other distributor for DC that came into being during the pandemic. UCS was formed by retailer Midtown Comics, while Lunar was formed by Discount Comic Book Service.

So is UCS going away? Not according to the email they sent to retailers, which you can read over at The Beat. It says “UCS is not closing. We will be offering other exciting items that stores can use!” So it’ll be interesting to see what they offer in the future. John Jackson Miller has additional commentary.

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