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It was one of the most beloved comics series of the aughts, with a 150-issue run, a highly regarded video game, multiple awards and even its own convention. And just in time for its 20th anniversary, Fables is coming back….to a very different world where its author’s politics (and the book’s not so subtle expression of it) is being heavily scrutinized.

But let’s get the news out of the way first: Fables is back! Bill Willingham’s exploration of Fabletown, where characters from legend and public domain mingle and fight will pick up where it left off in 2015, with not one but SEVERAL Black Label series, including a team-up with Batman that brings the story into the DCU, and Fables #151, the start of a 12-issue run which will reunite the team of Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Lee Louridge and Todd Klein.

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First, on sale in September, Batman vs. Bigby! A Wolf in Gotham sees Fables’s infamous sleuth Bigby Wolf go head-to-head with the world’s greatest detective, Batman, in this six-issue spinoff miniseries from DC Black Label. Written by Bill Willingham with pencils by Brian Level, inks by Jay Leisten, and colors by Lee Loughridge, this crossover detective story will delight fans of both Batman and Fables—or fans who just love a good noir mystery.

“I’ve wanted to do this since the very first year of Fables,” says writer Bill Willingham. “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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Then, on sale the first week of May 2022, the main story line continues with Fables #151—just in time for the 20th anniversary of Fables #1. Fables #151 is the first installment of “The Black Forest,” a 12-issue arc that picks up where the story left off in Fables #150, and is also a perfect jumping-on point for new readers. The series also reunites the core creative team, with pencils by Mark Buckingham, inks by Steve Leialoha, colors by Lee Loughridge, and letters by Todd Klein.

“We introduce a great new character and catch up with many of our most beloved characters from the previous issues,” says writer and creator Bill Willingham. “Mark Buckingham has agreed to draw all twelve 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?”

Bill Willingham’s return to DC will also include Cursemas, a 48-page standalone holiday special featuring the Justice League. 

That’s great, right? Fables ran from 2002 to 2015, yielding 22 best-selling collections, winning 14 Eisner Awards, and in general being one of the most “beloved” books of the era. How beloved? It even had its own convention, FablesCon, organized by Willingham in 2013 and attended by about 400 people, including a bunch of comics luminaries. It was, by all accounts, a wonderful time for all.

But now, creator Willingham’s politics — which he often injected not so subtly into the book — is being scrutinized, along with his some of his more questionable actions along the way. Willingham has never been shy about his conservative politics, although in the naive bipartisan paradise of 2002, liberals and conservatives working on a comic together wasn’t as much of a political statement as it is now. In particular, a pro-Israel storyline and an anti-abortion statement from Snow White were among the more obvious expressions in the pages of Fables. In 2009, Willingham wrote an essay for the conservative site Breitbart complaining about “superhero decadence,”  which could be a blueprint for some of the more strident comics culture wars that followed — and stirred up a storm of controversy at the time.

Willingham’s Wikipedia page quotes him as being “rabidly pro Israel,” a quote from an interview that seems to be lost to time. However he was open about it in a 2007 interview with the AV Club:

The Israel analogy, probably at the time I was writing that, I thought it would be controversial, because just the mention of Israel in any context is a hot-button issue. But once again, I thought even the people upset that that analogy was used understood the analogy. Bigby made his point of the little guy with vast forces arrayed against him. Some wackos online who don’t sign their name to what they write have said that I’m a mouthpiece for Israeli propaganda, and things like that. A paid mouthpiece, which would be wonderful. I haven’t gotten any pay yet, but if any of my Israeli commanders are listening, the checks arriving would be a nice thing. So, yeah, the controversy on that didn’t surprise me, the Israel thing. A little more heated than I expected, but then most things are.

AVC: You’ve said in the past interviews that you’re unequivocally pro-Israel. Do you think of Fables as communicating a political message, or as being persuasive in any way?

BW: No, I actually thought that that would be the best example in politics today to use as an example. Maybe my fondness for Israel helped in deciding that that was a good example to use, but no, Fables is not didactic in any way. At least, not intentionally. I don’t expect people to read that issue, bop themselves in the head, and say, “Oh my God, I’ve been so stupid about my politics in Middle Eastern affairs. I’m going to change my tune right now, because, Bigby would want me to.” I don’t expect anything like that, and I wouldn’t put that line in almost any other character’s mouth, just because I couldn’t imagine other characters thinking along those lines. Whereas Bigby was a guy who we’ve already established that historically, he went to war several times, and was involved in World War I and II. He would be the type of character who would think along those lines.

And then there was this:

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So rather than a joyous, open-armed reunion, comics Twitter came out with a strong “read the room, DC!” reaction, and the general realization that what could be overlooked in 2007 is not acceptable now. 

In some ways it’s like a comics version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer — something once lauded as progressive that must be reassessed in light of revelations about the people behind the stories.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out as the press tour for all this rolls on. On a business level, DC bringing back one of its greatest hits of the early century (one that seemed to have the steam to run indefinitely) is impressive…but also going back to that well again and again. As revealed in some previews at Screen Rant, it sure is pretty.

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But the ongoing discourse about this book and Willingham’s politics is likely to be anything but pretty. 

20 COMMENTS

  1. “the general realization that what could be overlooked in 2007 is not acceptable now”.

    It’s interesting to me how this article (and the linked commenters) question/s whether this project should even exist because the the author’s politics or moral beliefs don’t line up with their own. Oh the luxury of being a liberal and consuming mainstream entertainment. If you’re of a conservative mind, you’d be questioning like 95%+ of the projects and creators if you took this stance.

  2. Did this author just come out and declare that anyone who is pro Isreal, the one Jewish state in the world, should not be allowed to voice their opinions?

    I am going to guess we will get this exact article from an entire “network” of people.

  3. Wow, right-wing snowflakes are really touchy, aren’t they? Someone writes a piece that suggests Willingham’s views will get more of a reaction now than they did in the ’00s and apparently its a demand for him to be silenced.

  4. Hard pass. Frankly, it always surprised me that people used to recommend this series to female readers, given the politics that were not-so-subtly being espoused.

  5. There’s a big difference between questioning how a project will be received — and reporting on the initial response — and questioning its right to exist.

  6. I’ve liked Willingham’s art ever since his illustrations for the Dungeons & Dragons games 40 years ago, but the Israel stuff isn’t even his most glaringly out-of-place moment. That was when he had the plot of The Elementals abruptly stop for one issue just so he could have them go fight Saddam Hussein!

  7. Twitter is one of the worst venues to gauge what the public things of something, because only a minority of Americans are on Twitter to start with (it is by far the smallest in terms of DAU of any of the big social media platforms) and it only attracts the most diehard people on either side. 99% of the people who walk through a comic shop today will not know, nor care what Bill Willingham thinks of Israel. Comic companies should not be trying to run their company based on Twitter feedback, that is the path to bankruptcy. I could care less about Fables coming back or Willingham’s politics, but I find this idea that somehow Comics Twitter is a good barometer for how a project will be received to be one of the most ridiculous ideas I have read on this site in some time.

  8. Poor Shelly Roberg (Bond now), steps into one of her first editorial jobs, Elementals Vol 2 and imediately has to put out a fire in the letter columns page when Bill replying to why he wasn’t drawing the book is not someone’s “art n…”. It was repulsive them and aged even worse.

    He’s entitled his beliefs no matter how odious they are, but like Dave Sim (or any conservative) he keeps insisting on poking the proverbial bear and crying victim. You know how you won’t get backlash, don’t be an antagonistic POS While I can understand the complaints of Chuck Austen’s art being a drop off from Mike Leeke he could have been classier dealing with it.

    Regarding Fab,es, hard pass the book overstayed its welcome the first time.

  9. Oliver, that issue of Elementals was comically bad, let’s interrupt the Oblivion War which was supposed to be the final storyline to have the four hero’s fight Saddam Hussein? It fits the Andrew Rev Comico era, but what a waste. Great Adam Hughes cover though.

  10. Ha ha ha, I’d forgotten Adam Hughes drew that!

    Anyway… if these new scripts have Bigby going on about what a wonderful strong leader Netanyahu is, now would be a good time for Willingham to rewrite them!

  11. You are insidious!
    “although in the naive bipartisan paradise of 2002, liberals and conservatives working on a comic together wasn’t as much of a political statement as it is now”!
    THATS WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE (those who don’t live on Twitter) DO!
    This article shows why journalists are respected even less than politicians! A writer, who’s characters interjected conservative political statements a couple of times over 13yrs, is a problem.
    Most liberals & conservatives don’t live on Twitter and they get along. Your insane SJW cult, who targets people who have different opinions than their own, are so oblivious to your fascistic, totalitarian actions! You seek to target people and absolutely ruin them because your currency in 2021 is hatred & collecting scalps from people you ruin.
    You see, Willingham (and most conservatives) could care less what your beliefs are, how you identify, and believe you’re protected by the Bill of Rights & Constitution as well. SJW/liberals on the other hand, dehumanize those that think differently than them, they’re convinced of their own moral superiority & don’t believe that conservatives have a right to exist & function with the same liberties they have.
    You are what Orwell warmed about!
    I hope you’re never treated the way you treated Bill Willingham.

  12. I could care less about the man’s politics. The story telling was solid and the art fantastic on the original works. I’ll be picking it all up as a long term comic fan who likes good art and interesting stories.

  13. Every once in a while an article from this rag makes it on to my timeline and reminds me why I should never come here.

  14. This is going to be great. Can’t wait to read it. Any more comics you want to attack and get closed down?

  15. geohaber: Snow White’s berating of the doctor that gently suggests that abortion is an option is in issue 19. More interesting is an extremely subtle conversation in issue 60 that reveals Frau Totenkinder (the witch from Hansel & Gretel) now gets her powers from the blood of aborted babies.(It’s easy to miss if you’re not reading it carefully.)

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