Checking In...

Hello? Is this thing on?

I haven’t been here in some time, and typically (for me at least) didn’t realize it until some helpful soul in a note that crossed my path, mentioned I’d been absent from Substack since the big thing where I made Fables public domain. While I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to post here in the next three or four months, I will try to do better.

Look! It’s an image from my new funny book series Fire and Ice, on sale now, and on sale soon again, as the other issues come out.

Why have I been and will continue to be largely absent from this place?

I’m deep in the writing hole, working on perhaps the largest, most complex single project I’ve ever attempted. Yes, Fables (for example) ended up being a huge undertaking, but it was done one issue at a time, and in the early days at least, like many comics projects which had come before, I expected Fables to be cancelled at any moment.

This project however is/will be a done-in-one prose novel for/with a wickedly good publisher. I won’t be able to talk in detail about it for some time, but I’ve made plans to attend two big conventions next year, when I will be able to talk about it.

First, in March of next year I plan to attend MegaCon (Fates permitting, in the form of a wait-listed spot opening up) in Orlando, Florida. Since when did you have to plan to attend the bigger conventions two years in advance? I usually don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow, much less two years away.

Then I plan to attend next year’s (2025) Dragon Con in Atlanta. This appearance is a bit more firm, in that they invited me, so I don’t have to wait for a slot to open up.

Why two conventions in the same area of these United States? No particular reason, except I’ve never done MegaCon, and have long wanted to, and my one time attending Dragon Con was so long ago that it could be said to still have been in its infancy (that was the time I got stuck in a broken elevator for an hour with Frank Gorshin, which is a funny story, with twists and turns).

And I like taking driving trips of a certain distance, and these two venues fit the bill nicely.

In any case, that’s where and when I’ll be able to talk about the latest big thing to my heart’s content.

What’s happened since we last spoke about the big “Fables Into the Public Domain” kerfuffle?

Not much and quite a lot.

Last year I placed Fables irrevocably into the public domain. Since then several experts in the public domain have appeared to helpfully inform me (often not directly, but through public postings) that “I can’t do it that way,” or “I did it all wrong,” and variations thereof. I’m no lawyer, or expert in laws pertaining to the public domain, as many of them claim to be, but, so far, in every case they cite, they’ve discussed the important business of protecting an intellectual property in order to keep it from falling into the public domain. Not one of them could speak to any case law of what is required for a property owner to willfully and purposely place his property into the public domain.

I suspect they couldn’t cite such case law, because there isn’t any (or so little and so obscure it’s managed to elude all of us).

I suspect this is new territory. To paraphrase the famous judge, who said something like, “Extreme cases make for bad law,” I’ve learned that a unique case like this makes for angry experts.

So then, with that said, what’s the current status?

Fables, the comic book series created and owned by me, published (so far) by DC Comics, is still in the public domain, and that will never change. There’s no take-backs. It’s owned by you and me, and every other one of the eight billion or so people in this world.

But didn’t DC claim they own it? Yes, in the one ill-thought out response they gave to some comics news site’s question, they did emphatically claim they would come down heavy on anyone who tried to republish their existing Fables stories (which may happen — as I said, this is all new stuff we’re dealing with). They also claimed to be the owners of Fables, which is not only a lie, but a bold-faced lie. Their own indicia, printed in every copy of Fables ever produced, admits I am (was) the sole owner of the property. Now everyone owns it, and everyone always will. End of story.

Okay, sure, I suppose since the individuals working at DC are part of the eight billion owners of Fables, they do own it, but only insofar as everyone does. They don’t exclusively own it the way I did, before I gave it away.

What then is DC’s plan?

Who knows? I doubt they do, in the sense that they haven’t yet established an official policy on how to deal with this. Their one statement (mentioned above) was their only statement to date on the matter. In the months that followed, no one working at DC, nor any of their parent companies, has ever once broached the matter with me. They’ve been silent. While I suspect I know why they’ve been silent, it would only be speculation, so mum for now.

I do note, with mild amusement, in the latest (and last ever, at least from me) Fables hardback collection: Fables: The Black Forest (out soon, or already out, depending on when you read this), for the first time they didn’t ask me or let me provide a dedication for the collection. Was it because my dedication would have been the following: This last ever Fables story (from me) is dedicated to the eight billion new owners of Fables. I’m excited to see what you do with it.

Moving on, I note that quite a few new subscribers have joined this site since I last checked in. Welcome, all of you, and I’m glad you joined us. I hope you find this place, and the time you spend here, worthwhile.

What’s likely to show up here in the future? First of all, there will be Fables-in-the-public-domain updates as they occur. There will be art. When I’m done with the current huge project, I plan to be here more often, at which time I’ll show you some of the other stuff coming down the pike.¹

Since I’m tired unto death answering some of the same questions, over and over again, about the long-departed Elementals comic series, I will be creating a frequently-updated Elementals FAQ here. This will happen someday, when I have the time.

Oddly enough, since the Fables era came to an end, I’ve been getting more work and more offers of work than ever before. I’m in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose what I want to do with the remainder of my storytelling career. Given enough time I plan to do more comics work (including drawing), and more prose writing.

I doubt I’ll ever get drawn into doing more TV and movie work for Hollywood (that black hole of greed and need and angry indecision). What’s that you say? You’ve not heard of any TV and movie work from me? No, you haven’t, because nothing I did will ever get made. One or two things came close, but nope. Nothing. Nor can I speak about any of it in good faith, since I promised to keep things on the down low, until such time as they became something ready to announce. But since things that will never get made will never become ready to announce, our secrets remain.

Have you seen this yet?

What else do you want to know?

1. Coming down the pike is a euphemism for coming ‘round the bend, which is a euphemism for coming soon, which is a euphemism for coming someday, if’n the creek don’t rise.