New Fables Update

In which the first books of the new run exist.

The first of the new Fables issues has been printed and my copies arrived yesterday. The notion of doing more with Fables was conceived of and dragged into existence by Mark Doyle, in order to celebrate its 20th anniversary. So give him credit if you think it was a good idea, and if not, I’ll take the blame for being talked into it.

Seriously though, I think it’s a pretty good 12 issue story, made better by getting the old team back together. Masterful Mark Buckingham drew it, turning in pages beyond my hopes and dreams. Stellar Steve Leialoha inked it. Lofty Lee Loughridge colored it. And, never last nor least, Titanic Todd Klein lettered it.

Here’s what the first issue (actually issue # 151) looks like:

The above cover was painted by Qistina Khalidah, introducing one of our new characters: Jack in the Green, which turns out to be as much a title as a proper name. It might not show up well in the photo, but that’s some fancy foil printing on the logo.

And here, above, is a variant cover by Mark Buckingham, introducing two more of the new characters one will meet in this story: Mrs. Bear and Squire Polly. Oddly, all of Mark’s covers arrive directly, appearing as if by magic from my local fairytale woods, as you can see in this photo.

And look! Yet another wondrous variant cover by J Totino Tedesco. Look how he lovingly evokes the very first Fables cover without attempting to copy it. And what new character is he introducing here? A man named Nunya Bizniz!

Fables 151 goes on sale on May 17th (at least according to my often-fallible sources), so do please consider buying one copy for yourself, one for your best friend, and one for your worst enemy (who will naturally think you’re trying to mend fences with him, and be all the more unprepared and surprised when you finally strike).