Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

A small fragment of Fables history.

Peter and Max is a prose novel set in the Fables universe. I wrote a Fables prose novel for many reasons, among which is it would have taken too many issues if I’d tried to do it as comics. The Pied Piper of Hamlin was and remains my favorite fairytale villain and I wasn’t going to waste him in a small story — therefore the novel.

I tried to design a cover for the novel, seen above. But DC wasn’t interested. Just like when I offered many possible Fables comic logos, they didn’t like it when writers stepped out of their assigned categories. “We hire graphic designers to create logos,” they said. “Do you have a graphic design degree?” No, I don’t. Case closed. I assume my cover idea, never responded to, fell within the same policies.

I’m not that bitter, but constantly chagrined. The book turned out quite nicely. The folks who compute the publication costs gave me my choice of a bookmark ribbon or deckled pages. I chose the deckled pages for aesthetic and historical reasons. I have one copy of the book that has both. Memory fades, but I assume it was created to help me decide.