Fables Creator Bill Willingham at Austin Books and Comics Friday

This Friday, June 17th from 3-7 pm, Austin Books and Comics will host the 14 Eisner award-winning creator of Fables for comic signing and fan meeting. Fables tells the tale of folklore and fairy tale’s greatest personalities, all driven from their different worlds by a great foe, the Adversary, and living in a suspiciously hard to find block in Manhattan, called Fabletown. The story smartly modernizes these characters by putting them in a context somewhere past the last page of their stories, or the Disney-version of “happily ever after.” For instance, Prince Charming has been divorced by all three of his destined loves, but does manage to charm his way through a campaign and into office (sound familiar?) for a little while, anyhow.

For those not familiar with the well-written (Willingham), exceptionally drawn (Buckinham) series, Friday would be as good a day as any to start. The comic also featured the mindblowing cover art of James Jean (until episode 81) and has spawned other series and even a book.

Fables has been running since 2002, and there has been no word on an end date. ABC has announced that they will have a run at a pilot, a fact that true fans treat with apprehension (as Willingham has not yet become openly involved). But if it becomes the next Walking Dead, you better get a leg up now, so you can scoff at everything they got just ohmigod, so wrong.