In something that is admittedly a bit of a shock to read, it looks like the last high-numbered DC/Vertigo title is coming to a close next year. In advance of the big exclusives on other websites, Bill Willingham wrote on his own site about the end of the book and the decision to bring it to a close — because he’s retiring.
After more than ten years of publication, and hundreds of issues of Fables, and various Fables-related works, I have decided the time has come to begin the process of bringing our sweeping story to a close. And, along the way, I’ve decided to retire from a great deal of my comics work.
Retirement in the storytelling trade means, still working and writing every day, but being a bit more selective in what projects I take on. Pushing 60, I thought it would be a good time to start making concrete plans for those remaining good writing years.
Fables will end with Issue 150, which will be a larger than usual size, as were many of the other milestone issues. Fairest, our companion series, will also come to an end just before the big final Fables issue.
There’s a quote from Mark Buckingham as well:
I respect Bill’s decision and am looking forward to working with him on the book’s epic final year, leading to the series’ grand finale.
Seeing the book go will be odd. As mentioned, it is the highest numbered comic under the DC/Vertigo roof, having outlasted “Hellblazer” getting cancelled. And with its leaving, the days of the Old Vertigo are officially done — in with the new, out with the old, not including this new Sandman comic which straddles the line. For better or for worse and no matter if you read the book or not, it’s a major end of an era for that side of comics.
It’ll be odd for me personally because “Fables” is one book that I can’t remember not reading since getting back into comics in my formative years. I have opinions on the quality of the current storyline as all fans surely do, but I imagined always reading “Fables” in the same way that I always read Spider-Man; for a book that doesn’t feature any superheroes or anything of that sort, it was clearly a book that had legs when it kept pushing past the “natural” end point of the main story around issue #75 (I think).
I’ll be very sad to see it go, but it’ll be interesting to see how the story wraps up. “Fables” #137 hits in January, so without double-shipping you can probably expect to see #150 in January of 2015.
