I approached the writing of my story for Fables #100 with considerable trepidation.

I had, more by accident than design, written a strip for House of Mystery a year earlier, to which Bill Willingham had added the finishing touches, but this would be my first time writing solo for DC. Add to that the fact that I hadn't written prose professionally before and, as you can imagine, the whole thing felt pretty daunting.

My initial plan had been to create an Agatha Christie style mystery but, as I began to write, it soon became apparent that it would be too complex a tale to fit in just a few pages.

I eventually found the subject for the story, a tale of Pinocchio and Geppetto, amongst a collection of plot ideas for the regular series I had sent to Bill and editor Shelly Bond a year earlier. It had an ending that had always existed crystal clear in my mind. So I unashamedly stole it back and with it found the confidence I needed to write.

I must admit I was nervous as to what Bill and Shelly would think of my story. It was a huge honor to be allowed the opportunity to write for Fables and I didn’t want to disappoint.

Shelly was delighted and invested a lot of time in helping me refine it. Thankfully Bill not only liked it but responded with a fantastic set of illustrations. His full page splash of Geppetto is my favorite, perfectly capturing the pivitol moment in the tale. It was an incredible experience and a joy to see Bill bring my words to life.

Mark Buckingham

SOME USEFUL CONSTRUCTION TIPS

Hello faithfully Fables readers!

Mark Buckingham, regular series artist, here with a few helpful hints on how to assemble my Paper Puppet Theatre which comes as an extra in FABLES #100.

The FABLES Paper Puppet Theatre was an idea I had been developing for a while, but when plans began to take shape, back in the Summer of 2009, for FABLES #100 it seemed like a perfect extra for our one hundred page anniversary special.

THEATRE ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1
I highly recommend you glue all six pages, or good color photocopies, on to a thick paper or card stock.

Step 2
Cut around each of the Theatre pieces (A1, A2, B, C, D and E ) carefully following the solid blue outlines.

Step 3
Fold the side panels of the Theatre (parts B and C) along the dotted lines, as shown in the photo below. If you have used a thick card to mount the pages on, you may find it necessary to score along the dotted lines first to help you bend them into shape.

Step 4
The Theatre comes with two title banners (parts A1 and A2 ). I thought it might be fun to give you a choice between the original and more recent styles of Fables logo. Pick your favorite, add a spot of glue on the front of each tab, and adhere to the back (at the top edge) of the main curtains on parts B and C.

Step 5
Now glue the tabs on the side panels (B and C) to the back edges of a back drop (D or E). Two alternatives are included in the theatre, the Farm (D) and the Business office (E).

Step 6
Which ever you choose, the remaining back drop can be slid in front of the other to create an alternative scene for your characters to inhabit.
The theatre’s side panels (B and C) feature two further mini backdrops, one of Castle Dark and the other of Wolf Manor, to give you additional locations to stage your stories.

FIGURE ASSEMBLY

Step 1
As with the theatre parts, cut carefully around each character following the solid blue outline.

Step 2
Fold back the tabs along the dotted line to stand up.
If you find they keep falling over, try bending the figures back slightly, as shown in the photo below. This helps to better distribute the weight over the tabs for improved balance.

Congratulations! Your FABLES Paper Puppet Theatre is finished and the cast are ready to perform. Re-enact your favorite Fables stories or invent brand new ones!

Have fun building your Theatre!

Mark Buckingham

(Photo credit: Irma Page)

The WITCHES story arc of FABLES was enormous fun.

Firstly, it gave us a chance to focus on the Witches, previously residents of the thirteenth floor of the Woodland building in Fabletown, and chart important changes in the life of Frau Totenkinder. It also saw a plot line I had suggested begin to take shape in the lives of Beauty and Beast.

More importantly for me, however, was the opportunity to discover what became of the Business Office after it disappeared into limbo midway through the Dark Ages story.

Why?

Well simply because it allowed me five whole issues to indulge my love of drawing Bufkin, Frankie, the Magic Mirror, and all the terrifying creatures trapped with them.

As is often the case for me with my ongoing work on FABLES, if I know in advance that particular characters are to be prominent in a new story, I take advantage of that to re-examine the way I draw them. So for WITCHES I produced new model sheets for Bufkin and Frankie, as well as designs for a fully restored Baba Yaga. You’ll see my initial sketches for her below.

For Bufkin I choose to go slightly simpler and more cartoony to make him more expressive. I’m always happiest drawing the animals in FABLES and I spent a lot of time refining the way I draw him for this story.

With Frankie, Bill Willingham had expressed a desire to give him a headshape slightly closer to a classic movie Frankenstein, whilst maintaining all the distinctive elements from his previous appearances as designed by Tony Akins.

I had originally intended to create a series of full page Business office backgrounds for WITCHES that I could reuse where appropriate over the story arc. The only one I actually used was for page one. It was drawn only slightly larger than print size and with my home made zip tones used to add shading. My tones are created by enlarging a piece of newsprint photo until they degrade into an irregular dot screen, giving a slightly more organic feel than commercial zip tones.

I had so much fun drawing all the elements in the business office, and Bill’s scripts moved us around the office so much, that it simple proved unnecessary to repeat any backgrounds. Which suited me fine. I loved drawing all this stuff from scratch!

WITCHES ranks high in my list of personal favorites and I was particularly happy with the final episode.

I hope you’ll love it too!

Mark Buckingham

No, this isn’t a FABLES 101 primer about all that is wonderful and fantastic about the world(s) of FABLES. But it is set to be a terrific issue as we check in with Bufkin (one of my favorite characters), Frankie and Magic Mirror in the lost Business Office to see what they’ve been up to since battling Baba Yaga. FABLES 101 is written by the fabulous Bill Willingham with art by Eric Shanower and Richard Friend.

Cover by Joao Ruas