Bill Willingham Returns to the Drawing Board in ‘Fables’ #100

It's hard enough to believe it's already been 50 months since the last "Burning Questions" issue of Fables (whereby reader questions are answered in the form of original short stories), much less 100 months since the debut of the superlative Vertigo series. But it is time once again to celebrate a new touchstone in the Bill Willingham series, and Vertigo is doing so in style. On sale next month, Fables #100 includes not just the epic, 62-page climax of the Mister Dark storyline, but also games, cut-out muppets, and supporting features by some auspicious guest creators like Dave Johnson, Adam Hughes and J.H. Williams III -- including a story illustrated by Willingham himself.As confirmed this week on Vertigo's Graphic Content blog, Fables #100 features a 62-page main story written by Bill Willingham with artwork by series mainstays Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy. As promised by Willingham at Comic-Con International 2009, he will return to the drawing board to for a Fables story written by Mark Buckingham, reversing their traditional roles on the book. That piece will finally appear in Fables #100, in the form of a ten-page prose story by Buckingham with illustrations by Willingham. The Fables creator's last major work as an artist was 1999's Proposition Player, also published by Vertigo actually DC's Shadowpact circa 2005.

In addition to the 62-page lead story and ten-page illustrated prose piece, Fables #100 will also feature:

• A set of do-it-yourself Fables puppet theater illustrated by Mark Buckingham

• A three-page story written by Willingham with art by Cinderella artist Chrissie Zullo

• A three-page story written by Willingham with art by Fables cover artist Joao Ruas

• A two-page Fables board game, illustrated by Buckingham, with game rules by Willingham

• Four celebrity "Burning Questions" stories, all written by Willingham, featuring questions from some of your favorite actors who are also Fables fans! These "Burning Questions" are illustrated by top-flight artists including Adam Hughes, J.H. Williams III and Dave Johnson.

Fables #100 goes on sale December 8 from Vertigo.