Bill Willingham on New ‘Fables’ Graphic Novel and Rudyard Kipling
While Fables creator Bill Willingham is keeping mum about the details surrounding his next original graphic novel set in the Fables universe, he recently mentioned that the first half of the mysterious project was written in the shadow of another famous fantasy scribe: Rudyard Kipling.
According to ReadExpress.com:
"I wrote the first half of it … in the same room, on the same desk, that Kipling invented Mowgli and ‘The Jungle Book.’ I stayed at the Kipling mansion in Vermont, which might have been the two most wonderful weeks of my life," said Willingham. "I think the greatest problem of my time there was the time lost when I just sat there like a dumb idiot saying to myself, ‘Woah, look at where I am.’"
Willingham cautioned not to expect too much of that Kipling inspiration to bleed into the storyline, however.
"The book was outlined pretty rigidly before I got there, so I couldn’t really deviate much, but I definitely wrote one scene in there as a nod to where I was and what my circumstances were."
Willingham goes on to describe his storytelling approach toward many of the characters in his Fables universe, as well as his approach to creating stories with the full collection in mind rather than single issues.
Finally, the writer had this to say about his dealings with the movie industry and Fables‘ long-rumored turn on the big screen:
"My brushes with Hollywood have all been so completely surreal," he said. "I have no idea how anything, even the smallest possible thing, can get made in that town. There has been a growing realization that anything makes it to become a TV show or a movie is some sort of bizarre miracle. Boy, do those people love taking meetings!"
(via Journalista)
Comics just keep popping up in new and unexpected places. To wit: Financial publication Portfolio has posted a webcomic of sorts that 
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Kids, it’s been a rough six months for me. Well no, I take that back, it hasn’t. I should start off by saying that I’ve had a lot of advantages to take me through my most recent period of unemployment. I was eligible to collect over $300 a week in unemployment insurance (thank you, FDR!). My former job kept me on COBRA so I also had health insurance, of which I took full advantage during my involuntary extended vacation to get all my medical and dental check-ups out of the way. The premiums rose considerably a couple months ago, but the unemployment payments (which ran out two weeks ago) helped a lot, as long as Robin took care of the rent and bills. Which he did, as fortunately he’s been employed during the entire time (thank you, DC Comics!). Plus, my mom has been there to help out when I’ve needed it.
Born in 1957, Hilary Barta began his comic book career in 1982 when he was hired at Marvel to help ink The Defenders #108. In 1984 he moved to First Comics to ink Warp, and slowly graduated to penciling as well. In 1988, after work for Eclipse, Marvel, and First, Barta launched both Marvel’s What The—?! and DC’s Plastic Man.
So you were pleasantly surprised at The Incredible Hulk, and you still can’t shake that ending to Battlestar: Galactica. There is nothing better to do than plunge on with this week’s latest batch of new comics and DVDs, plus: 
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Sixty years ago next year, the remnants of the Fleischer Studio teamed up with the folks at St. John Comics (Tor, Three Stooges, and the original 3-D comics) to create Casper The Friendly Ghost #1. It lasted five issues. Paramount, owners of the Fleischer operation, took the license over to Harvey Comics and a legend floated off the ground.
