Wed Jun 18, 2008 — by Rick Marshall

Bill Willingham on New 'Fables' Graphic Novel and Rudyard Kipling

What do Mowgli and Little Boy Blue have in common?

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)

Be the first person to comment!