Nice…

As of now, 15th September 2023, the comic book property called Fables, including all related Fables spin-offs and characters, is now in the public domain. What was once wholly owned by Bill Willingham is now owned by everyone, for all time.

It’s the result of strong dissatisfaction with the publisher DC comics…

The one thing in our contract the DC lawyers can’t contest, or reinterpret to their own benefit, is that I am the sole owner of the intellectual property. I can sell it or give it away to whomever I want. I chose to give it away to everyone.

His Substack has the full details about his giving away a best-selling, long-running and Eisner Award-winning property, which Comic Book Treasury summarises as…

The series is about people from fairy tales and folklore who really exist in magical realms, but they were forced out of their worlds by The Adversary… and now live in exile in ours!

A sample page…

The already existing comics volumes themselves (at least 22 collected trade editions) are presumably not public domain, due to the involvement of others in their making. I assume it’s the formerly Bill Willingham-owned IP (characters, costumes, names, powers, world, storylines, backstory, settings) which is now freely usable. There’s a handy 256-page Encyclopedia for the series.