Bill Willingham, the creator of the Fables universe, which is also the setting for Telltale Games’ memorable adventure game The Wolf Among Us, has now released his own work so that – in his interpretation, in theory – anyone can now make The Wolf Among Us. Of course, it’s not quite that simple…

Willingham made the announcement in a long post on Substack. The post begins, “Starting September 15, 2023, the Fables comic book universe, along with all of its spin-offs and characters, will be available to the public. It’s already happened, and as most pundits will tell you, once something happens, it can’t be undone.

Willingham has several reasons for this fundamentally unusual move. He explains that “ideas about reforming U.S. trademark and copyright law have undergone a radical transformation. He argues that the current system is “nothing more than a hodgepodge of unethical backroom deals designed to keep trademarks and copyrights in the hands of big business.

One of the main reasons for this is Willingham’s dissatisfaction with DC Comics. He criticizes both the company’s handling of his Fables universe and its interpretation of its own copyright contract. He says: “When I first signed with DC Comics, the company was run by honest and decent people. In that time, those people have left or been fired and have now been replaced by strangers with no integrity.

In his post, Willingham lists several specific problems with DC regarding Telltale’s adaptation of its Fables universe. He claims that DC’s own lawyers admit that their copyright contract “allows for an interpretation that they can do as they please,” adding, “They have no obligation to protect its value and integrity, either to themselves or to third parties.

Compensation is also a critical issue. Willingham claims that DC initially promised that “the Fables royalties owed to Telltale Games would be paid to him,” but later backtracked and offered the promised amount as a “consulting fee,” avoiding acknowledging that it was owed to him.

Willingham sees publicizing the Fables universe as “asymmetrical warfare” and an alternative to suing DC Comics, which he says he cannot afford and is unwilling to spend years doing. He says that making the Fables universe public will allow it to “fall into the right hands when it could not be kept out of the wrong hands.

Overall, this means that anyone should be free to create their own Fables works, although Willingham cautions that “copyright laws are very complicated, deliberately confusing, and vague. He is still bound to DC Comics by his own contract, which means he cannot create or license new Fables works without DC’s permission.

As for The Wolf Among Us, the situation is unclear. The original Telltale Games created the first season of the series almost a decade ago, and since then the company has collapsed, but has been resurrected as LGC Entertainment. That studio is currently working on a sequel, which was recently delayed until 2024 because of concerns about “protecting the health of the development team”, which was not the case at the original studio.

Source: PC Gamer