Surprise, surprise… another Vertigo comic book series has been optioned for the screen. This time it is Bill Willingham’s Eisner Award-winning Fables that is about to get adapted, with the small screen being the target platform and ABC being the network that will produce it. Fables revolves around a fictional community in New York City known as “Fabletown”, where characters from various fairy tales are re-envisioned as real people interacting with the rest of Manhattan. This isn’t some family-friendly Shrek knockoff though — like other Vertigo comics, the stories are edgy and adult-oriented (the first 5 issues, for example, involve an investigation into the murder of Snow White’s sister Rose Red).

The TV series is being developed by Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner, creators of Six Degrees, who are currently writing a script for the pilot. (I feel I should also point out that these guys co-wrote the movie Elektra with Zak Penn.) David Semel will direct, a man who has worked on a ton of TV shows in the past, most notably Dawson’s Creek, Buffy, and also the pilot for Heroes. I read the first 15 or so issues of Fables a few years back, and I really enjoyed them. That said, I have a hard time picturing how it will work on screen, and the fact that it’s on a network rather than a premium channel like HBO might mean they’ll have to tone things down a bit. The talent involved thus far doesn’t really inspire confidence either, but one person who might be able to pull it off is Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. Coincidentally, his schedule has just opened up. Someone get him on board, pronto!