Fables is remarkable, both in scope and longevity. Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham transformed what could have been a conceptual curiosity into the longest running Vertigo comic book series, full of depth, emotion and a lived-in world.
The storybook characters of Fables prove such ample ground for comics that the Universe actually spawns spinoff series for 50 issue Vertigo runs, in Jack of Fables and Fairest.
Fables Universe Reading Order
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book One
Collects: Fables #1 to #10, Prose Story #1
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Two
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Collects: Fables #11 to #18, Fables: The Last Castle, Fables: A Wolf in the Fold
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Three
Collects: Fables #19 to #27
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Four
Collects: Fables #28 to #33, Original graphic novel Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Five
Collects: Fables #34 to #45
Jack of Fables Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape
Jack of Fables Vol. 2: Jack of Hearts
Collects: Jack of Fables #1 to #11
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Six
Collects: Fables #46 to #51
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Seven
Collects: Fables #52 to #59, #64
Jack of Fables, Vol. 3: The Bad Prince
Collects: Jack of Fables #12 to #16
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Eight
Collects: Fables #60 to #63, #65 to #69
Jack of Fables Vol. 4: Americana
Collects: Jack of Fables #17 to #21
Jack of Fables Vol. 5: Turning Pages
Collects: Jack of Fables #22 to #27
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Nine
Collects: Fables #70–82
Fables: The Wolf Among Us Vol. 1
Fables: The Wolf Among Us Vol. 2
Collects: Fables: The Wolf Among Us #1 to #16
Jack of Fables Vol. 6: The Big Book of War
Collects: Jack of Fables #28 to #32
Fables: Deluxe Edition Book Ten
Collects: Fables #83–85, The Literals #1–3, Jack of Fables #33–35 and Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland
The Great Fables Crossover Reading Order
Fables #83
Jack of Fables #33
The Literals #1
Fables #84
Jack of Fables #34
The Literals #2
Fables #85
Jack of Fables #35
The Literals #3
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Eleven
Collects: Fables #86 to #100, prose story “Pinocchio’s Army”
Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love
Cinderella: Fables are Forever
Collects: Two six issue miniseries starring Cinderella
Jack of Fables Vol. 7: The New Adventures of Jack and Jack
Collects: Jack of Fables #36 to #40
Jack of Fables Vol. 8: The Fulminate Blade
Collects: Jack of Fables #41 to #45
Jack of Fables Vol. 9: The End
Collects: Jack of Fables #46 to #50
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Twelve
Collects: Fables #101 to #113
Collects: Fairest #1 to #7
Fairest Vol. 2: Hidden Kingdom
Collects: Fairest #8 to #14
Fairest Vol. 3: The Return of the Maharaja
Collects: Fairest #15 to #20
Fables The Deluxe Edition Book Thirteen
Collects: Fables #114 to #129
Collects: Original graphic novel
Fairest Vol. 4: Cinderella – Of Men and Mice
Collects: Fairest #21 to #27
Fairest Vol. 5: The Clamour for Glamour
Collects: Fairest #28 to #33
Collects: Fables #130 to #140
Fables Vol. 21: Happily Ever After
Collects: Fables #141 to #149
Collects: Fables #150
The Unwritten/ The Unwritten: Apocalypse
For the most part, The Unwritten by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (the same creative team behind Vertigo’s Lucifer) is an entirely self-contained brilliant re-imaging of the Harry Potter ethos in modern times. Nonetheless, a later crossover with Fables (issues #50 to #55), and overlapping sensibilities lands Unwritten in this section of the guide.
Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
The Unwritten Vol. 2: Inside Man
The Unwritten Vol. 3: Dead Man’s Knock
The Unwritten Vol. 4: Leviathan
The Unwritten Vol. 5: On to Genesis
The Unwritten Vol. 6: Tommy Taylor and the War of Words
The Unwritten, Vol. 7: The Wound
The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice
The Unwritten: Orpheus in the Underworld
The Unwritten Vol. 9: The Unwritten Fables
The Unwritten Vol. 10: War Stories
Collects: The Unwritten Apocalypse #1 to #5
The Unwritten Vol. 11: Apocalypse
Where does the ever after series fall in all this? No spoilers please just the order.
Fables Deluxe Book 15 is now out so you dont have to switch to TPBs for the final 10 or so.