[2] The series features various characters from fairy tales and folklore – referring to themselves as "Fables" – who formed a clandestine community centuries ago within New York City known as Fabletown, after their Homelands were conquered by a mysterious and deadly enemy known as "The Adversary".

It is set in the modern day and follows several of Fabletown's legal representatives, such as sheriff Bigby Wolf, deputy mayor Snow White, her sister Rose Red, Prince Charming, and Boy Blue, as they deal with troublesome Fables and try to solve conflicts in both Fabletown and "the Farm", a hidden town in upstate New York for Fables unable to blend in with human society.

[3] The series also deals with such other matters as the main characters' personal lives, their attempts to hide the Fables' true nature from regular humans (or "Mundies"), and, later, the return of the Adversary.

[8] In September, Willingham announced that he had allowed the Fables IP to enter the public domain after growing disenchanted with DC Comics.

[9][10] Willingham cited his frustration with DC, stating that for years the company fought him on royalties, media rights, and various other issues.

[8] DC denied Willingham's assertion that the franchise is public domain, stating that they continue to own the rights to the storylines, characters, and elements in the comics.

"[14] A principal character is the Big Bad Wolf (who calls himself "Bigby"), who has not only reformed but gained the ability to take on a more human appearance.

Based on the One Thousand and One Nights, it tells a story from a time early in Fabletown's history when Snow White was sent as an emissary to the Arabian Fables.

A spin-off mini-series, written by novelist and publisher Chris Roberson (another of Willingham and Sturges's fellow Clockwork Storybook alumni) with painted cover art by Chrissie Zullo, the miniseries was drawn by Shawn McManus,[34] and (according to Comic Book Resources ' Timothy Callahan) "answers the question of what happened to Cinderella's fairy godmother".

[36] A six-issue sequel to Chris Roberson and Shawn McManus's earlier Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love series, was released in mid-2011.

[37] A prestige format one-shot in which Boy Blue retells to Snow White the tale of the last stand against the Adversary's forces in the Homelands.

Fables: Werewolves of the Heartland is an original graphic novel written by Willingham with art by Craig Hamilton, and Jim Fern.

[41] Issues #50–54 of The Unwritten, a comic series created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, were a crossover with Fables, with writing co-credited to Willingham.

[47] Fables artist Mark Buckingham was the guest of honor for the first FablesCon, held on March 22–24, 2013, at the Mayo Civic Center[48] in Rochester, Minnesota.

Other guests included Gene Ha, Mike Carey, Matt Sturges, Peter Gross, Kurt Busiek, Anthony Del Col, Shelly Bond,[49] Adam Hughes, Chrissie Zullo, and Lauren Beukes.

Six Degrees creators and executive producers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner were writing the script for the hourlong drama, again set up at Warner Bros. Television, while David Semel had come on board to direct.

[51][52] The show's creators, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, stated that they "read a couple issues" of Fables but believe that while the two concepts are "in the same playground", they are "telling a different story".

[56] In 2015, Warner Bros. was developing a live-action Fables film with David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford producing, Jeremy Slater and Jane Goldman writing and Nikolaj Arcel directing, but these plans were quietly cancelled.