As Fairest closed out its brief life and Fables rounded out with its epic #150, many mourned as Vertigo’s last long-running series came to an end.  This had been a consistent part of the Vertigo line, as well as a huge crossover hit that sold well in collected form in bookshops from non-comics readers.  Many held on to the middling Fables: A Wolf Among Us miniseries for its 16-issue(or 48 weekly digital issue) run, and with the end of that the book of Fables was officially closed.

Or, well, not exactly.

Vertigo has just announced a new follow-up spin-off series from the Fables universe called Everafter.  The new series is really meant to build heavily on the rest of the Fables mythology as it takes place after the conclusion of the regular series.  Brought in by Fables: A Wolf Among Us writer Dave Justus and Matthew Sturges, with art by Travis Moore and covers by Tula Lotay, the book will follow a secret-agent team called the Shadow Players.  These include both regular “mundane” humans and Fables traveling across the world to protect humanity from problematic characters of myth.

This will return some of our favorite Fables characters to us, like Bo Peep, Peter Piper, Hansel, and Connor Wolf.  Justus said, in a statement from Vertigo, that this will be a uniquely Vertigo book that really plays like a “spy thriller.”

EVERAFTER is a spy thriller featuring a covert-ops team whose mission is to save this newly magical world from itself.  The story has a uniquely Vertigo flair, filled with twists, double-crosses, and agents willing to give their lives for (fairy) queen and (goblin) country!

While Fables creator Bill Willingham will not be on board, he is incredibly supportive and fully behind this new effort, as he has been in past Fables spin-offs.

The terrific job Matt Sturges, Dave Justus, and Travis Moore did on the comic adaptations of the Wolf Among Us video games made them the perfect team to carry this new spin-off series.  There are some terrific surprises ahead in a world that is no longer mundy. What happens in a world that now knows about Fables and the sharp rise of magic in their midst? EVERAFTER is going to show us.

Fables fans might note that the tone and details sounds somewhat like the two Cinderella minseries, so it will be interesting to see how this book stands out.  This will begin its run in September, and it looks like it will be a regular ongoing series for the time being.