So this is pretty neat, actually. Created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, The Unwritten is an urban fantasy series starring Tom Taylor, a young man who was his famous father's inspiration for a character in a mega popular novel. But it seems that the line between reality and fiction is frighteningly small, and there may be much more to Tom's connection to the fictional realm than meets the eye. Created by Bill Willingham and drawn by Mark Buckingham, Fables is an urban fantasy series that sees the classic fairy tale characters like Snow White, Cinderella, the Big Bad Wolf and others evacuate their mythical homelands for New York City, where these fictional characters live among us in secret.

A meeting between the two books would seem to be a natural thing (and it might be the first creator-owned Vertigo crossover?), and it'll finally happen in May's The Unwritten #50, which begins the five-part storyline. The news was actually announced last year at New York Comic Con, but hopefully there are some readers out there (like me) who totally forgot about that and had an authentic WTF-ish reaction to this clever jam promo by Buckingham and Gross featuring Tom Taylor and Bigby Wolf. Check out the high-res version below.

(click to enlarge)

Nice, huh? FYI, this piece is an homage to Yuko Shimizu's brilliant cover for The Unwritten #1.

If you're a Fables fan and unfamiliar with The Unwritten or an Unwritten fan unfamiliar with Fables, Vertigo has helpfully collected both series in some pretty handsome editions. Fables is available in paperback and hardcover from your local comics shop and big bookstores, and six paperback editions of The Unwritten are on sale now as well. If you prefer digital, both series are available via ComiXology.