Bill Willingham's "Fables" is currently under development for a film adaptation

Although DC Comics film fans are currently focused on the upcoming release of "Man of Steel," the publisher's Vertigo imprint has also announced some exciting news in the film sphere. According to The Hollywood Reporter, creator Bill Willingham's long-running Vertigo series "Fables" is currently under development for a feature film. "A Royal Affair" helmer Nikolaj Arcel is attached to direct a script by Jeremy Slater, with "Harry Potter" producer David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford onboard to produce.

This isn't the first time Willingham's "Fables" has been up for a film treatment. Warner Bros. attempted to develop a film for the series in 2004 with the Jim Henson Company. More recently in 2008, "Fables" was under consideration as a television series for ABC, and while it never fully developed, the network did go on to air "Once Upon a Time," which is also based on characters from fairy tale and folklore combined with the real world. However, there's room for fans to enjoy both "Once" and "Fables," as Willingham wrote in a CBR exclusive editorial in 2011.

"If you like 'Fables,' you needn't dislike 'Once,' and vice versa. Join me in wallowing in all of it," Willingham said in his editorial. "And then take a look at all the other grand stuff out there right now, or coming down the pike. Along with 'Fables,' read 'Kill Shakespeare' and 'The Unwritten,' 'Memorial,' 'Mice Templar' and 'Mouse Guard.' Read 'The Stuff of Legend' and 'Castle Waiting' and all the other gems in the same general category. It's the new age of old time stories."

The announcement of a "Fables" film being under development once again isn't surprising. "Fables" is currently Vertigo's longest-running still published series, and Willingham debuted the "Fables"-centric convention Fabletown and Beyond in March. WIth the property expanding to other forms of entertainment -- like TellTale Games' "The Wolf Among Us" video game -- film and television seem like an appropriate next step in the "Fables" media expansion.