In the late 1970s to early 1980s he drew fantasy ink pictures for the Dungeons & Dragons Basic and Expert game rulebooks. He first gained attention for his 1980s comic book series Elementals published by Comico, which he both wrote and drew. However, for reasons unknown, the series had trouble maintaining an original schedule, and Willingham's position in the industry remained spotty for many years. He contributed stories to Green Lantern and started his own independent, black-and-white comics series Coventry which lasted only 3 issues. He also produced the pornographic series Ironwood for Eros Comix. In the late 1990s Willingham reestablished himself as a prolific writer. He produced the 13-issue Pantheon for Lone Star Press and wrote a pair of short novels about the modern adventures of the hero Beowulf, published by the writer's collective, Clockwork Storybook, of which Willingham was a founding member. In the early 2000s he began writing extensively for DC Comics, including the limited series Proposition Player, a pair of limited series about the Greek witch Thessaly from The Sandman, and most notably the popular series Fables

Born as Mark John Buckingham May 23, 1966 in Clevedon, United Kingdom. He initially started working professionally on strips and illustrations for a British satire magazine called The Truth in 1987 where he first worked with Neil Gaiman illustrating some of his articles. His American debut came the following year as inker on DC Comics Hellblazer, taking over as penciller from issue 18. Some of Mark's earliest (non-professional) work appeared in early issues of the Clevedon Youth CND newsletter in the early 1980s (c.1982/83) in which he saterised members of the group in a fun and amusing manner. Copies of these are now very hard to find, although there a few still known to be in exsistance. He is most famous for his work on Marvelman (Miracleman, in the USA), Hellblazer, and Fables, including a story in the original graphic novel 1001 Nights of Snowfall. His Marvel work includes inking Chris Bachalo's pencils on Generation X, Ghost Rider 2099, and penciling Paul Jenkins' run on Peter Parker: Spider-Man. For DC Comics, Buckingham has inked the two Death miniseries and was the original penciller on the Titans series. In the 1990s Mark shared a studio with Beano and Marvel artist Kev F Sutherland, working together on Marvel's Star Trek and Dr Strange. During the Vert-igo Voices: Fables Forum panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, Fables creator and writer Willingham-Bill announced that he and Buckingham will switch roles in an up-coming one-off, for Fables issue #100. Buckingham will write and Willingham-Bill will illustrate.[4] He was married in Gijón, Spain in August 2006 to journalist and TV newscaster Irma Page. His best man was Neil Gaiman.[5] Buckingham currently resides in Spain.