I don't know who to blame for the current revival of popular interest in fairy tales and fables. It's probably Shrek that got popular audiences thinking about those stories again, but for me and a lot of other comics fans, it will always be Bill Willingham's fault. Maybe "fault" isn't the right word, because though there's a lot of fairy tale crap coming out (looking at you, Mirror Mirror), discerning audiences can pick through the bad stuff  and sample some great adaptations of stories that are the very definition of "timeless." I'm all for that.

One promising new book is Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales, an anthology by several webcomics creators. Edited by Kel McDonald (Sorcery 101), the 200-page book features stories by McDonald, Kory Bing (Skin Deep), Jose Pimenta (From Scratch), Mary Cagle (Kiwi Blitz), KC Green (Gun Show), Kate Ashwin (Widdershins), Katie and Shaggy Shanahan (Silly Kingdom), and Lin Visel (The Chipperwhale). The stories include familiar favorites like "Puss in Boots" and "Rapunzel" as well as less-known tales like "The Singing Bone" and "Tatterhood." It was some sample pages by the Shanahans that sold me on it (see a snippet below) and now I'm looking forward to checking out the rest.

Do you enjoy all the recent fairy tale adaptations or are you tired of them? If you're picking and choosing, which are worthwhile and which need to be hidden beneath a troll-infested bridge?