THE SANDMAN
by Neil Gaiman
(240pp. Vertigo)

“Wake up sir. We’re here.” These are the five words that started the revolution. The single most brilliant vision in comic book history. Norman Mailer once described it as it “a comic strip for intellectuals”. Gaiman bridges the gap between worlds. He begins with the classic folk tale. He begins with a journey. He begins with a former king trying to regain his throne. He infuses his story with superheroes, with literary legends, with an intricate mythology that is as unrelenting as so much Greek tragedy. But he is never grim. Because his creations always betray an underlying sense of hope. They exude a certain joy. Whether it’s Death as a perky little goth girl. Whether it’s the lyrical, poetical, Morpheus, the

Sandman, the Lord Of Dreams. Whether it’s travellers from across the cosmos exchanging stories at the Worlds’ End Inn.

PALESTINE
 by Joe Sacco
(288pp. Fantagraphics Books)

This isn’t about picking a side. This is a documentary about the human condition. It is about what happens — emotionally, physically, and spiritually — when we suffer at each other’s hands. Joe Sacco takes us into the eye of the storm.

He provides a human face to the conflict that has plagued the region for far too long. He provides a human perspective to just what’s going on on the ground. He exposes us to every side. So much so that the victims and villains become indiscernible from one another. This is journalism at its best. Detached without being dispassionate. Humorous. Courageous. Deeply affecting. It’ll leave you weeping.

IT’S A MAGICAL WORLD
by Bill Watterson
(176pp. Andrews McMeel Publishing)

THE stunning final volume. The end of an era. The world wept when Bill Watterson announced, in 1995, that he would be stopping Calvin & Hobbes. He broke our collective hearts. The precocious little fellow and his stuffed tiger had become so infused into our everyday that we were distraught at the notion of no longer having them around. This final collection has it all. Snowball fights with Susie Derkins. Spaceman Spiff hurtling through alien galaxies. Stressed out parents. Snow filled excursions. It is full of Calvin’s philosophising, of Hobbes’ studied opinions on humanity. It is something to revisit over and over again. It is something to cherish. It is a wonderful encore to what remains, hands down, the most intelligent and insightful depiction of the childhood experience.

THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN: VOLUME ONE
 by Alan Moore
(176pp. America’s Best Comics)

The year is 1898 and the Great Detective is believed dead after the incident at Reichenbach Falls.

The world is on the brink and Campion Bond of her Majesty’s Secret Service sets about gathering together a “menagerie” of adventurers. A Victorian era Justice League. The very first Avengers. He assembles some of the greatest characters in fiction and sets them loose to save the world. Allan Quatermain. Mina Murray (nee Harker). Jekyll (and Hyde). The Invisible Man (Wells’ not Ellison’s). Captain Nemo.

This is a comic book for the literature lover. Every piece of dialogue, every panel, is crammed with layers upon layers of literary allusions, of homages. It’ll leave you with a new discovery every time you read it. It’ll leave you wanting to go back and re-read all of your favourite classics.