ARKHAM ASYLUM w: Grant Morrison a: Dave McKean--another genuinely beautiful book, this one is painted and uses remarkable collage techniques. It's a psychological horror story about Batman entering into the insane asylum where most of his big villains are kept. A really chilling examination of abnormal psychology, again rife with the kind of huge occult-influenced symbolism that Morrison specializes in.

HEY, WAIT... w/a: Jason--Translated from Norwegian, this book uses cute-animal characters to tell a really painful story about loss, grief, and regret. This guy's one of the best on the scene, and this story will haunt you.

THE FRANK BOOK w/a: Jim Woodring--Essentially they're the creepiest, scariest cute-animal stories ever. Frank is this sort of cross between a cat and a beaver and a mouse and a bear, who wanders around this hallucinogenic dreamscape getting into adventures and being pursued by various miscreants. If you like twisted children's stuff like Willy Wonka, this will appeal to you. Woodring's a hell of a cartoonist and has imagined his whole own cosmology with this book. Some of the material is available in much cheaper (but smaller) softcover editions.

BLANKETS w/a: Craig Thompson--I talk about this all the time on the blog, but to recap, it's a coming-of-age autobiography involving the parallel finding and losing of first love and religious faith. Elegantly illustrated and stirringly told. Damn, it's good. And sweet.

DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL w/a: Phoebe Gloeckner--Another one I talk about a lot. This is a combination thinly-veiled autobiography written in journal form with autobio comix and illustrations, telling the story of the brilliant but deeply troubled teenager Minnie Goetze as she navigates the free-wheeling San Franciscan 70's. I challenge you not to be deeply moved by this book.

Each gets my full recommendation. Happy reading!

Sean T. Collins has not yet seen the film version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He blogs at Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat, where this post originally appeared.