Comic book series : Peculia

Often compared to Edward Gorey and Charles Addams, Blab! mainstay Richard Sala has developed a distinctive narrative and visual style that can best be described as gothic humor. Possibly the closest thing to a super-hero series put out by Fantagraphics, "Peculia," in his regular comic Evil Eye, has been charming readers for several years. Peculia, the intrepid heroine, is a precocious and rebellious adventurer who fearlessly wanders through a world filled with zombies, monsters and more, assisted only by her trusty butler. In addition to collecting all the "Peculia" stories to date (including from the first two, out-of-print issues of Evil Eye), the Peculia collection includes a brand-new six-page, painted, full-color story in which Peculia happens upon a sinister doll shop. The Peculia collection is an excellent introduction to Richard Sala's idiosyncratic universe of noir-ish mystery, suspense, and occasional whimsy.

"Strangely perverse, brimming with gothic trappings and B-movie horrors. One of the best comics of the year." – Locus

"Gothic humor: sounds like an oxymoron. That's probably why so few comics creators — Charles Addams, Edward Gorey — have pulled it off. You can now add Richard Sala to that short list." – Details