Arcadia

This is the first collection of one of the best independent comic series being published these days, which unfortunately comes out too infrequently. With its excellent dialogue, character development and almost photorealisitc black and white art, it is like a light-hearted alternative to From Hell.Combine the Prisoner with Twin Peaks, subtract all the secret agents and a lot of the darkness and add some romance and humour and you have Strangehaven. A normal guy winds up lost and enters a little villiage in the middle of nowhere filled with eccentric characters and can't seem to find his way back to "civilization". There is a murder mystery involving a cult clearly based on the Masons which has been slowly unfolding over the years, but so far this has remained largely in the background as we get to know each of the characters and their wonderful little quirks and histories (things only really take off near the end of Volume 2). Frankly, I would be satisfied with the series even without the mysteries thrown in given the town's interesting inhabitants and their stories. Like me, I'm sure you'll find yourself wishing you could move to Strangehaven, a village filled with the beauties and delights of scenic small-town living but without any of the boredom. However, the mystery is a nice bonus that will keep you guessing and speculating (Who is the woman in the fishtank? Is that Alan Moore lookalike really an alien? Is Strangehaven really just a small remote village?)