Truth be told, I pretty much tried to steer clear of American graphic literature after Neil Gaiman ended The Sandman, though I have read a few over the past couple of years. (Gaiman's Marvel 1602 was a magnificent way of taking the Marvel Stable into the past.) But it wasn't until my sister got me into this eerie and gripping piece by My Chemical Romance front man Gerard Way that I went back to reading graphic lit.

The Umbrella Academy is the tale of seven individuals born under mysterious circumstances and adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, aka The Monocle. As children, six of them saved the world from an alien onslaught that resulted in the Eiffel Tower blasting off into space; the seventh stayed with The Monocle who pretty much thought she was useless.

Fast-forward twenty years hence, and The Monocle is dead - and his death proves to be the catalyst that brings the powers of all seven to the fore.

This is definitely something for children as there are themes of annihilation, loss of self, familial strife, and even infidelity involved. However, for those of you who want to break out from the usual run of superhero shenanigans, this tale of supermen with [incredibly] flawed, even skewed lives is definitely a must-read.

All I can say is that this is the most human depiction of the Lord I have ever read. This volume in Rice's Christ the Lord series jumps from the Finding in the Temple in the previous volume (Out of Egypt) to Jesus on the verge of starting his mission.

Yeshua ben Joseph is thirty and people are beginning to wonder why such an eligible young man has elected to stay single despite the obvious affection of his kinswoman Avigail and his own social standing as an expert carpenter and the son of one of the elders of Nazareth. The drama begins when two boys are stoned to death for what the villagers euphemistically call an "abomination" and snowball down into a series of events culminating with the miracle at a wedding in Cana.

For a writer best known for her novels about vampires, Anne Rice has written a compelling depiction of village life during the time of Christ and presents him as a sympathetic figure who meets many temptations on his way to fulfilling his destiny as the Son of God, Savior of Mankind.

If you're either a really pious Catholic / Christian (why, oh why should there even be a distinction?!?) or are truly into good fiction and stirring tales, then this is one book you should really find time for.