Cerebus #[5]

This handsome 2012 Spanish-language edition from Ponent Mon collects La Historia de Jaka, one of the most celebrated arcs from Dave Sim and Gerhard's long-running Cerebus saga. The stark, elegant cover — rendered in crisp black and white by Dave Sim and Gerhard — depicts two figures walking together through a spare, wintry landscape: a small child bundled in a patterned coat and dark hat, and a towering, heavyset adult in a long dark cloak, their backs turned as they move quietly into the distance. It's a quietly affecting image that conveys tenderness and melancholy in equal measure, a fitting introduction to this thoughtfully produced hardcover volume.