Elsje #7

The seventh collection of Elsje, the beloved Dutch strip by Hercules & Valkema, arrives with a cover that perfectly captures its cheerful, mischievous spirit. Gerben Valkema's cover art shows the curly-haired little girl clutching a field-hockey stick with a grimacing, exasperated expression, while her scruffy white dog sits nearby proudly — and mischievously — clutching what appears to be a police officer's cap in its mouth; in the background, a figure sprawls on the grass, shoes in the air. The Dutch subtitle — "Gelukkig is nadenken meer iets voor als je later groot bent" ("Luckily, thinking is more of a thing for when you're older") — says everything you need to know about Elsje's wonderfully carefree, comic worldview.