The Initiates #[nn]

Two quietly compelling scenes anchor Étienne Davodeau's cover for this 2013 NBM graphic novel: above, a tattooed artist works intently at a drawing table while a younger observer looks on, and below, two figures crouch among the bare, winding rows of a winter vineyard. The subtitle — A Comic Artist and a Wine Artisan Exchange Jobs — frames both images perfectly, hinting at a warm, curious story of two very different crafts and the people who live them. Davodeau's understated linework gives the whole thing an intimate, documentary feel that draws you in before you've read a single page.