Shapes and Colors: A Cul de Sac Collection

Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac strip, collected in Shapes and Colors: A Cul de Sac Collection (2010, Andrews McMeel), captures the small, absurd, and quietly profound world of preschooler Alice Otterloop and her suburban Washington, D.C. neighborhood. Thompson's elegant, wobbly linework and gentle comic timing turn everyday childhood anxieties and family dynamics into something both hilarious and deeply humane. This single-volume collection is a perfect entry point into one of the most beloved and critically praised newspaper comic strips of the 2000s.