So here we are for another episode of my "It Came from the Used Rack" series. I found an excellent graphic novel to read this time. For those of you new here, a couple times a month I'll be grabbing a used graphic novel from my store’s used section to focus on. These are books I missed the first go around or ones I've always meant to read but never did. You can check out my first installment here where I reviewed Godland Celestial Edition Book One.

I have to admit, I'm pretty late at discovering Jeff Lemire. I first stumbled upon him with his new DC/Vertigo series Sweet Tooth, which is a very good book that I'll get around to reviewing soon. I had heard the name Essex County before, but never put any thought into it. Once I had read a few issues of Sweet Tooth I knew I wanted to check it out, but alas, didn’t get to it right away and once again it slipped my mind - until it came through in a big load of used graphic novels (actually in the same load as the Godland book, this guy had some great taste in comics).

This book is actually the Collected Essex County graphic novel. It collects all three Essex County stories: Tales from the Farm, Ghosts Stories, and The County Nurse as well as two short stories and bonus material. First of all, the actual book is purely awesome--what graphic novels should strive to be. It's thick (clocking it at 512 pages) and it's well put together--it can handle multiple reads. The cover design by Lemire is beautiful, showing all the major characters standing atop a system of tree roots, symbolizing their connection. And it's only $29.95. That's like six cents per page! It's published through Top Shelf Productions, which is a small Indie company that puts out some stellar comics. These little companies need all the help they can get, so try some of their books out. Not all of our hard earned dollars should be shoved into Marvel and DC.