This book exceeded my expectations.

I'm not into comics all that much, but I love art. I happened across a booth at DragonCon 2k9 and saw the Aspen booth. I loved the art that I saw there, and was also really impressed with the way the artists used the color.

The artist for these tales, Micah Gunnell, has a very nice style. The art is very clean, I don't detect a lot of hashing and shading in the actual drawings. Those type of effects are provided by the color artist. Also, the artist seems to have a touch of the cartoonist, such as Disney, but it's not super pronounced. The expressions are also well done.

The story itself is a heartbreaking tale. The characters have to react to loss, death, major change in themselves and the world. I guess it's a story of hope against what appears to be inevitable disaster.

There is a section in the back with some sketches by Micha Gunnell.

There is a gallery in the back with a lot of full page covers by Michael Turner and Peter Steigerwald. ( )