For the uninitiated, The Sandman tells the story of Dream (aka Morpheus, among his many names), the King of Dreams, a dead ringer for The Cure’s Robert Smith and a character that launched the varied career of writer Neil Gaiman.

You ever go into reading an archival or archetypical work with the notion that you’re about to discover “what people used to like” or “what qualified as funny way back when?” Well slap me across the face, please—George Herriman’s Krazy & Ignatz is damned funny, regardless of being a product of its era.

Remember newspapers? Used to be you didn’t get your news from some fancy, new-fangled computer box; you got it on paper, and it only came once a day. And when it came on Sunday there was a lot more of it—extended sections, magazine supplements and, best of all, comics.

Jack Cole is best known by some as the creator of Plastic Man; by others for his highly influential work on Playboy Magazine. He was undeniably a master of his craft, with deft, lovely lines and a witty sensibility.

Capable heroine fighting against the elements in a strange environment, drawn by Steve Lieber…hmmm. Comparisons to Lieber and Greg Rucka’s Whiteout are inevitable, I suppose.

In reviewing Jaime Hernandez’s Penny Century, I could point to the frenetic pace of many of the stories; the cute, odd, and endearing sort of strangeness spawned in this lightly magical universe; or even the beautiful art, which is truly the mark of this master cartoonist.

Issue one of DC Universe Legacies, the first in a 10-issue limited series that’s a purported trip through DCU history, shows that a veteran like Len Wein still has the “write stuff.”

Madman Atomic Comics Volume 3 collects Madman Atomic Comics issues 14-17, plus plenty of guest pin-ups and a bonus section with a closer look at the art, with some notes and other back matter.

While most of Jeffrey Brown’s books are more focused, dealing with mostly with one relationship (Clumsy) or general subject matter (Incredible Change-bots!), Undeleted Scenes represents a pretty good cross-section that thankfully highlights plenty of humor along with relationship woes (which, as much as I enjoy Brown’s work, can get a little too navel-gazing and tiresome).