
"Hark! A Vagrant," by Kate Beaton (Drawn and Quarterly): Beaton's terrifically oddball history/literature webcomic makes the jump to print. Her cartooning is deceptively primitive, but her comic timing (in both senses of the word) is all its own — once you catch it, it's addictive.
"Big Questions" by Anders Nilsen: A decade in the making, this existentialist novel follows birds and snakes in the middle of nowhere as they encounter a newcomer and must decide what to do about him. Mythic and bizarre.