Harlequin Valentine

Written by: Neil Gaiman and John Bolton

First line: It is February the Fourteenth at that hour of the morning when all the children have been taken to school and the husbands have driven themselves to work, or been dropped, steambreathing and greatcoated, at the rail station at the edge of town for the Great Commute, when I pin my heart to Missy's front door.

Why you should read this book: It's a weird piece of lovingly crafted art that takes an almost forgotten tradition and turns it on its head. A trickster commits a symbolic, risky, and gruesome act of love upon a woman whose response is at once thoroughly modern and completely classical, and the balance of power shifts. The trickster is tricked, everyone's world is flipped, and then a new reality settles upon the story.

Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a bit experimental, so if you're looking for a traditional comic book story, you might want to look elsewhere.