When contributing my POW it came down to two magnificent Vertigo books.  Northlanders stole my breath with it's battle scenes and drop dead gorgeous art.  Scalped fairly reduced me to tears, so I went with the emotional wallop.  Mance and Hazel aren't characters we've ever met before, yet we know them well now, within just 22 pages.  They are an aging native american couple, dignified, devoted to each other and this story is about their life together as they face the oncoming winter.  Much of the story is told through two contrasting narrative boxes, one for each character.  The language used by Aaron is pitch perfect, you can absolutely hear these two people talking to each other.  Yet it's not just the ear for dialogue that killed me, it's also the absolute perfection of the things he imagines them saying.  Or in some cases not saying at all.

Then it's the characters themselves.  Created whole from nowhere, yet so absolutely human, every action they make resonating with the reader.  The section which probably cut me the deepest was actually the scene in the nutrition assistance building.  Mance has to accept charity to get them through the winter, yet this man is so proud and determined that he will only accept what he needs, refusing to take the full quota of what they offer him.  There was truly a lump in my throat.

Still, just as you think this book will leave you wanting to crawl into bed til summer, Aaron does something miraculous and stunning.  First he gut punches you with the completely unexpected destruction of Hazel and Mance's treasured home, far away from the reservation.  Then he scoops you up in his arms and tells you it's all going to be okay by giving the couple a windfall that will rebuild their home and enable them to live out many more years in each other's company.  A final reward for lives well lived. 

The art from Zezelj, a personal favourite, is also awesome, fitting the tone beautifully.  You get a kind of impressionistic feel from his work, yet it gives this story all the visual resonance it needs.

My review here's a little flowery in places, but I felt I had to pick up the laptop within seconds of finishing the book.  I felt this incredible need to put the effect it had on paper, so to speak, before it went away.  This is the kind of comic which will hopefully be remembered in the same breath as other single issue classics, like "Hold Me" in Hellblazer.  It's just that good.