It's hard to think of enough superlatives for Tony Millionaire's Maakies. Along with Patrick McDonnell's Mutts, Maakies is the only newspaper (or newsweekly) strip being published today that is worth reading. And having the first five years of Maakies to enjoy together in a single volume - this really is a special treat.

It's all here: the dismemberments, the drunkenness, the defecation, and even the alco-rocket. This type of crude humor is not unique or new, but it's rarely been handled by such an exquisite draftsman with such a finely honed sense of the surreal. The back of this volume features a blurb from The New York Times Book Review comparing Millionaire to George Herriman (creator of Krazy Kat), and the analogy could not be more appropriate. Like Herriman, Millionaire has no fear of working on the edge of sanity and taste, but unlike lessor talents, he's not there only because he has nowhere else to go. Maakies can be charming, philosophical, and sometimes even sappy, but it is more often violent, nihilistic, and just plain rude. Which is to say, it's brilliant.

For the Maakies enthusiast, this volume is indispensable. For everyone else, it's even more indispensable. This is the kind of free-thinking, genre-bending, gag-inducing art that the ayatollahs of every nation would prefer you didn't experience. So what are you waiting for? ( )