This British book that now reaches the US market courtesy of Yale Universtiy Press is a bit like an exhibition catalogue sans the exhibition itself.  Authors Bell and Sinclair approached their material with a curatorial eye and mien as they assembled a vibrant cross section of contemporary comics and illustration work that converges on the narrative sensibility in drawing.  The work of Jordan Crane, Tom Gauld, Jason, Jim Woodring, Marcel Dzama, Martin tom Dieck, Sammy Harkham, Igort, Lorenzo Mattotti, David Rees, Joe Sacco, Marjane Satripi and many others are grouped, contextualized, compared and contrasted; and taken together form an excellent survey of the state of this particular art.