This started out as a magical little adventure tale that weaves together the dull horrors of getting older with the evolution of comics and entertainment. By the end it is a beautiful rumination on creativity, imagination, getting unstuck and loving this life. I'm a sucker for stories within stories, and Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen quite delivered on that front.

I enjoyed the earnest examples of how comics can benefit from more progressive views and how Horrocks was able to incorporate that philosophy into the book's action. The discussion of the morality of desire was thought-provoking and fascinating. I'll probably be thinking about that for a long time.

4 stars for Miki and Alice alone. One extra for a surprisingly lovely and touching ending.