Having cemented its place in the alternative-comics niche, Fantagraphics has made an uncharacteristic move by releasing something a bit more traditional. Coventry is a fantasy comic book set in contemporary times: Curses, plagues and beasts, while not everyday occurrences, are taken as normal inconveniences, and as with any such thing, you call a specialist to get rid of them. There's nothing flashy or traditionally superheroic about the characters in Coventry—not even Claudia, the specialist whose job it is to dispose of the problem. She consults reference books and computers before consulting her supernatural sources, dresses as would any casual professional, and unwinds by watching television and hanging out with her secretary/pal instead of spending her spare time reading mystic tomes. Bill Willingham's art mirrors his treatment of the subject: Supernatural beings and objects are depicted without too much bluster or unnatural posing. It's an interesting idea that's well executed, and future issues are eagerly anticipated.