Ringing changes on elves, epilepsy, and turf wars

James Kochalka's upbeat, guileless "American Elf" (Top Shelf, unpaginated, $29.95) is a gathering of the "Sketchbook Diaries" he produced from late 1998 to the end of 2003. Starring Kochalka, wife Amy, and cat Spandy, these graphic quatrains depict Kochalka as a snaggle-toothed, big-eared elf celebrating a productive and sensual domesticity. Taken a page at a time, this charmingly raunchy memoir seems ephemeral. But it accumulates power, particularly after 9/11 convinces Kochalka and Amy to have a child. Deceptively innocent, "American Elf" also hints at darkness: Kochalka does his share of drinking, the couple spar over responsibility, and Kochalka is ambivalent about the celebrity attending his graphics and music (he also has a rock 'n' roll career as James Kochalka Superstar). Overall, however, these line drawings make you feel good. And anyone who's ever lived in Burlington, Vt., where the Kochalkas reside, will hanker to return after absorbing Kochalka's affection for an open, inviting city where the cold burns like needles.

"Blab 15" (Fantagraphics, 120 pp., $19.95) collects graphics spanning legendary hippie Spain Rodriguez to mechano-futurist Matti Hagelberg. My favorites in this edition are Blanquet's repulsive, alluring "Gargarism of Paradise," Geoffrey Grahn's moving period piece, "Dime a Dance Girls" and "Fetal Elvis Gets Drafted!," a Mark Landman fantasia that puts Arnold Schwarzenegger in a subversive new light. For inner quietude, try Anders Nilsen's "Dogs and Water" (Drawn & Quarterly, unpaginated, $9.95). The Chicago artist spins a cryptic, alluring tale of a man, his teddy bear, a confrontation over an oil pipeline, and a fierce, sympathetic wolf pack. The carefully drawn "Dogs and Water" works a fine magic to take you where you've never been.