Simply incredible. I can see why this book was six years in the making. There are so many layers and so much symbolism that I'm sure I missed some -- not to mention the sheer volume of 650+ pages of intricate drawings. This is a fairytale in the tradition of the very darkest out there, and not for the faint of heart, but you won't soon forget it. 
 I have always been intrigued by the geometry and pattern in Islamic art -- figurative representation is seen as competing with the creations of god and thus is forbidden -- but Craig Thompson unlocks some of this in Scott-McCloud-like asides, finding multiple symbols, stories, and images in Arabic calligraphy and tiled shapes (heaven is reflected on earth, p. 563; "the square is self-contained, but it breathes like lungs," p. 658). Word and picture are their own duality, explored here in epic style along with male/female, dark/light, child/adult, slave/free, rich/poor, and past/present. I don't know how Thompson's going to follow this, or if he even has working fingers left. 
 PS -- read it via flashlight during the power outage, so I think it hit me even harder than it otherwise might have. Gulp.