Turning a sprawling, canonical epic into a graphic novel might seem a deluded enterprise. Yet a self-aware tale that revolves around a hero who dons a silly costume to set the world to rights is in many ways the perfect fodder for a comic book. And while Davis has to keep things concise, this retelling of the first half of Cervantes's novel retains enough of its action and its digressions to feel coherent and complete. The exuberant drawings make clever use of colour, while in the foreground chubby Panza and rake-thin Quixote make a fine double act as they ride from beating to beating and farce to farce. At once mercilessly rendered  you're under no illusion of the sufferings caused by Quixote's mad crusade  and awash with sympathy and humour, Davis's approachable graphic novel may modernise Cervantes's dialogue, but it seems a thoroughly loyal adaptation, full of enthusiasm for stories and storytelling, and for that precious "place between reader and book  where Don Quixote tilts his lance".