Schooldays can be a little strange, and I don't mean Billy Bunter or St Trinians or the Molesworth. Just think more the magical surroundings of Harry Potter or then the X-Men's school for gifted youngsters. However, that is nothing compared to what lurks behind the doors of Gunnerkrigg Court, a boarding school with a difference. How can you expect to do your lessons when they're constantly disrupted by mystical and mythological creatures, let alone demons and robots?

Tom Siddall's Gunnerkrigg Court is an enchanting tale, simply told but sprinkled with invention and humour but edged with darker happenings. It follows the adventures of red-head Antimony Carver at her first year at her mysterious new school, which seems as large as an industrial complex. She knows it's not an ordinary place when she meets a living shadow that can't exist without shade to move around in. Antimony's precocious talents reveals themselves when she builds a robot to help that shadow get home to the woodland. From them on, she has encounters with creatures such as the Minotaur, fairies, ghosts, wood gods, and beings that can transform from human form to bird. She also meets Reynardine, a demon that steals bodies only to be trapped in her stuffed wolf toy and reluctantly becoming an ally.. However, some of her fellow pupils are equally strange especially whizz-kid scientist Kat, and her teachers are not quite what the seem - Mrs Donlan is more than a science teacher whilst Mr Eglamore is less a gym teacher and more a dragon slayer. There's added mystery too surrounding the deaths of Antimony's parents, their magical secrets slowly drip fed through the pages.

Gunnerkrigg Court started life as an internet site that gathered an army of dedicated readers including Sandman writer, Neil Gaiman. It also led to him winning the Web Catoonist's Choice Awards twice, firstly as best newcomer and then as best dramatic comic. It's easy to see why from the disarming charm and warmth that Siddall fills his pictures and characters with. There's a simplicity in his draftmanship that is part cartoon and part manga, with clear, uncluttered panels, coloured in shades of twilight. Whilst the comparisons with Harry Potter are obvious, as well as other current favourites such as the Lemony Snicket series and Philip Pullman's fantasies, it has a refreshingly invetive life of its own. There's also overtones of a supernatural Peanuts or Calivn & Hobbes in the interplay between characters and creatures. Since this is only the first volume of collected strips, there's more fun adventures to come and no doubt more surprising revelations. An unashamed joy for adults and children alike.