Black Butler, vols. 1-8 (Yana Toboso)

Twelve-year-old Ciel Phantomhive is an orphan and a victim of a horrific past, but he is also a special agent of Queen Victoria, a head of industry (toys and sweets), and master of a palatial estate near London. Keeping house for the young master are a set of curiously and comically inept servants - Finnian the air-headed gardener, Mey-Rin the horrifically klutzy housemaid, Bardroy the lethally bad wise-ass cook, and Tanaka the (mostly) inert steward - plus Sebastian Michaelis, the super-efficient and multi-talented butler.

The charming yet steely Sebastian is, in fact, a demon from Hell. Literally.

This beautifully drawn series careens vertiginously from horror-tragedy to broad comedy. Ciel investigates Jack the Ripper, is befriended by a feckless South Asian princeling who gets the household involved in a very serious curry-cooking battle, and most recently delves into a strange circus that may be playing a role in the matter of some missing children. Flashbacks reveal the nature of Ciel's relationship with Sebastian, why Ciel has that eyepatch, and what happened to the rest of the Phantomhive family. And Queen Victoria is not the only 19th century celebrity to make an appearance. ( Read more ... with spoilers! )