Do ideas of war and enemies hold a people together? Is a culture of conflict too seductive to not be irresistible? These are the questions Cathy Malkasian explores in her second graphic novel. She creates a densely textured social context, masterfully conveying the idiosyncratic physical domain with its spiralling structures and quasi-medieval architecture along with intimate yet plastic portraits of her characters in a rich, tonal pencil line. Temperance is a galvanising work of empathy and violence by one of today's most thoughtful and accomplished cartoonists.