By Zack Quaintance — The Cloven: Book One has a great first line, a great first page, and a great first opening sequence…and this work just evolves from there, keeping the level of graphic sequential storytelling quality high throughout. It is, perhaps, fitting that the book reads as rapidly and smoothly as it does, given the nature of the subject matter. On its surface, The Cloven: Book One — out July 28 via Fantagraphics from writer Garth Stein and artist Matthew Southworth — is the story of a new type of humanity, in which individuals essentially have goat-like traits (furry hind legs, hooves, hard heads) and are being ostracized by the wider world in turn.