The artwork is undeniably great (and as I recall the story is fairly compelling), but I can't help but feel the way it's told entirely through captions takes some getting used to, and never quite stops feeling outdated.
I have a feeling the translated books I read some 15 years ago even put all the caption text outside of the panels (increasing the space between each strip). Or maybe the caption placement was just more static at some point in the series' history.