Not as well known as it ought to be, but you can find it at your better comic shops. Printed in hardcover. Will seem very weird initially, which is usually not a problem with kids. May blow your mind. The visual style is evocative of 1930's animation, especially Betty Boop/Fleischer Studios. I second the previously mentioned Tintin and reprints of the Carl Barks Scrooge McDuck stories, and comics-code era superhero comics.If you can find reprints of the old Captain Marvel comics from the 40's, that's some of the best superhero stuff ever created - great art and really fun, imaginative stories (although there's some overt racism towards the Japanese that doesn't sit too well today.)

Check out "The non-designers design book" by Robin Williams (no, not that Robin Williams - a different Robin Williams.) Exactly what it advertises, it gives you a basic working vocabulary for the core principles of graphic design in a geek-friendly, non-fluff manner. For people with procedural rather than intuitive minds, it shows you how to apply rules and algorithms to achieve that elusive "it just looks right" look.