Bertrand Russell is an unexpected comic book hero, but then, "Logicomix" is full of surprises.

It's a graphic novel about an abstruse intellectual quest involving some of the greatest mathematicians and philosophers of the 20th century, and it's told as a story within a story within a story. But you don't need a background in symbolic logic and meta- fiction to enjoy this entertaining work.

The story is recounted in human terms, and the book carries the reader over potential rough spots with a colorful, clean-lined drawing style derived from the work of Tintin artist Herge. And 26 pages of notes are appended for those who want to bone up on subjects like predicate calculus, set theory and the "Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus."

"Logicomix" is about the search for the logical foundation of mathematics, the great scientific dream of the early 20th century, motivated by the conviction that, in the words of one character, "the world is totally understandable by reason."

The authors were determined not to create an academic exercise in intellectual history but a tale based on passions. "Logicomix" is set in a world of frightened children, love affairs, shattered dreams, professional jealousies and more than a smattering of insanity.

For Russell, the book's central figure, the quest is for an unshakable starting point, a solid basis for absolute knowledge. Russell is driven at least partly by personal demons: He was raised by a rigid grandmother and early on learned of a strain of insanity in his family.

"Logicomix's" writers know their stuff. Novelist Apostolos Doxiadis has a strong mathematics background: His "Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture" merges fiction and math. Co-author Christos H. Papadimitriou is a professor of computer science at the University of California-Berkeley and author of "Turing (A Novel About Computation)."

Both men, along with "Logicomix's" two artists, appear in the book, with Papadimitriou taking on the role of kibitzer, challenging his co-writer on matters of both form and content. "We thought it would be a funny way to bring out some of the contradictions in the story," Papadimitriou says.

Among the topics the authors argue about is the book's theme of "logic from madness." A startling number of those involved in the quest became unhinged, like Georg Cantor and Gottlob Frege.