forestofglory

*waves* I’m still kinda overwhelmed, but maybe starting to get into the swing of this school year. I hope so at least. I did get a bit more in control of my library pile

Meanwhile here’s some thoughts on stuff I read recently:

The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today, Vol. 1 - 3 by Hitsuzi Yamada—A manga and an overworked officer worker and her put upon homemaker cat. The concept is cute but I did not find the characters at all interesting. I read the first three volumes since I had them all out from the library but I don’t think I’ll read any more

The Makers Clubby Reimena Yee, Tintin Pantoja, and Melanie Ujimori—A cute YA graphic novel about secondary school kids teaming up to make stuff together!

Supergirl: Universe End by Mariko Tamaki et al—Unlike every other Mariko Tamaki work I have read previously this is not about high school girls and their fraught relationships. Instead it's a space adventure. It’s a well done space adventure but it's not really playing to Tamaki’s strengths, I would have enjoyed more interpersonal drama.

Teen Titans Together by Kami Garcia, and Gabriel Picolo—The final volume of this six volume graphic novel version of the teen titans. I really enjoyed the first five volumes so I was excited for this! But I started out feeling a bit lost as to what was going on since it had been six months – I ended up rereading the penultimate volume and that got me back on track. Anyways this was very fun! A good end to the series. (having read even more comics in the last six months I’m more aware of the way these versions of the characters for the mainline versions

The Compleat Terminal City by Dean Motter, and Michael Lark—Another thing I read because there is discussion of it is the book about comics and cities I’m reading. It’s kinda weird and I’m not sure if I liked it or not but it was very city. My favorite part was the two female characters who become friends and roommates, but they weren't really the focus of the story.

A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang by Melodie Doumy—A short little book that the British Library put out to go with their exhibit of papers from the library cave at Dunhuang a year or two ago.A very nice overview of why Dunhuang is of such importance to historians, with some discussion of daily life there. Lot of excellent pictures of documents and other artifacts

I’ve been really overwhelmed for the last little bit and haven’t had the focus to read as much as I wanted. My library pile is still overwhelming – I even picked a couple of books to take back unread so it wouldn’t be so bad, but I’m not sure it helped. Anyways I did read a couple of things, so here is post.

Also sorry to anyone wanting/expecting a reply from me recently. I’ve had to declare comment amnesty again.

Tokyo These Days, Volume 1 by Taiyo Matsumoto, trans Michael Arias— Slice of Life manga about a manga editor who quits his job and retires early after a project goes horribly wrong. He wanders around talking to people he used to edit and being disponent. So it's kind of sad and lonely – the art adds to this effect. The art is super detailed but a little rough, the perspective is a bit off, which makes everything feel unwelcoming. The cityscapes rarely have passerby in them and they make the city feel so isolating! (It’s really interesting to think about but kinda depressing to read)

The Secret of the Unicorn by Hergé—Even though I was meh on the Tintin adventures I read before I thought I’d give it another go. This one is later in the series, and my library tempted me with an edition with historical notes. I do think this story is a bit more compelling, but still not really my thing. The historical notes were nice even if they were aimed at kids and thus not as detailed as I’d prefer.

Far Sector by N.K. by Jemisin , Jamal Campbell et al. —I wanted to check out this comic because N.K. Nemison wrote it. It’s technically set in the wider DC universe but, it doesn’t really matter. The main character is a queer black woman from Earth who has been given a magic ring and sent to a city on the far side of the galaxy where no one has had emotions 500. Thus no one has been murdered – until the start of the story. This had really interesting worldbuild and politics plus compelling characters!

You Can't Live All on Your Own!, Vol. 1 by Mizoko Tsuno—Slice-of-life manga about four women in their late 20’s who live together in Tokyo. This sounded so charming, but actually all the characters are very stressed out all the time which makes this a stressful reading experience, so not what I want form slice of life manga

Still thinking a lot about comics and cities. (It's fun! Maybe someday my thoughts will shape up enough write a post about the topic) Also my library pile has gotten out of control again, so I'm going to try to find time to tackle it over the weekend

Monkey Prince by Gene Luen Yang, Bernard Chang, et al—I’ve enjoyed all of Gene Luen Yang’s other works that I’ve read so I thought I should check this one out too. It’s pretty fun! A couple of issues at the end there are part of a large crossover event and thus a little confusing, but mostly this monkey trickster superhero nonsense.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, et al—I read this because a friend found me an undergrad thesis about urban space in the first four issues of this comic. Based on my first read though I wouldn't have said this comic was doing anything especially interesting with cities, but I guess I’ll have to see what the thesis says about.

Misfit Mansion by Kay Davault—Cute YA novel about a monster who lives in a monster sanctuary but wants to explore the nearby town and befriend the townsfolk. This had a more complex view of found family than I often see in fiction and I really liked that!

The Lost Daughter of Sparta by Felicia Day and Rowan MacColl—Based on a Greek Mythology character that’s only mentioned briefly in few sources. This is a very modern values in a Greek mythological setting, which I know is not everyone’s cup of tea. Taken as its own thing though it is a good story if a bit preachy.

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I was trying to think of snappy title for this but its kind of mix of all the things I've been reading lately: batfam related comics, misc YA graphic novels, and slice of life manga. Plus there is movie thrown in. Oh and a nonfiction comic too.

One and Only—I watched this Chinese sports movie about street dance starring Wang Yibo with my group watch for our monthly movie night. It’s very sweet and fun. I really enjoyed the outdoor bits set in Hanzhou (5 seconds of West Lake!) and all the shots of the restaurant the main character’s mom runs.

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, ep102-167 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al— Season 3 (starting around ep 120) is all one long story, and I think that works much better than the many short stories. I read most of this during a migraine recovery period so I don’t have a lot of thoughts about it. Steph got to have a crowning moment of awesome and that was very satisfying!

Nightlights and Hicotea by Lorena Alvarez— A pair of middle grade graphic novels about a girl named Sandy who likes to draw and can sometimes bring her drawings to life. The art for these is gorgeous!

Batman & Robin: Year One by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee et al— A story about Bruce and Dick in the very early days of their partnership when things haven’t quite gelled for them yet. I thought this was cute and fun, though it didn’t quite pull off all of its themes successfully. (Whatever this was saying about fathers and Sons ended up being kind of a mess) The art was great though, dark and stylized, and very art deco

The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 1 by Hergé, trans Michael Turner and Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper— I had never read Tintin before and it kept getting mentioned in nonfiction about comics history I’ve read so I was curious and got this from my library. This is an omnibus consisting of Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharaoh, The Blue Lotus

I’m not super impressed with it actually. The story is not really my thing, I lost count of how many times Tintin escaped for certain death but lucky chance – but I was never worried that anything would happen to him so it just felt route. There are some really racist bits but also some clearly anti-racist bits, so I guess Hergé was trying. Also all the signs that are in Chinese use really hanzi and not just vaguely hanzi like scribbles, a standard which many comics I’ve read fail at.

I was also not very excited about the art. I’ve gotten used to varied panel layouts and these are pretty boring – the panels are almost all the same height, with very occasional double height panels. There’s also not a lot of variation in how close up the figures are. All of this was not helped by the fact that this book is normal book sized and not the original larger size. Though actually I'm not sure what format these were originally published in, so maybe they weren't really designed to be all one page, which would make sense of the lack of interesting layouts.

One of the things I read about comics mentioned Tintin as part of a tradition that does a lot of detailed worldbuilding in the environments – this was mostly true here, though Chicago sure had a lot of empty streets with blank walls.

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There's so many comics in the world, some times I feel overwhelmed by all the things out there I want to read. (I just put in a bunch more library holds, opps) I also finally manged to finish the first case of The Truth!

Monster Locker by Jorge Aguirre, Andrés Vera Martínez— A middle grade contemporary fantasy graphic novel about a kid who finds a monster summoning portal in his locker on the first day of middle school. Cute and fun with a lot of quirky characters. I especially liked Abuela! It was also good to see monsters based on Aztec mythology – not something I see very often.

Absolute Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1: Martian Vision by Deniz Camp, Javier Rodriguez, et al.— My first foray into the Absolute universe. I've been reluctant to try it because the Absolute Universe seems aimed at people who like their comics grim and gritty and that's not me. But burins talked about this in their Eisner reading post and said it was “a love letter to cities” and I've been thinking about how cities are portrayed in comics a lot recently (a hazard of having an urban planning degree is that I think about the built environment a lot).

I’m not familiar with the original version of Martian Manhunter so I didn’t really know what to expect, but I also think this is pretty different anyways. This is about an FBI agent who has symbiotic relationship with an alien being and starts developing mind reading powers. Except that makes it sound boring but its not it weird and trippy, but is weird and trippy. The art really contributed to the tripyness here – with psychedelic colors representing people’s thoughts, and varying levels of abstraction to reflect what’s going on.

I see why burins said it's a love letter to cities! The city in this comic feels lived and diverse (it's mentioned several times that a lot of immigrants live there). But the comic doesn't shy away from the bleaker aspects of cities like homelessness and prejudice.
CN: mass shooting, animal death

The Truth Season 4, case one— I really enjoyed the last season of this silly reality TV show that’s kinda a cross between a murder mystery dinner party and an escape room. This year I seem to have lost my ability to watch TV by myself so even though this season is pretty good have had to make an effort to actually watch it.

Anyways, it's pretty good. Not everyone was able to come back for this season and the group dynamic is a bit different, but still fun. I thought seeing the preview pictures that I wouldn’t like this years costumes as much as last years, but seeing these costumes in action and getting to look the the details more has caused the to really grow on me (plus there are some wuxia inspired costumes for a latter case that look amazing)

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, ep26-101 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al—So these do work better for me in short doses, as evidenced by the fact that I have read a lot of episodes now. I still think they are a little shallow but they are also fluffy and fun. There are some multi-part episodes that have a bit more depth, but they are still too tidy.

Also it's interesting how differently paced these are on the screen where you see one panel at a time and have to scroll a bit between panels and on the page where it's been condensed.

The Spectre(2001), issues 1-9 by J. M. DeMatteis, Ryan Shook et al— This was one of the things recced to me as result of my superhero comics rec list I’ve been reading it slowly one issues a day most days. It’s a nice contemplative pace.

The premise is that Hal Jordan, formally a Green Lantern, and then some kind of evil villain called Paralax, has now been reincarnated as The Spectre, a mystical being who is supposed to punish the wicked. It’s very Christian, there’s like God, and Hell and angels and stuff, but it questions the righteousness of this setup. It’s a slow and thoughtful comic. I spent some time thinking about if I agree with it or not, but it's not really reaching conclusions, so much as exploring possibilities. I'm finding it a good story to think with.

The art is really unique and has a touch of art nouveau, but is also kinda creepy in places. I like it and it's a good fit for the story!
Content Notes: suicide, parental death

Since I've been reading a lot of slice-of-life manga recently I wrote up a rec list! It was fun to think about what draws me to the genre and what all these stories have in common. (I also thought a lot about the role of landscapes in slice-of-life manga but I didn't really reach any conclusions. Maybe in a future post)

It hasn’t been that long since the last media roundup and I haven't read that much but I had lots of thoughts that I wanted to share, so have a post:

Hirayasumi, vol 3+4 by Keigo Shinzō— This continues to be very charming. I’m loving all the little details.The cityscapes here feel so warm and lived in! I'm not sure if it's a slice of life manga thing, a manga thing or just an artifact of my limited selection but I've been really enjoying the land/cityscapes in the slice of life manga I've been reading recently
Content note: fatphobia/diet culture

Silver Spoon, vol 14-15 by Hiromu Arakawa— I’m working on a rec list of slice of life manga and I was reminded that I’ve never read the last two volumes of this series. I'd always meant to reread the rest of the series but that felt like too much of a project. So I ended up just reading these last two volumes – it wasn’t that hard to pick up, there’s helpful story summary in the front of each volume.

This is a charming story about a city kid who goes to an ag high school to get away from everything. I love all the details and about farming, food equipment and rural life. I thought it wrapped up nicely!

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Vol. 1 by C.R.C. Payne, StarBite, et al— I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time, and it was mentioned in the comments of my superhero comics rec list, so I finally got around to it. I ended up getting it on paper because the endless scroll webtoon format isn’t great for my hands.

It’s like a cute slice of life comic about the batfam. It’s got a very fic vibe, things are chill and everyone more or less gets along. Which sounds like exactly what I want in a batfam comic but for this first volume at least, felt a little flat actually. I wanted a bit more conflict or angst or something. I’m generally pretty happy with low conflict personal stakes stuff, but I guess these versions of the character feel a little shallow. Each story is so short, like five pages, its just hard to get much depth in that length.

(I’ll probably read some more of this because it is cute and free online. Maybe if I space out the episodes more it will not only not bother my hands as much but feel less bland.

X-men: The Animated Series season 1— Since I'm more open to Superhero media these days, R suggested we watch this animated series from the 90’s. It’s fun! I like that it's got a big team, though it does mean most characters don’t get much screentime. I also like that they are pretty much just fighting for mutant civil rights. There’s a lot less for me to suspend my moral disbelief about here than in most superhero stories I’ve encountered recently.

Another Media Roundup, less than a week after the last one? More likely than you think! As the title of this post says I have a bunch of short and quick reads to talk about.

The Faraway Forest: Wally’s Route by Debbie Fong—This is an early reader graphic novel about a raccoon mail carrier. It's very sweet and has fun colorful art. It's not very long so there's not much else to say about it.

Batman/Superman: World's Finest issues 1-12 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, et al. —I was trying to explain to R the other day that comics have their own brand of weirdness, but I couldn't articulate what set it apart just vibes. Anyways this has the comic weirdness vibes. There's parallel worlds, time travel, ancient Chinese villains (and heroes), rooms full doorways, ect. I generally like this kind of weirdness though, so this was fun to read.

It's set “some years ago” when Dick is still Robin. (I briefly tried to figure out how it fits into continuity, then I remembered that continuity does make any sense) I like the way Dick is written here. He's a little goofy and a little snarky – it feels right for him at that age. Kara/Supergirl is also here and a lot of fun!

Supergirl: Being Super by Mariko Tamaki, and Joëlle Jones—I liked This Place Kills Me a lot and wanted to check out the author's other works. I read a few things she wrote a while back but she's written a lot more since then! This was pretty good. I guess teen girls are Tamaki’s thing because teen girls and their friendship was also central to this book.

Content Notes are Spoilers

death of a teen as a major plot point

A True Wonder: The Comic Book Hero Who Changed Everything by Kirsten W. Larson and Katy Wu—This non-fiction comic about the history of Wonder Woman is the size and shape of a picture book and aimed at young readers. As such it's not very detailed or nuanced but it is quite charming. I do find the straightforward “progress” narrative a little bit frustrating though.

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema—This book from 1978 was referenced in some of the non-fiction about comics I read, and I was curious. It turned out to be a quick read with lots of pictures written in a very breezy style. One of the things I’ve been unsure about in discussion about comics history is references to “superhero comic style” – I had only a vague idea what that meant. This book has given me a much clearer idea. Also wow the sexism built into that style leaps off the page here! Men are angular and muscular, while women are soft and curvy. Still helpful for my quest to better understand comics history.

Perspective! for Comic Book Artists: How to Achieve a Professional Look in your Artwork by David ChelseaI— More non-fiction about comics. How to books aren’t always the best for learning how to be a more nuanced reader unfortunately. This is very technical, and what I really wanted was some discussion out how perspective can be used in comics and how that’s different from other visual arts. Oh well, I shouldn’t really complain that this book was exactly what it said it would be.

In which I have many opinions about comics and then rec some of them!

You can check it out here!

I was feeling very stressed out by my library pile last week so I set myself a goal of reading 4 books form it this week (stretch goal seven). I in fact read 8 library books! Go me! (Of course I got excited and put in to many holds and now I have 8 things to pick up on Monday so it doesn't exactly feel like progress -- maybe I can finish one or two more things before then)

The Truth season 4 has been airing for a bit but I have only manged to watch half of the first episode -- maybe if I get my library pile more under control I set myself a goal of getting caught up -- or at least actually watching some of it.

Anyways here are some thoughts on my recent reading

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1 by Hitoshi Ashinano, trans Daniel Komen—Post apocalyptic slice of life manga about a robot who runs a coffee shop in a small town. It’s not explained what happened but there are lots of panels of falling apart roads and other ruins. I know several people who love this, but I merely liked it, which feels a little disappointing. It’s sweet and chill, but honestly I found the lack of explanations a bit distracting.

Nezha 2—I watched this with my group watch Discord (we’ve been trying to do movie night again for a while and it finally worked out) This movie is so pretty! I see why people were raving about the animation. Also lots of cool fights! And I really enjoy the way this movie cares about family relationships and includes a lot of touching parent+child moments.

Content notes are spoilerish

Child death, mass murder, material death

A Comics Studies Reader ed. Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester—A collection of non-fiction writing about comics. I think this is the first work of prose written for adults that I’ve read this year. I kinda skiped around and skimmed a lot. I’m interested in learning more about comics theory but alot of this was too theoretical or I didn’t really have enough context to understand it. Still there were some interesting tidbits and now I know a little bit more. I’m struggling to find non-fiction about comics that’s what I want to read– probably doesn’t help that I’m not sure exactly what I want to read

Purgatory Funeral Cakes Volume 1 by Sanho—Slice of life manhwa about a bakery that makes funeral cakes. The bakery is kind of a frame for people to come and tell stories about dead loved ones. The art is lovely but the whole thing is very melancholy. I did like the edition of red ink in a format that’s usually black and white

Hirayasumi vol 1+2 by Keigo Shinzō—Slice of life Manga about two cousins living together in a small house (a hiraya) in Tokyo. The younger cousin is an 18 year old woman who just moved to Tokyo for art school and the older cousin is a 29 year old man who works a kinda deadend job at fishpond. It's a pond stocked with fish that people can come fish at in the middle of the city which seems like a cool thing to exist. Anyways he inherited the house from an old woman he befriended who didn't have any relatives. It’s very charming, I find both of the cousins relatable in different ways.

Raging Clouds by Yudori—Another Eisner Award nominee, I didn't know what to expect from this at all. It’s historical fiction set in the Netherlands in the 16th-century. I was surprised by how big it was in print, but it turned out to be a fairly fast read because there aren’t many panels on a page. The art is gorgeous! The story is angry and intense and hopeful all at once. I ended up really liking it!
Content Notes: martial rape, explicit sexual content, slavery, animal cruelty, period typically sexism and racism

I’m leaving for a short trip soon and I thought it would be nice if I could finish up some of the massive pile of library books I have sitting around before then, seeing as I don’t want to take them with me. I didn't read as much of the pile as I hoped but I did make some progress!

Many of these are nominees for this year's Eisner Awards, since I looked at those and put in holds for the ones that seemed interesting recently.

Vern, Custodian of the Universe by Tyrell Waiters—Graphic novel about Vern, who having lost his job moves home to Florida where it turns out his grandma has gotten him a job at a weird tech company. This was fun and zanny. There’s multiverse travel and kinda trippy art to go with it. The story is a bit didactic but I really liked the message so that worked for me.

This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux—This a murder mystery set at an all girls school in the 80s. (It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice it wasn’t contemporary) Our main character is a recent transfer student who doesn’t fit in. I really liked this, the characters were compelling, the mystery was interesting, and the ending felt just right

Content notes are spoilerish

Homophobia, underage sex, death of a teen

Globetrotters: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's World Tour by Julian Voloj and Julie Rocheleau—This graphic novel is inspired by real historical events – that I knew basically nothing about before reading this! All I knew was that Nellie Bly was a pioneering woman journalist. The subtitle makes it sound like Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland were traveling together but actually they were racing to see who could get around the world the fastest! I was totally riveted!
Content note: period typical sexism and racism

Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town by Li Chen—The second Detective Beans book, about Beans the adorable detective kitten. This one is a collection of shorter stories, my favorite was the last one with the bear and the moon!

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young—This is hard to talk about. It's a graphic novel about a group of friends who are looking for one of their friends who is missing, possibly dead. (They are all teens) its kinda creepy, but also kind of heartwarming? Anyways I enjoyed it a lot!

I've been nearly constantly sick and/or overwhelemed for the last two weeks, but I did read some things!

The Cartoonists Club by Raina Telgemeier, Scott McCloud, et al.— A story about a group of kids forming a cartoonists club and making comics that’s also an intro to basic comics making and concepts. I’ve been wanting to read a bit more comics theory. (I’ve read Understanding Comics, but that was a while ago) Anyways this was cute and fun, but didn’t really scratch my comics theory itch. Would probably be good to give to a kid who is interested in comics though.

Supergirl's Family Vacation written by Brandon T. Snider, art by Sarah Leuver— This is so charming! It’s one of those graphic novels that’s its own little continuity – Supergirl is 13 and lives with her cousin Superman and his family and feels overlooked as a superhero. Anyway she convinces them all to go on vacation and then adventure happens! They go on a space road trip! Natasha Irons is there (she’s Supergirl’s best friend) Lois gets to be awesome but doesn’t steal the scene. There's a short scene of Batman and Wonder Woman getting instructions to take care of the stuff while they are away!

The whole thing is just very warm. I love the manga influenced art, the expressions are great, the colors are great! At one point there are magical girl-esqe transformation scenes. It’s very cute and sweet!

Batman & Robin Eternal by James Tynion IV et al— This did a much better job than Batman Eternal at being a story about legacy, and was just more cohesive in general. Only being half as long probably helped some. I read this when I was sick and bit out of it so I feel like some bits of it went over my head.

Laid-Back Camp Vol. 15-17 by Afro— While I’m on my slice-of-life manga kick I thought it would be nice to get caught up with this series.. It’s still one of my favorites of the genre, it's got food, female friendship, and great landscapes. It does make me sad that I am too disabled to go camping though.

Lightfall books 2-4 by Tim Probert— I was going to read these a bit slower, but they were due at the library so I had to hurry up a bit. This series is really good! I love the art, it's evocative, plus there are great landscapes! Also I didn’t say last time but there is a very good cat! The story went in some unexpected directions and I want to know what happens next! Too bad it's going to be a while before the next book is out.

A new season of my beloved wacky Chinese reality show The Truth has started airing and I'm excited for it! It's been a while since I watched anything.

Last time I save up my notes on longer things until I had finished them, but this time I've read a bunch of shorter things, so have another post sooner that I thought!

The Girl & the Galdurian by Tim Probert— A middle grade fantasy graphic novel about a girl and a Galdurian(a kind of frog person) on a quest together. I really love the art, the colors are lovely and there’s lots of awesome landscapes. The story is fun so far too. It’s slowly explaining how the world works in a way I really enjoy. I have the rest of the series out form the library

Spirit World by Alyssa Wong et al.— I’ve been eyeing this since I saw it highlighted somewhere for AAPI heritage month. Turns out it is really good! It's a comic in the DC universe inspired by Chinese myths and legends. The main character, Xanthe, can travel between the spirit world and the ordinary world. They can also make themselves items out of joss paper. I did not know in advance that this features Cassadra Cain (batgirl) but I was very happy that it did. I loved her Batgirl hanfu! This was a fun story, with great colorful art, and fun magic!
Content notes: Deadnaming, main character died as a child (but is alive-ish now)

Batman: Eternalby Scott Snyder et al— I think my completionist tendencies overwhelmed my normal good sense to stop reading stuff I’m not enjoying. I sometimes have trouble with that for things I’m reading for reasons other than just fun. Anyways I think this wasn’t worth it. It had some good character moments but overall was kinda incoherent, both plotwise and thematically. I think there are interesting stories that could be told about Batman’s legacy but this isn’t really it, and only tries to be some of the time

Yotsuba&! #15 by Kiyohiko Azuma— I got confused about whether I had read this or not. Turns out I had but once I had it out from the library I decided to read it again. Extremely charming! I love the rock hunting part!

Detective Beans & the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen— A very cute kids graphic novel about a very cute kitten looking for his missing hat! Extremely cute, with bright colorful adorable art! (My one complaint is that the police show up for a hot second and are portrayed pretty positively)

Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy— A graphic novel about a muslim teen girl who moves from a place where she is the only hijabi girl to Dearborn, Michigan where there is a large muslim community and has a bit of an identity crisis about it

I’ve been saving up these notes until I finish some of the longer things and that means they’ve been getting fewer and further between. But I do have more to say about each thing!

Five Worlds by Mark Siegel, Alexis Siegel, Xanthe Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun— This series of five MG science fantasy graphic novels. There are multiple moons that the characters travel between and also magic which makes for a fun mix. Three children must go on a quest together to save the world. Occasionally the problems they face are a little too parallel to those of our world. For example their worlds are heating up, and it's going to be a disaster if no one does anything. And I found the similarities a little stressful. But mostly the story was lot of fun, with cool worldbuilding. The art is really good, very colorful and fun, but also surprisingly easy to follow what is going on from panel to panel even when the action gets complicated. The environments and backgrounds are also really good.

Superman vs. Meshi by Satoshi Miyagawa, Kai Kitago (Illustrator), Wes Abbott (Letterer), trans Sheldon Drzka— So you know those slice of life manga where everyone goes on in detail about how good the food is? This is one of those with Superman as the main character. He’s become obsessed with Japanese chain restaurants and so goes to Japan on his lunch breaks – it’s very cute.

Superman is so excited to eat food! One time he got confused about which kanji was for beef and which was for pork which I found very relatable. He also brings his fellow superheroes and family to come eat with him resulting in some cute moments. (thought I can not suspend my disbelief to believe that a bunch of old people from Kannas would be happy to sit on the floor and eat sushi)

I think this is much more successful as a foodie slice of life manga than it is as a superhero comic, but I don’t really think it's trying to be a superhero comic. (But if someone came to this expecting more typical superhero stuff they would probably be confused)

Content notes: Fat phobia - mostly off hand comments about gaining weight, but there was one issue where it was more of focus. Also non consensual memory wiping

Let's Eat Together, Aki and Haru, vol 1 by Makoto Taji, trans Unknow— Reading Superman vs Meshi made me want to read more slice of life manga, so I picked up this one about two college roommates eating together. It’s tagged a yaoi so I think they’ll get together at some point but right now it's just gentle pinning and blushing. Since this is about college students is about simple and easy foods, and there are recipes. It's cute and charming.

Batgirl vol 3 (2009) by Bryan Q. Miller et al.— I have a lot of feelings about Stephine Brown – some of which have to do with her political/fandom history. The first time I learned that there had been more than one Robin was years ago reading discourse about her death, and I just feel fiercely protective of her. All this is to say that I was excited to read this series where she is the star!

It’s fun! I don’t love the way it sets up a “Steph has always been a fuck up" narrative (That doesn’t track with my reading of earlier comics, though I did skip War Games) But otherwise I really like this version of Steph. And I love seeing her working together with and being supported by other women!

A few days ago I did something in the middle of the night that agitated my foot and its been more painful ever since. I've been spending even more time sitting and reading as result. At least the cats are happy. Anyways have some thoughts on my recent reading:

The Prettiest Star written by Jadzia Axelrod, art by Jess Taylor—I picked this up because it's about an alien princess who is disguised as a human teen boy. I was hoping it would hit some crossdressing girl media troupes. However the disguise stuff was pretty much just a straightforward metaphor for trans-ness. It was a cute story but it wasn't the thing that I hoped it would be. I did appreciate that the town it took place in was called Ozma Gap though

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girlvol 8-12 by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, Derek Charm et al— These are still very fun! I love Doreen and Nancy’s friendship a lot.

I appreciate that this references the myth of Redemptive violence and all but I don't really think it's making a coherent moral point or like succeeding in refuting the myth here. (I’m not sure that you can do that and be a superhero story – its a genre that’s built on punching people being cool)

Mostly my read through of Squirrel Girl has been technically a re-read though it was all long enough ago that I didn’t remember much, but these last couple of volumes I hadn’t gotten to. It’s nice to have finished it all now.

The Mystery of the Meanest Teacher: A Johnny Constantine Graphic Novel by Ryan North and Derek Charm—One of the things I checked out when I was wondering what Ryan North was up to recently. John Constantine is a bitter British magician who shows up in fics occasionally to help with inadvisable magic, but I don't really know much about him. This is a graphic novel about him as a kid. I can’t really speak to how this related to his other comic appearances but it's very cute and fun as its own thing.

Batman: Bruce Wayne, Murderer/Fugitive by Greg Rucka et al —The next big bat family crossover after No Man’s Land. Bruce Wayne is accused of murder, which of course creates a lot of problems. I really liked some parts of this (people teaming up to solve a mystery!) and really didn’t like other bits (The prison sequences made me want to yell at someone about prisoners deserving human rights, and what even was going on with Azrael?)

Back in January I said I was going to make “comfort” my media theme for the first quarter of the year and then think about if I wanted to change. The first quarter of 2026 has been over for a bit. I’ve been having an amazing reading year so far! Other media not so much – I’ve been watching things only with other people, but that’s fine. Honestly I’ve not been thinking about my media theme much. So I guess it's going fine? I don’t see any need to change it anyways.

But now that I am thinking about my theme I kinda want to watch another crossdressing girl drama – those are so fun and comforting.

And now for some thoughts on recent media. It’s been a bit because I was busy and sick – but I’m doing better now.

NewsPrints by Ru Xu —Sometimes I read a thing that it seems like I should be really into and I'm just like "This is nice" That's how I feel about this book. It's got a crossdressing girl, cool diesel punk tech, found family! I'm not sure why I don't love it. (I started reading the squeal but it was somewhat darker and I didn’t really want to deal with that.)

Justice Society of America vol 1 and 2 by Geoff Johns, Mikel Janín et al. —I ended up reading this for convoluted reasons: I read Stargirl and the Lost Children because it had an appearance by a minor character that I was curious about, and then I wanted to know what happened next, which is told here. I would have liked even more lost children. But really the problem with this is that its too much story for the space, everything happens very fast and there is not enough time to get to know the characters. Probably I’m expected to come in already knowing and caring about some of them, but since I didn’t it really just felt like no one got much space to be interesting.

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner—This queer regency romance is billed as “inspired by Jane Austen and queer history” but you could just as easily call it “a queer retelling of Emma”. I enjoyed it! I love how expressive the faces are. Also I really appreciated the facts and references in the back. And It’s super cool that all of the clothing is based on existing surviving garments or historical fashion plates!

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girlvol 1-2 by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, et al— this continues to be very fun! Featuring such delights as dinosaurs and a zine issues!

Nezha (2019)— I watched this Chinese animated movie with my group watch discord. So I generally I write up notes on each item for these posts a day or two after finishing it so it will be fresh in my mind (Then I wait until I have several things so I can post them all together) But this time I had to run off after watching Nezha and now its been a week so I don’t remember this as well as I’d like. It was fun though.
Content Note traumatic childbirth, gross bodily fluids

I've been meaning to write a rec list inspired by all the graphic novels and comics I've been reading recently for a while, but I kept getting sick or distracted. But I've finally finished it so you can go check it out here!

I think I've talked about most of these in my Media Roundup posts but you can think of this as the highlights version.

Have some more thoughts about media!

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girlvol 1-2 by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, et al— Remember last time when I was like “maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl”? Well I decided to go for it and that was a great idea, thanks past me. These are so much fun! I enjoy Doreen’s unconventional approach to problem solving and her general enthusiasm for everything! I’m also glad that they kept the letters sections in the collected volumes – I love getting to see all the cute cosplay and squirrel pictures.

(Reading this had made me think about the were a bunch of girl centric fun comics around 2015. I wish that trend had continued)

Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— The final Lumberjanes graphic novel. Pretty cute, though I do feel that these graphic novels aren’t as good overall as the main series.

Mamo by Sas Milledge— I really liked this fantasy graphic novel about two young women trying to deal with a town where the magic has gone wrong. The art was so good! Lots of big sweeping landscapes, but also great details. Lots of excellent birds too!

( Batman: No Man's Land and Batgirls )

I’ve been sick for the last week or so which meant there was a lot of time to sit around reading but I didn’t have a lot of energy to write things up. But now I’m doing better so have a media roundup! (This isn’t everything I read while sick because some of it I didn’t have the energy to write up, and also I’ve been slowly reading Batman: No Man’s Land and if I write something about it, I’m going to do so after I finish the whole story. )

Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi— For kiddo’s school book club. This is so not my kind of book and I wouldn’t have read it if the kiddo hadn’t insisted. I just find contemporary books with political themes really really stressful! So this book about a Syrian-American boy in 2016-2017 was really not my cup of tea. So I think it was doing ok at being the book it wanted to be, but that book is not for me. Also the whole book was in poetry, and I don't think that actually added much – but also I’m not really a poetry person.

Krypto: The Last Dog of Krypton by Ryan North and Mike Norton— Since I've been reading a lot of superhero stuff an algorithm showed me this, and it's got a cute dog and is written by Ryan North so I thought I'd check it out (What has Ryan North been up to since Squirrel Girl? Maybe I should find out. Maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl)* This was a bit darker than I was expecting! And did really feature the elements of North’s style that I remember enjoying alot (witty dialogue and certain wacky over the top-ness) Though still mostly a sweet story. (Content note: abusive training/animal harm, animal death, children in peril)

Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks and Lumberjanes: Campfire Songs— These are single issue Lumberjanes stories by a bunch of different writers and artists. I enjoyed the variety! I think my favorite story was the one that had Last Unicorn vibes (Look I watched that movie a lot as a kid)

Lumberjanes: The Infernal Compass by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— Lumberjanes original graphic novel – this was honestly a little disappointing, I didn’t feel like it really captured the vibe of the original comic. It did not help that this was one of those graphic novels with a very limited color palette (black, white and green) and I really missed the colorfulness!

Lumberjanes: The Shape of Friendship by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— Another lumberjanes graphic novel – I liked this one a lot better. It probably helped that my expectations were lowered after the first one but I do think it was a better story overall as well.

The Ribbon Skirt: A Graphic Novell by Cameron Mukwa— A middle grade graphic novel about Anang, a two-spirit and nonbinary Anishinaabe kid, who wants to wear a ribbon skirt to an upcoming powwow. This is very sweet! There are talking turtle spirits! There’s also Anang’s friend who is uncomfortable with Anang’s identity and kinda transphobic about it as heads up

* after writing this I did look up what Ryan North has been up to, some library holds have been placed. Also I noticed that he has PDF’s of all of his academic papers available on his website and I think that’s very charming and helpful of him.

The last several days my foot has been extra painful and I have been very grumpy about it. It’s really unpleasant and I would like to stop being grumpy already. But I have been reading things while trying to rest my foot and distract myself so have some thoughts:

Ghost Circus written by Adrienne Kress art by Jade Zhang— MG graphic novel about, what else: a ghost circus. The story here didn’t really grab me, but I loved the art, especially of the circus performances. (content note: ghost kids, child in peril)

Lumberjanes, Vol. 15-20 by Shannon Watters, et al.— I have now read all of the main series of these! There’s still some extra stories and graphic novels to check out, but the main thing feels complete. Vol 19 where the campers decide to do one last thing before the end of camp was especially charming. The ending was a bit rushed but narratively satisfying. This whole series was very good and fun and I’m glad I came back to it and read the second half.

Gotham Academy Second Semester— The second Gotham Academy series. This one is all one long arc where the first one was more episodic. I didn’t like this quite as much as the first series, which I adored. Its a little bit darker and less fun. But I still love Maps and Olive and their friendship. I’m sad there aren’t more of these, but at least there are a few more stories where these characters show up for me to read. (Maps reminds me of very early Tim and I think it would be fun if they hung out, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.)

Batman, Vol. 6: Abyss by Joshua Williamson et al— I read this because it contains a story featuring Maps from Gotham Academy. That story was great! (Well except for the fact that some of the art of Japanese characters was bordering on racist caricature– that was not good at all!) The rest of it wasn’t bad– a little confusing because so much of it referenced other story lines and I have no idea what’s going on in comics this decade.

Kindred Dragons by Sarah Mensinga— A very sweet MG graphic novel about a girl who really wants a dragon egg. She lives in a world where fairies bring some girls dragon eggs – but it mostly runs in families and she isn’t from a “kindred” family. It’s set in Canada which confused me at first, but works for the vibe. The book says “volume 1” very prominently so I was a little worried that it would end on a cliffhanger but it's a complete story.

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Entries tagged with sequential art

Media Roundup: Misc Comics Again

Media Roundup: Sometimes Things are a Lot

Media Roundup: Comics, Cities, ect

Media Roundup: More of the Same

Media Roundup: So Many Comics

New Post at Lady Business: Slice-of-life Manga Rec List

Media Roundup: Lots of Thoughts

Media Roundup: Lots of Short Things

New Post at Lady Business: "Superhero Comics I’d Actually Recommend"

Media Roundup: Library Mini Challenge

Media Roundup: Pre-Trip Reading

Media Roundup: Misc Sequential Art

Media Roundup: Some Shorter Things

Media Roundup: Food and Friendship

Media Roundup: Mostly Superheroes

Media Roundup: Mini Update on Reading Goals

New Post At Lady Business: Graphic Novel Rec list

Media Roundup: Awesome Girls!

Media Roundup: On the Mend (I hope)

Media Roundup: Grumpy Foot Pain Edition