World's Finest Comics #217

Another in a small batch of comics gifted to me by my brother-in-law.

Title: World's Finest Comics
Issue: 217
Date: May, 1973
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Bob Haney
Artist: Dick Dillin, Murphy Anderson

After a sequence of mishaps, Metamorpho ends up with all of the abilities of Superman and Batman, in addition to his own powers. Eager to used his newfound powers for good, Metamorpho ends up upstaging both Superman and Batman, who become jealous of all of the attention that Metamorpho is getting, and decide to defect to one of America's enemy nations where they pledge loyalty to a military dictator. Metamorpho is sent to bring Superman and Batman back to America... by any means necessary.

There is a plot twist, as one might expect, that reveals that Superman and Batman were actually working for the cause of good, but they end up admitting that they really were jealous of Metamorpho, so not all of their obnoxious behavior is quite explained away. The villain, the dictator of the imaginary enemy nation, is basically a walking set of cliches, but really, so are Batman and Superman in this story. Metamorpho, meanwhile comes off as reasonably sympathetic. His actual battles against Batman and Superman are generally goofy, but he does manage to drop a couple of good chemistry facts here and there as he uses his elemental powers.

This was harmless fun, although it relied pretty heavily on Superman and Batman acting in ways that most fans would consider out-of-character for the sake of the plot.

Rating: 4.5/10 

Tetragrammaton Labyrinth Volume 5

From the books I unpacked out of storage.

Title: Tetragrammaton Labyrinth
Issue: Volume 5
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Date: May, 2009
Writer: Ei Itou, Shannon Fay
Artist: Ei Itou
Letterer: Aristotle Licuanan
Editor: Shanti Fader, Adam Arnold

Demon-hunters Meg and Angela arrive in Heidelberg, Germany, searching for the source of power that will activate Angela's magical Anathema scythe. They first encounter two Roma sisters who are suffering mistreatment at the hands of humans who are just as evil as any of the demons that Meg and Angela have dealt with.

Their investigations also lead them to an undine who has been drowning locals in a nearby river, and then finally to the secrets of the city itself.

The first two chapters in this volume are essentially monster-of-the-week tales that stand on their own reasonably well. The authors were clearly making some attempts to be respectful of Roma culture, but still ended up playing into a fair amount of stereotypes. The second story involved a bit of unnecessary complication with the inclusion of a second mythical creature, but was visually stunning.

The final chapter in this volume is much more closely tied to the overall plot of the series, and features a big moment when the heroes play into the hands of the villain, and boy does he let them know it with some serious villain monologuing. This had some impressive visuals, but it also featured a lot of moments where it was hard to tell exactly what was going on. 

All of this was a bit excessively dramatic, which I realize is part of the point, but it did make it a bit difficult to take any of it all that seriously.

Rating: 4.5/10

Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures Volume 6

Second of two books bought from the book sale shelf at the Wilbraham Public Library in Wilbraham MA USA. Both were originally library books in that library.

Title: Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
Issue: Volume 6
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics, Lucas Books
Date: August, 2006
Writer: Fillbach Brothers, Mike Kennedy, Haden Blackman
Artist: Fillbach Brothers, Stewart McKenney, Rick Lacy
Colorist: Ronda Pattinson, Dan Jackson
Letterer: Michael David Thomas
Cover: Fillbach Brothers, Dan Jackson

Four short stories set during the Clone Wars era of Star Wars. 

First up we have Jedi Saesee Tiin basically looking for trouble in a frontier town and befriending a young thief, before pulling off a heist of his own. This was fun, but relied a bit too heavily on the villains being complete idiots.

In the second story, the H.O.P.E. squad (High Orbit Precision Entry. No, really.) pulls off a rescue of a Jedi trapped in a high atmospheric station on a gas giant planet. Good action, although there was a bit of a stylistic clash with some grim themes and a somewhat goofy-looking Jedi character in a bit of a silly predicament.

The third story was entirely grim with Ki-Adi-Mundi facing the realities of leading half-trained Jedi apprentices into battle.

Last up was more of a buddy-cop story with Plo Koon and Kit Fisto having a running disagreement over their philosophies toward the criminal justice system while they try to deal with a prison riot.

These stories were a bit limited by page-count restrictions, but still managed to deliver a decent amount of action and some emotional punch in spite of me not knowing these character or the Clone Wars setting very well.

Rating: 8/10

The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part One

Bought from the book sale shelf at the Wilbraham Public Library in Wilbraham MA USA. This was originally a library book in that library.

Title: The Legend of Korra: Turf War
Issue: Book One
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: 2017
Writer: Michael Dante DiMartino
Artist: Irene Koh
Colorist: Vivian Ng
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Cover: Heather Campbell, Jane Bak

This is the official sequel to the Legend of Korra animated series. I haven't watched the show, but this was relatively easy to get into. Apparently, the show ended with Korra and Asami walking together into the sunset. Well, the Spirit World, actually. We get a montage of them having a bit of respite there before an angry spirit gives them the boot back to the world of mortals and mortal troubles.

Also, they're now officially a couple, so this story is really mostly a bunch of coming out scenes, almost all of which are sweet and adorable. We get an overview of how same-sex relationships are viewed by the various nations of the Avatar world. The level of acceptance varies quite a bit, and there is some tension about how delicately they want be about telling people, although it's pretty clear most of their friends already knew.

There is also a new villain introduced here, an ambitious gang leader named Tokuga who quickly rises in power while different political factions, corporations, and criminal enterprises vie for control in Republic City, and Korra tries to keep peace between mortals and spirits while also helping with the city's ongoing refugee crisis.

Tokuga is an effective villain, and the political challenges have the potential for interesting plot developments, but the celebration of Korra and Asami is really the heart of this book, and it's handled nicely.

Rating: 8/10

Archie Giant Series Magazine #542

Another of the comics my brother-in-law gave me.

Title: Archie Giant Series Magazine
Issue: 542
Date: September, 1984
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: George Gladir
Artist: Samm Schwartz
Letterer: Samm Schwartz
Colorist: Barry Grossman
Editor: Victor Gorelick

Four stories featuring versions of Jughead in different historical eras. 

First up, newly-captured barbarian slave Jughead gets a tour of all of the wonders of ancient Roman civilization, and is quick to choose the barbarian lifestyle when he gets the chance. This was a pretty standard play on the absurdity of "civilized" life.

The second story, with Jughead as the court jester in a medieval fiefdom who dresses up in armor and is ordered to enter a tournament, is pure slapstick.

The best story here is the third, with Jughead as the nerdy new sheriff in an Old West town, who outsmarts a series of typical bad guys, This was a smarter rendition of the usually hapless Jughead, and it was a fun interpretation.

The last story was set around the beginning of the 20th Century with Jughead as the Luddite who's frustrated with all the new technology his friends are into like motion pictures and motor cars.  He finally finds a new invention he can get behind when he tries is first ice cream soda. Now there's the Jughead we know and love.

Harmless fun, but more misses than hits on the jokes.

Rating: 5/10

Just One More Hug: A For Better or For Worse Collection

 

From the bookshelf at my mother-in-law's house.

Title: Just One More Hug: A For Better or For Worse Collection
Date: March, 1990 (originally published in 1984)
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
Writer: Lynn Johnston
Artist: Lynn Johnston

This is the second For Better or For Worse collection I've read, but this one comes earlier in the series than Keep the Home Fries Burning (reviewed here). I continue to love the art style that mixes some cartoonish elements with realistic bodies and a generally cozy feel that matches the tone of the writing. The punchlines can be a little hit-or-miss, but definitely more hit than miss. I did find that this book had fewer ongoing plot elements than what I found in the later compilation, although there are still some here.

Elly's ongoing interactions with her bachelor-lifestyle brother with their looks back at their childhood together are a lot of fun. So is the family's visit to their "country cousins" out in farm country. A storyline involving Michael dealing with a bully at school gets a too-quick and convenient resolution, although I did enjoy the nostalgia vibes of Michael spending time at the arcade.

This continues to be some of the best slice-of-life humor out there, and it gets a lot of the little interactions of family life spot-on.

Rating: 7.5/10

Supergirl #4

My brother-in-law gave me a couple of old comics he had lying around. This is one of them.

Title: Supergirl
Issue: 4
Date: March,1973
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cary Bates
Artist: Artie Saaf, Vincent Colletta
Letterer: Ben Oda
Cover: Bob Oksner

Just as Linda Danvers is hitting it off with a possible new boyfriend at a pool party, an earthquake strikes, and Linda has to pull a quick disappearing act to go and save the day as Supergirl.  But while she is off doing her thing, her new crush suffers a potentially fatal head injury. A little bit of good old Kandorian super-science soon has him feeling good as new, well, better than new, actually. There's just one problem: The nice guy act was just an act.

This actually could have been a much longer and more interesting story, but it got rushed to an abrupt conclusion by page-count limitations. David the romantic interest and villain had some decent potential. Linda's supporting cast, in full 1970s vibe, are pretty cool too.

Backup story has Zatanna trapped in the stone that once held King Arthur's sword by a rather goofy villain. She tries a few different things to escape, and I spend time trying to read words backwards instead of paying attention to the story, until she eventually finds something that works. The actual resolution is amusing, and we get a panel of Zatanna speaking Welsh... forward... I think.

Both stories were decent harmless fun, but I would have liked to see more done with the Supergirl one.

Rating: 5.5/10

Catwoman: When In Rome

Bought at Savers in West Springfield MA USA in 2024. This copy was originally a library book in the Springfield Public Library system.

Title: Catwoman: When In Rome
Date: 2005
Publisher: DC Comics 
Writer: Jeph Loeb 
Artist: Tim Sale 
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Editor: Mark Chiarello

Hardcover collection of the original six-issue series. Catwoman travels to Rome to investigate a mob boss with ties to her own backstory. She brings the Riddler along to help with the detective work and soon finds herself in the company of a handsome mob hitman. She's also plagued by nightmares, and beset by a bunch of villains she thought she's left behind in Gotham.

This is one of those stories that is loaded with annoying contradictions and seeming problems until the big plot twist makes it all make at least a reasonable amount of sense. There's still a fair amount of suspension of disbelief required, especially with one villain who really only seems to be there arbitrarily for the sake of the visual of their showdown with Catwoman.

I felt like the story leaned a bit too heavily into the dream sequences in spite of the big reveal at the end. And although there was an effort to make use of the flavor of the setting, the story still could have done better in that regard.

The plot twists at the end were good, but the getting there had too many repetitive elements.

Rating: 5.5/10

My Beijing

I bought this at my school's book fair in Shanghai, China, in 2022.

Title: My Beijing
Date: 2018
Publisher: Graphic Universe (a division of Lerner Publishing Group)
Writer: Nie Jun
Artist: Nie Jun

Four stories about Yu'er, a young girl with a disability who lives in a Beijing hutong with her grandfather. These magic realism stories are illustrated in a whimsical style and filled with visual details of the old Beijing neighborhoods that inspired them. All four stories are good, but my favorite was The Letter, which explores Yu'er's grandfather's backstory and has a little bit of a time travel twist.

This was a feel-good book with an art style that matched the storytelling style perfectly.

Rating: 9/10

Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures

From a Little Free Library in Milton MA USA.

Title: Ember and the Island of Lost Creatures
Date: 2023
Publisher: Harper Alley (HarperCollins)
Writer: Jason Pamment
Artist: Jason Pamment

Ember, a teacup-sized boy who lives alone in a city of giants, just wants to make a friend. After an attempt to leave a note in the playground of a local school goes badly, Ember meets Lua, a sea turtle who takes him away to a new life on an island with a school for creatures his size.

Making friends is still a challenge, though, and Ember is struggles to get used to life on the island with its many strange plants and animals. He is also being watched closely by a mysterious cave-creature that seems to want to learn his secrets.

I loved the worldbuilding in this, which provided a whimsical setting that di
dn't feel the need to answer every possible question. I also enjoyed the story's commitment to nonviolent resolution of conflicts while still having plenty of plot twists and drama. 

This was a feel-good fantasy story filled with delightful bits of detail everywhere.

Rating: 8.5/10

Black Knight Volume 3

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Black Knight
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2007
Publisher: BLU (Tokyopop)
Writer: Kai Tsurugi
Artist: Kai Tsurugi

I'm picking this one up in Volume 3, and it's political-intrigue-heavy, so I probably missed some of what was going on with the overall situation in the setting, which is a set of fictional vaguely musketeer-era nations. The story is a romance between a prince and the knight assigned to guard him.

Christian, the privileged prince is being sent on an undercover diplomatic mission, traveling in a caravan while the threat of war looms. His lover, Zeke, the Black Knight of the kingdom, is there to keep him out of trouble. Spoiler: He does not.

There's some fighting, and some chances for the super-competent Zeke to be the vulnerable one, followed by a very tense bit of negotiating with a rebel group known as the Falcon's Talon. 

The character interactions were great, especially in quiet moments. The action was well-drawn but felt a little bit repetitive, but it was effective in moving the plot along. There was some really lovely art in this, and enough story and worldbuilding to get me interested in learning more about these characters and their setting.

Rating: 7/10

The Baby-Sitters Club Volume 7 Boy-Crazy Stacey

Bought from the book sale shelf at the Wilbraham Public Library, Wilbraham MA USA.

Title: The Baby-Sitters Club
Issue: Volume 7: Boy-Crazy Stacey
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2019
Writer: Gale Galligan, Ann M. Martin
Artist: Gale Galligan
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Editor: Cassandra Pelham Fulton, David Levithan

Mallory Pike, one of the members of the Baby-Sitters Club, has seven younger siblings. So when her parents plan a vacation on the Jersey Shore, they decide to hire Mallory's friends Stacey and Mary Anne to come along and handle some of the kid-wrangling so that Mallory gets to have an actual vacation. Which she does. The focus of this story is Stacey, who is soon distracted from her duties when she develops a crush on a cute lifeguard.

The crush plotline is pretty straightforward, but once that runs its course, the story turns very sweet. It was also nice to see that Stacey's medical situation (she has type I diabetes) was acknowledged but not used as a main plot point. And I loved the depiction on the Jersey Shore, especially in Gale Galligan's montage scenes. Galligan has done a great job of picking up where Raina Telgemeier left off, and her work on the setting, and on the characters' facial expressions and body language is great.

The postcards that introduce each chapter are also a nice touch. This was a fun feel-good story.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Complete Jon Sable Freelance Volume 1

Bought at Comicazi, Davis Square, Somerville MA USA.

Title: The Complete Jon Sable Freelance
Issue: Volume 1
Date: April, 2005
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Mike Grell
Art: Mike Grell
Editor: Mike Gold

Collecting the first six issues of Mike Grell's classic series for First Comics in the 1980s.

Jon Sable is a bounty hunter and mercenary-for-hire based in New York City, a former Olympic athlete who learned the mercenary trade in the African wars in the 1970s. The first two stories are standalone adventures in the current continuity that introduce Sable, as well has his alter-ego, bestselling childrens author BB Flemm. The opening story also features an appearance by President Reagan.

From there, the rest of this volume uncovers Sable's tragic backstory, with the murder of his family driving him on a relentless path of revenge, inflicting slasher-film levels of violence on the poachers that were responsible for killing his wife and children.

Grell does a great job with the action, nicely treading the line between realism and over-the-top mayhem. Real history and politics are worked into the story, and there are some entertaining twists even if the overall revenge plot is pretty standard fare.

The lighter side to the story, telling how Sable ended up in his double life as an author of childrens books, is genuinely funny and goes a long way toward humanizing the overall story.

Rating: 8/10

Avatar: The Last Airbender Volume 1

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2006
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Bryan Kanietzko, Michael Dante Dimartino
Artist: Anna Kernbaum, John Lo, Louis Csontos, Monalisa J. de Asis
Letterer: Thomas Montalvo-Lagos
Editor: Zachary Rau

Full-color adaptation of the opening episode of the animated series. Katara and Sokk,a of the south-pole Water Tribe discover Aang, the last of the Air Nomads, who has been frozen in ice for more than a century.

While this sticks closely to the story from the animated show, that story is excellent, and these opening moments do a nice job of capturing the mix of humor and tenderness that makes this story so special. This is a nice introduction to the major characters, with the possible exception of Sokka, who is stuck mostly in the comic relief role. I loved seeing the beginnings of the connection between Aang and Katara, and the worldbuilding flows nicely with the story.

Rating: 8.5/10

Venus Versus Virus Volume 7

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Venus Versus Virus
Issue: Volume 7
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
Date: September, 2009
Writer: Atsushi Suzumi
Artist: Atsushi Suzumi
Letterer: Roland Amago
Editor: Adam Arnold

So this is volume 7 out of 8, and I'm jumping in here, which is not ideal. I did end up pleasantly surprised, however, by how into the story I was by the end of this volume as it moves toward the climax of the ongoing plot.

There is a crew of magical girls who are training to battle demonic entities known as "Viruses". Among these are best friends Sumire and Lucia, who have now been involved with this fight for a year. Sumire is planning a surprise party for Lucia's birthday, but Lucia makes a discovery about Sumire's boyfriend that threatens to destroy everything they've worked for.

The ending of this volume is delightfully dramatic.

Rating: 8/10

Being Self Directed

I found this in a Little Free Library at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill NY USA.

Title: Being Self Directed
Writer: Zeedikay
Artist: Zeedikay

Mini-zine. If you've ever been told to "just be yourself", this tiny zine is an answer to that idea and a reflection on it. With just a few words per page, this still managed to get me thinking. 

Rating: 6/10

Y: The Last Man: Book 1: Unmanned

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Y: The Last Man
Issue: Book 1
Date: 2003
Publisher: DC Comics (Vertigo)
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan 
Penciler: Pia Guerra 
Inker: Jose Marzan, Jr. 
Colorist: Pamela Rambo
Letterer: Clem Robins 

Collects the first five issues of Y: The Last Man, featuring the story of the last man on Earth when a plague (biological attack? something supernatural? something else?) instantly kills every male on the planet except for the protagonist, Yorick and his pet monkey.

The thought-experiment aspect of this can be a bit frustrating in places as I was left trying to make some sense out of the setup scenario, but of course the point here is the symbolism more so than the chain of logic, and as symbolism this is great, both in the story an embedded in the art. It's also a really interesting story that does a good job of building tension with plenty of violent action while introducing characters and setting up longterm plotlines. This is a story with a lot going on.

The character of Yorick, an escape artist, has some really clever moments, and his pairing with a hardcore intelligence agent makes for fun chemistry.

As a side note, I had just finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, which also features an escape artist protagonist, and included a bonus story in which the character of Sam Clay meets none other than a young Brian K. Vaughan. I didn't review that book on this blog, but you can find my review here.

I was late to the party as far as reading this series, having only previously read the first issue, but this was a really good start.

Rating: 8/10

Return To Labyrinth Volume 1

From a Little Free Library in Wilbraham MA USA.

Title: Return To Labyrinth
Issue: Volume 1
Date: 2006
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: Jake T. Forbes
Artist: Chris Lie,
Inker: Jeremy Freeman, Robert Grabe, Alex McCaffrey, Tyler Niccum, Em Stone
Letterer: Lucas Rivera
Editor: Rob Valois
Cover: Kouyu Shurei

Manga sequel to the film Labyrinth, featuring a high school aged Toby who has grown up with secret "help" from the Goblin King whenever he makes a wish. But this has not always worked entirely in his favor. When things escalate and Toby becomes aware to the strange happenings around him, he soon finds himself in the Labyrinth world, and a pawn in the Goblin King's intrigues.

This was a nice introduction from my perspective as someone who has vague memories of the film, but isn't completely up to date on the lore and characters. The story jumps right into things, leaving the awkward high school drama and family issues behind quickly and introducing a bunch of new characters. Particularly intriguing is Moppet, the servant of the goblin mayor. 

The artwork is a nice blend of manga style with the influence of Jim Henson's work, and the action flows nicely.

Rating: 8/10

Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists

From the book sale shelf at the East Longmeadow Public Library, East Longmeadow MA USA.

Title: Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight For Their Rights
Date: 2019
Publisher: Ten Speed Press (Penguin Random House)
Writer: Mikki Kendall
Artist: A. D'Amico

Gorgeously illustrated overview of this history of women's rights and activism. The format and scope of this means it's going for breadth rather than depth, but it works well in terms of highlighting plenty of history that readers can look into further. 

The framing story, a group of students in a future AI-powered classroom guided by a holographic narrator is a bit clunky at first, and a little bit cringe in terms of the concept of education being handed over to AI, but that aspect of the story quickly fades into the background in favor of the actual history being presented, and the student characters end up serving an important role as critics pointing out when some of this historical figures presented had their problematic aspects. 

The book does a good job of supporting its intersectional approach, and presents a diverse range of historical figures, including many I wasn't familiar with. It achieves its purpose as a jumping-off point for further research and reflection.

Rating: 8/10

Batman: Gates of Gotham #1

 

Bought at Dollar Tree in Enfield CT USA.

Title: Batman: Gates of Gotham
Issue: 1
Date: June 2026 (reprint from 2011)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder, Kyle Higgins
Artist: Trevor McCarthy
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Mike Marts, Janelle Asselin. Katie Kubert
Cover: Trevor McCarthy

Opening with a flashback to 1881, and then moving foward to an attack on three of Gotham's original bridges, this story focuses on deep connections between prominent families of Gotham. With the Batman in a race against time to find the person responsible for bombing the bridges, the first clues lead to the Penguin.

This is a good classic-feeling Batman story that's in the regular continuity, and rooted in the past history of Gotham City. It's nice to see multiple members of the Bat-Family involved, and Penguin has a nice scene.

Not all of the art was as effective as it could have been, but a lot was good, especially in the flashback to the 19th Century. This was a fun start to what looks to be a satisfying story.

Rating: 7/10

Shogun Warriors #12

I picked this up at the Spring 2026 Brimfield Antiques Shows in Brimfield MA USA.

Title: Shogun Warriors
Issue: 12 
Date: 1979
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Doug Moench 
Artist: Herb Trimpe, Mike Esposito
Colorist: George Bell
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Allen Milgrom

The Shogun Warrior pilots are summoned to prevent a worldwide disaster as a meteor hurtles toward Earth. So, this was a total blast of nostalgia for me, as Shogun Warriors was one of the first Marvel series I was into as a kid. The other series I loved at that time was Marvel's Godzilla, so I was very excited to find a bit of a crossover happening here.

The meteor proved to be not that much of a challenge for the team of giant robots and their pilots, but that was all just a setup to reveal the return of a major villain from the early issues of Marvel's Godzilla. Reading it now, I felt like the human elements of the story were handled well, especially the easy comradery of the three pilots. There's an early scene where Genji shows up looking for crash space at Richard Carson's house in Los Angeles, resulting in a bit of a jealous tiff from Carson's girlfriend, Deena, but even that gets tempered down a bit in a follow-up scene that has Deena acting a bit more real.

The battle with the  meteor is rather anticlimactic, and it's necessary to suspend disbelief a bit around the idea that this is all actually taking place in the regular Marvel Universe continuity, but that was typical for a lot of toy-licensed books in this era. This was a great reveal when I read it as a kid and it still holds up reasonably well.

Rating: 6/10

Icelandic Hot Dog 101

From this year's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Icelandic Hot Dog 101
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: March, 2026
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

Everything you need to know about hot dogs in Iceland, courtesy of the author's recent travels. This hit several topics I love: Travel, food in general, and hot dogs, particularly regional hot dog variations! There's even a bit of Icelandic language in here to help you order one with everything (fried and raw onions, apple ketchup, sweet brown mustard, and remoulade). Fun bit of regional food lore in micro-minicomic form!

Rating: 7.5/10 

Moomin Adventures Book 1

Bought from the used book shelf at the Wilbraham Public Library, Wilbraham MA USA.

Title: Moomin Adventures
Issue: Book 1
Date: 2024
Company: Drawn & Quarterly
Writer: Tove Jansson, Lars Jansson
Artist: Tove Jansson, Lars Jansson

This volume collects the Moomin newspaper strip, which was primarily published in the London Evening News. The comics presented in this volume are mostly from the mid-1950s.

The Moomins are a family of trolls, resembling cartoon hippos, created by Finnish author Tove Jansson. Her brother, Lars Jansson, eventually joined the team to assist with the comic strip and took over the work on it in the 1970s.

Most of the stories here are of the "fish-out-of-water" variety, with the Moomins serving to parody various aspects of society from the high-society culture of the French Riviera to classic literature to art and psychology. The humor ranges from very snarky satire to the completely absurdist.

The opening story was my favorite of this collection, with the whole Moomin family blundering through a vacation on the Riviera and going rapidly back and forth between rags and riches while being mostly oblivious to the expectations of society around them.

The Moomin parody of the classic desert island stories of Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson were also very entertaining. In the second half of this volume the comic strips begin to rely on characters outside of the core Moomin family, and I found these stories to be less approachable, although there was still plenty of sharp humor to be had. 

Rating: 6/10

Still Rage Monsters

From this year's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Still Rage Monsters
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: March, 2024
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

This is a sequel to the artist's Rage Monsters minicomic (me review is here), and it is more of the same. More monsters, and more rage. Monsters in this book are cranky, seriously upset, and irked, which actually seems on the mild side when one considers everything there is for these monsters to be angry about. This was a fun bit of venting.

Rating: 6.5/10 

Trans Sexual Geographies

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke, MA USA).

Title: Trans Sexual Geographies
Writer: Niamh Timmons

Personal (mostly) prose zine focused on body and relationship changes during transition, with some discussion of geographic relocation as well. This was pretty raw in terms of its head-on grappling with mental health, body image, and unhealthy relationships. It's a deeply personal narrative that is picked up in the midst of change and ends with a relationship finished but much still unresolved. Includes poetry, a couple of photos, and some small hand-drawn illustrations. This was personal and moving.

Rating: 7/10

Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures Free Comic Book Day 2025

This is a 2025 FCBD book that I picked up at Most Excellent Comics and Gaming in Enfield CT USA at Free Comic Book Day 2026.

Title: Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures Free Comic Book Day 2025
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Date: May, 2025
Writer: Dave Scheidt, Brandon Hoang
Artist: Andy Duggan, Bellbessa
Colorist: Dan Jackson, C. E. Chant
Letterer: Comicraft's Tyler Smith and Jim Betancourt
Cover: Andy Duggan

Jedi younglings Lys, Kai, and Nubs are on a training mission, dropped into a swampy wilderness by Master Yoda and tasked with a scavenger hunt. The younglings encounter a series of ever-more-fantastical monsters and come up with creative (and nonviolent) solutions to each encounter. This was a reasonable introduction to this all-ages series, although much like Marvel's old Ewoks series, the creatures felt more like generic fantasy monsters than something with the flavor of Star Wars. Still, this was fun and easy to get into and follow.

The backup story is an Avatar: The Last Airbender story featuring some interesting variations on existing characters. Their battle against Fire Nation soldiers in a ramen shop is fun, but the ending is (intentionally) a bit of a cop-out.

Rating: 5.5

Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King Free Comic Book Day 2026

From Free Comic Book Day/Comics Giveaway Day 2026 at Most Excellent Comics and Gaming, Enfield CT USA.

Title: Conan: Tides of the Tyrant King Free Comic Book Day 2026
Issue: 1
Date: May, 2026
Publisher: Titan Comics
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Jao Canola
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Comicraft's Tyler Smith
Editor: Chris Butera

This was a really interesting introduction with parallel stories of Conan fighting as a mercenary along the border of Zingara and Argos back in the Hyborian Age, and 20th century soldier fighting in World War I, and surviving as a veteran of that conflict. American soldier Stephen Costigan isn't the mythic hero that Conan is, but he survives horrors just as brutal as those of Conan's time, and eventually in the aftermath of the war, he steps into his own encounter with the dark magic of the Hyborian Age. The parallel stories are fun, and they're very nicely presented in the artwork. To make this more intriguing, the 20th century plotline is actually adapted from Robert E. Howard's pulp story "Skull-Face", which had its own references to Howard's own mythos.

The story is just an introduction, but it does a good job of setting up both timelines, and an essay at the end explains the connection to Howard's pulp writings.

Conan isn't a title that I pick up expecting to find something new and innovative, so this was a pleasant surprise, both because of the innovation and because it was honoring Robert E. Howard's legacy in doing so.

Rating: 7.5/10

Amazing Spider-Man 1000 / Queen In Black CGD 2026 #1

From Free Comic Book Day/Comics Giveaway Day 2026 at Most Excellent Comics and Gaming, Enfield CT USA.

Title: Amazing Spider-Man 1000 / Queen In Black CGD 2026
Issue: 1 
Date: June 2026
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly, Al Ewing, Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Nic Klein, Iban Coello
Colorist:  Matthew Wilson, Guru-eFX, Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna, VC's Clayton Cowles, VC's Cory Petit
Editor: Nick Lowe, Tom Groneman, Kaitlyn Lindtvedt

Due to the reshuffling of the assets of Diamond Distributors, we have two overlapping events involving free comics this year. Marvel is participating in Comics Giveaway Day, while other publishers use the familiar Free Comic Book Day logo. The day worked pretty much the same otherwise, and what we have here is a fairly standard Marvel preview book focusing on three upcoming events: The Amazingv Spider-Man #1000, Queen in Black, and The Infernal Hulk.

The Amazing Spider-Man story was the best of the three, a well-told self-contained story where the Answer has attacked the recording session for J. Jonah Jameson's latest podcast. I'm not familiar with the Answer, but the narration does a good job of explaining what he's all about, and more importantly, why this isn't the typical state of affairs for him. What follows is a pretty good dialogue-based confrontation with a satisfying resolution, and then a final page teasing Peter Parker's latest bit of family drama. This reminded me a little bit of the confrontation between the Question and the Riddler back in the Question comic in the 80s, although not quite as intense. It also felt a bit like some of Superman's stories where he's able to handle a situation without resorting to full-on violence, but still keeping Spidey's persona at the forefront. Good stuff.

In the second story, Hel (Thor's sister) has usurped Knull (king of the Symbionts) and now commands his armies. And she is invading Earth, attacking six locations at once with venomized versions of well-known Marvel Universe extraterrestrial species like Kree, Skrull, Chitauri, and so on.

This all looks scary at first, but when Spider-Man and a crew of "Spider-Friends" show up to oppose the New York landing, it ends up looking like Hel's army consists of like six dudes, and the whole invasion looks less threatening. This felt an awful lot like DC's (awful) Invasion crossover and I have a feeling it will have a similar lack of impact. That being said, the visuals in this were pretty nice, and we barely got into the story, so there is room to turn this around.

The last story was a preview of Hulk War: Infernal War, which was mostly just a rambling discussion of monsters with some grimdark visuals leading up to a full-page shot of this version of Hulk with a crew of monsters including a giant spider Shelob knockoff. There's also a dead Captain America and some other characters that I am probably supposed to recognize but didn't. Very little actually happens, so again, there's some room for this to get better, but it's not off to a good start.

Rating: 5.5/10

Little Comis

From the unread comics box.

Title: Little Comis
Writer: KC Green
Artist: KC Green

Minicomic collection of comic strips, mostly in 3-panel or 4-panel format, mostly on pretty nihilistic themes with a scattering of video game and tech references. Some cleverly done, if still rather bleak, takes intermixed with some that I just didn't get. This might have just been me not being the target audience.

Rating: 4/10

Waterways: On Geography & Disability

This was (I believe) also a Flywheel Zine Fest (Holyoke, MA USA) find, but from last year.

Title: Waterways: On Geography & Disability
Writer: Niamh Timmons

This zine is an essay linking changes in the landscape of the Seattle WA area with the author's own experiences with disability, illustrated with photos from the archive of the University of Washington. This was a pretty fascinating dive into the geography of human-engineered changes (on indigenous land) that have shaped the city of Seattle and altered the ecosystem of the region. These changes are juxtaposed with the changes the author has experienced living with disability, which add a powerful personal component to the geologic history. The alternation between the two threads serves to connect them, resulting in a piece that is moving and informative.

Rating: 7.5/10

Some Of My Favorite 'Nyms

From the 2026 Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Some Of My Favorite 'Nyms
Date: February 2025
Writer: Bee (Mossybee.com)

Fun and informative zine covering quirks of the English language. In particular, this zine covers a bunch of terms ending with -nym, including demonyms, pseudonyms, acronyms, and more. This had some fun facts, and some amusing examples, and references to Franz Kafka, Monty Haul, and Chuck Tingle. I love a good quirky zine on a really specific topic, and this one delivered.

Rating: 8/10

Rage Monsters

From this year's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Rage Monsters
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: March, 2021
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

Color minicomic depicting various creatures who are not particularly happy. I would go so far as to call them miffed. Or as the creature on the cover says, pretty freakin furious, y'all. It's not made clear what these creatures are angry about, but imaginative readers will probably have some ideas. I loved the cute monsters and the use of color in this book.

Rating: 6.5/10

Tall Creatures

From this year's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Tall Creatures
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: January, 2021
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

A tall, thin zine about tall creatures. Includes the requisite giraffe, a sheep who's cheating a bit, and a bit of lyrics from a song I remember from summer camp. Very cute and a clever use of the format.

Rating: 6.5/10

Space Pants

From this year's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: Space Pants
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: April, 2026
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

Sometimes you just find the perfect piece of apparel and need to make a zine about it. And sometimes, the perfect piece of apparel is shiny reflective pants. They end up being just the thing for the artist's trip to Iceland. Fun and cute zine about a very small bit of joy.

Rating: 7/10

The House Femme Twink and Emo Fix a Dryer

From this year's Flywheel Zine Fest in Holyoke MA USA.

Title: The House Femme Twink and Emo Fix a Dryer
Date: January, 2026
Writer: Nola QC
Artist: Nola QC

I bought this one entirely for the title. It delivers exactly what it promises. The dryer gets fixed. Raw sex appeal is involved. Takeout dinner is consumed. Cute slice of life with the characters drawn in furry style.

Rating: 7/10

A Brief Visual Survey of Goblin Culture

From the 2026 Flywheel Zine Fest.

Title: A Brief Visual Survey of Goblin Culture
Date: 2026
Writer: Jey Barnes
Artist: Jey Barnes

This collection of sketches in zine form is divided into sections covering the musical traditions, visual arts, and culinary arts of goblinkind. This was delightfully whimsical, with goblins of various shapes and sizes engaging in some very messy artforms, but clearly having a great time. The sketches were done for "Goblin Week", an annual event organized by artist Even Dahm. I really enjoyed this collection.

Rating: 8/10

Faeries' Landing Volume 3

From the shelf of unread books.

Title: Faeries' Landing
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2004
Publisher: Tokyopop
Writer: You Hyun, Tim Beedle
Artist: You Hyun
Letterer: Jeanine Han
Editor: Paul Morrissey

Faerie girl Fanta is trying to save human boy Ryang from his curse, which has doomed him to 108 failed relationships, in one of those over-ambitious plotpoints that is hoping that this series will go really, really long. While Fanta watches out for the "evil affinities" that Ryang is destined to attract, her faerie rival Medea is plotting her way back to the throne of Avalon where she has plans of becoming queen.

This had a lot going on, including lots of dialogue and jokes in tiny font, and it had trouble holding my attention. Possibly my bad for starting at Volume 3, but in spite of a decent summary to start things off, I quickly found myself pretty lost. I also had a hard time getting too hooked into the drama around Ryang's cursed lovelife. Medea's intrigues and ambitions for the throne of Avalon were a bit more interesting, but are clearly a secondary plotline. The art was lovely in places, especially when Fanta and Medea were featured. I do have a couple more volumes of this on the tbr shelf, so maybe some familiarity with the characters will help, but this felt more difficult to get into than it needed to be.

Rating: 3.5/10

Cats Who Legit Can't Deal With Y'All

From the 2025 Flywheel Zine Fest.

Title: Cats Who Legit Can't Deal With Y'All
Publisher: My Monster Hat
Date: April, 2025
Writer: Anne Thalheimer
Artist: Anne Thalheimer

Micro-sized minicomic, six interior pages plus covers. Anne loves truth in advertising. This is six pages of cartoon cats saying "No" in no uncertain terms. The lettering in this one is half the fun. Good work with a very simple idea.

Rating: 6/10

The Complete Marvel Conan the Barbarian Volume 1

Bought at last year's Brimfield Antiques Show.

Title: The Complete Marvel Conan the Barbarian
Issue: Volume 1 
Date: 1978
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Roy Thomas, Robert E. Howard
Artist: Barry Windsor Smith, Dan Adkins, Sal Buscema
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Editor: Roy Thomas, Stan Lee

Mass-market paperback collection reprinting the first three issues on Marvel's Conan the Barbarian. Brief introductions by Stan Lee (in typical Stan Lee hype style) and Roy Thomas (with a bit more insight into the history of the Conan character).

The three issues are each self-contained stories, although there is a reasonable attempt made at continuity with some prose that fills in Conan's travels and adventures between each of these episodes. This was actually pretty well done, and succeeded in helping the stories feel less disjointed.

The first story has Conan as a mercenary, fighting in a border war between Aesgaard and Vanaheim. Conan, on the Aesgaardian side because they pay more, saves the life of one of the leaders of his army and helps turn the tide of battle. The enemy, in full retreat, end up making a deal with the mysterious Shaman for supernatural aid against Aesgaard. This had an interesting bit of a plot twist at the end, and the characterization of Conan did a good job of setting the tone for the series.

The second story was a pretty familiar set of tropes. Conan gets captured by some "beast-men", enslaved, tossed into an arena, and manages to inspire the other slaves to rebel. There was a nice touch at the end, although the emphasis on the distinction between a "manling" and a "man" was silly and laid on a bit too thick.

The third story, an adaptation of Howard's "The Grey God Passes" was excellent. Beginning with a vision that Conan has, it follows his quest for revenge against the Hyperborians who briefly enslaved him, while telling the tale of several characters involved in a coming battle that will bring down warriors, kings, and even a god. This story juggled a bunch of characters and subplots while maintaining an air of tragic destiny unfolding.

These stories were reformatted a bit to fit the constraints of the mass-market paperback size, and Barry Windsor Smith is early in his career here. The necessary-at-the-time dancing around showing blood and gore hurts some of the action scenes a bit, but I still enjoyed the art style, especially on the costumes and the supernatural elements.

This was a fun piece of nostalgia that offers insights into how Conan was able to develop into such a long-running series for Marvel.

Rating: 7.5/10

Sarasah Volume 3

From the unread book shelf.

Title: Sarasah
Issue: Volume 3
Date: 2010
Publisher: Yen Press
Writer: Ryu Ryang
Artist: Ryu Ryang
Letterer: Abigail Blackman

Set in the Shilla kingdom of ancient Korea, this is a period court drama with some minor fantasy elements. Ji-Hae, a girl disguised as a boy, is training to become part of the Hwa-Rang-Do. She has feelings for Ja-Yun, a warrior recovering from an injury, and now has reason to suspect the feelings could be mutual.

Meanwhile, there is a plot against the Queen, and an investigation to try to uncover the conspiracy.

This is an exceptionally pretty book, and the courtly intrigue and drama were fun to follow, even in my position of jumping into this in the third volume. There is a lot going on here, and I found myself wishing I had a better (as in better-than-none-at-all) of Korean period costume to get a more sure sense of who everyone was and what their position was in the court. The fact that I had this train of thought is testament to how this managed to grab my interest.

I may be looking for more of this series.

Rating: 8/10

Heartstopper Volume 4

From my school's library.

Title: Heartstopper
Issue: Volume 4
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Alice Oseman
Artist: Alice Oseman

Nick and Charlie are on Summer break, and Charlie is trying to figure out how to say "I love you" to Nick for the first time. Nick is trying to find a way to help Charlie with his mental health issues.

Charlie's mental health journey becomes the major plotline for this volume, and it's handled with a good balance of realism and hope. There is also more emphasis on family relationships, after the focus for the last two books have been more on friends. The friendships are still there, and the author is very good at keeping us caught up on relationships with minor characters through small, quiet moments.

The parallel journal-based approach to narration which takes up much of the middle of this book can sometimes feel a bit clinical, although the messages are good ones and well-handled. The is some very effective family drama to end things, and a couple of bonus features at the end are charming, particularly a one-panel-per-page minicomic on the relationship between two teacher characters.

This was a good treatment of serious issues that still kept the delightful character interactions that have made this series stand out.

Rating: 8.5/10

GI Joe Origins Volume 1

First review of 2026! From a Little Free Library in Ware MA USA.

Title: G.I. Joe Origins
Issue: Volume 1
Date: September 2009
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Larry Hama
Art: Mike Hawthorne, Tom Feister
Colorist: Erik Swanson
Letterer: Robbie Robbins, Chris Mowry, Neil Uyetake
Editor: Andy Schmidt, Justin Eisinger

Trade paperback collection covering the first mission of the G.I. Joe team. Duke and Scarlet get airdropped into the Nevada desert on a secret mission that is partly training, partly a test, and partly a real mission, in a way that really doesn't make any sense.

Meanwhile a villain named Chimera (who I guess might go on to eventually become one of the better-known villains like Cobra Commander? Maybe?) singlehandedly fights off a SWAT team, and generally make all of law enforcement look incompetent as he pulls of an escalating series of crimes, leading to the launching of a deadly plan from a secret base. The kind of plan with an unnecessary countdown and some monologuing to explain it. Clearly Chimera did not read The Watchmen.

I did like seeing the early formation of the bond between Scarlet and Snake Eyes.

I did not like Scarlet getting damseled. I was also not thrilled that the story introduced a character who was more interesting than anyone on the Joe team and proceeded to kill her about a fourth of the way through the book.

Rating: 3/10

Updated All Time Top Rated Comics 2025

Here is my updated list of all of the comics I've rated a 9 or above. Only one new book (Seven Ways Through the Woods) was added in 2025.


9/10

All In The Family Part Two: Angel
Amulet Book Two: The Stonekeeper's Curse
Amulet Book Seven: Firelight
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You
Boxers
Dog Man And Cat Kid
Dog Man: Grime and Punishment
The Flutter Collection
Ghosts
Guts
Heartstopper Volume 1
Life With Archie #16
Lumberjanes Volume 3: A Terrible Plan
Lumberjanes Volume 4: Out of Time
Lumberjanes Volume 5: Band Together
Machiavelli
Rival Angels Season 3 Volume 2
Saga Compendium 1
Seven Ways Through the Woods
Small Town Type #1
The Treasure of the Black Swan
Understanding Comics
Warriors: Graystripe's Adventure
We Won't Be Erased
White Bird
With the Light Volume 2

9.5/10

Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present
The Arrival
Castle Waiting Volume 1
I Kill Giants
A Monster Calls
The Prince and the Dressmaker
Vietnamerica: A Family's Journey

10/10

Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic In One Volume

Looking forward to reading more great books in 2026!