Dave's Capsules for December 2025

 

Archive of older reviews

Items of Note (Strongly Recommended or otherwise worthy): Easygoing Territory Defense vol 6

In this installment: Signal Solutions (Signalverse vol 11), Adventure Finders Epilogue 5, Touring After the Apocalypse vol 4-6, Easygoing Territory Defense vol 6, Spy x Family vol 15, Infini-T Force vol 5, The Glass Scientists vol 3 (of 3), Fantastic Four #5-6, The World To Come #4 (of 6), Moon Knight Fist of Khonshu #14-15, Gatchaman #14, Sonja Reborn #4 (of 6), Vampirella #6-8 (Legacy #681-3), Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1-2, Star Trek Lower Decks #13-14.

"Other Media" Capsules:

Things that are comics-related but not necessarily comics (i.e. comics-based movies like Iron Man or Hulk), or that aren't going to be available via comic shops (like comic pack-ins with DVDs) will go in this section when I have any to mention.  They may not be as timely as comic reviews, especially if I decide to review novels that take me a week or two (or ten) to get around to.

"Signal Solutions"
is a pretty SEO-blasted
string.

Signal Solutions (Signalverse vol 11): Self-published - Blake Michael Nelson is kind of the opposite of Marion Harmon here.  Where Harmon ended up going right back to Astra and friends after a brief attempt to make new characters, Nelson instead keeps making up entire new casts almost every time, even if there's some overlap in themes (e.g. the Signal Solutions characters are largely "villain-adjacent characters trying to make a legal living" in the same way that the Signal Intelligence team is, albeit without the actual criminal records).  Characters from previous books are brought up where it's relevant and organic (hard to NOT talk about some of them, of course), but Nelson is clearly more interested in expanding the world as a character in itself rather than finding reasons to get old ones back on stage.  Characters whose stories have ended naturally might get mentioned, but they don't get dragged back into the fight, and I appreciate that...it takes restraint to leave a happy ending alone.  Although, I suppose one down side of the "(almost) every volume shifts focus" approach is that there was a romantic subplot that felt kinda abruptly tacked on at the end, where it would've been much better served as something left implied until the next story in a regular serial.  Forcing something to happen too quickly can be as bad as undoing something that did happen.  As for the main plot, it's an attempt to start a heroes for hire gig when most of their contacts and background are villainous, so naturally their jobs are technically legal but very suspicious, particularly to the Quantum Man, Victor Vane.  (There's some potential hypocrisy wrapped up in that, but the viewpoint character doesn't know enough to call Vane on it, so it get left unaddressed.)  It doesn't help that the story really doesn't linger on the non-suspicious jobs, mostly glossing over weeks of uneventful work and only going into detail on jobs that are Important To The Plot.  While tight plotting is generally a virtue, sometimes you need to set a desired mood, and if we're not supposed to think the protagonists are shady it'd help to have more than one "side of the angels" job in the mix.  But I'm into nitpicking at this point.  Overall it was an enjoyable read with a lot of deep worldbuilding paying off.  Recommended.  $5.99 Kindle edition.

(There's also a vastly expanded ebook-only Guide to the Signalverse, but I dunno when or if I'll get around to reading it.)

Expected next month: Dunno.

Digital Comics:

I will not be reviewing ongoing webcomics in this column, sticking with collections that I'll get in hardcopy form.  eBook novels and streaming TV/movies will go above in Other Media.  This is for full comics read in digital form, either because that's how they come out, or because I tried it out on the LibraryPass app but either didn't care for it or wasn't able to get a hardcopy before the end of the month.  The heyday of ComiXology Originals is long gone, though, so there's not a lot of regular books I get digitally.

 

Adventure Finders Epilogue 5: The Adventure Posse Assembled!: Self-published/Patreon.com - While Espinosa has noted he might come up with a sequel series, this is basically the end of the original Adventure Finders story.  The main "event" of this final installment is Clariette's sleepy little home town reacting with varying levels of sangfroid to the return of Neshallin the necromancer (who returned at the end of Epilogue 4 to learn about familial love).  There's a little bit of "don't completely say no to a sequel" discussion by the Company of Heroes about who among the "Adventure Posse" to recruit, but it's mostly about sending everyone off to some well-deserved downtime and picking up the meet-cute Clari had during the final battle.  If you've been thinking of trying this series, it's all over now (for the moment, at least), so subscribing to the Patreon will get you the whole thing (not to mention getting the bulk of the revisions the first time through).  Recommended.  Tiers vary, but I think $2/month gets you access to the back issues.  

LibraryPass has gotten caught up on Killing Slimes, although I haven't yet.  I've definitely been enjoying it, but not to the extent I want to drop two hundred bucks and find space for fifteen volumes.

 

Expected next month: Dunno.  LibraryPass roulette, I suppose, since whatever Espinosa does yet there won't be a completed installment out in only a month.  :)  I need to get around to checking the TeachNYC site for anything new, as Van Lente only posts about the ones he personally works on....

Manga Collections:

Most of these are "tankobon" or collections of work serialized in a weekly or monthly publication, although some were written directly for the collection.  All of them have been translated from Japanese (or maybe Korean, although I don't think I'm reading any manhwa) into English.  Things with a manga aesthetic but done in English originally will go in one of the sections below as appropriate.

Touring After the Apocalypse vol 4-6: Yen Press - Okay, now things are getting really weird, and that's by the standards of "a girl and her android friend explore a post-apocalyptic Japan in which there are zero organic humans left."  For one, it's getting really obvious that there aren't even any human remains, yet there's other artifacts that wouldn't outlast at least the bones...sure, this is mostly not the sort of book where a pile of bones or a skeleton in a car would fit the mood (OTOH, the rat swarm in an earlier volume was not exactly light and frothy).  But 100% evacuation during the lead-up before anyone died seems a touch implausible.  Then toss in what seems to be genetic memory popping up for Youko, increasing suggestions that her Big Sister is an AI, the fact she couldn't leave the bunker because of environmental hazards that didn't seem to hurt the animals...and that's before you get to the serious weirdness of these volumes.  I suppose it's possible that this is mystery boxes all the way down and Sakai Saito doesn't really have an answer yet and it'll end up being Lost-levels of disappointing, but the core message of the series is that it's all about the journey rather than the destination anyway.  I don't expect to travel to Japan myself, but it's nice learning about places I could go if I was willing to put up with all that time on an airplane.  Recommended as long as you don't mind a very slow burn mystery that might not ever resolve.  $13.00/$17.00Cn rated Teen LV (still no idea what Language needs warning). 

Easygoing Territory Defense (etc) vol 6: Seven Seas Entertainment - There's three main stories this volume.  In the first, Lord Van visits the newly discovered Dungeon and builds a small adventurers' outpost for the expected delvers.  This is pretty standard (for this series) stuff, with Van casually building structures and weapons and the like while needing to deal with the fact he's still treated as a kid.  The middle story leans hard into Van's modern enlightened view, but from the point of view of a slave who Van buys and puts to work in the town's defense as a free villager...as I've mentioned in previous reviews, as overpowered as his magic might be, his real power is "treating people like people rather than things," a truly disruptive thing for an aristocrat to do in this world.  It helps that along the way he gets news of his official entitlement, so he's no longer fully dependent on his father's benign neglect, and he'll be in a stronger position once his progressive views get him in serious trouble.  Finally, from the grand to the personal, Lady Arte finally admits to Van what her power is, "Marionette."  It's also a frowned-upon magical talent like Van's, but in this case not because it's seen as useless in the absence of nigh-infinite mana (Van still hasn't found a way to help someone with normal mana levels better use production magic, FWIW).  No, it's because the ability is not limited to inanimate dolls, so it's got a reputation as an assassin's art (Van's servant/friend Khamsin's talent is similarly disreputable).  Big damn emotional climax here for Lady Arte, as well as for how she and Van see each other.  Before, each was polite but a bit distant for various reasons, but they're definitely friends after this.  Hm...there's also something that was important for not really happening, lemme double-check (skims volume again).  Yep, while he does still sometimes get caught off-guard being treated like a child, he doesn't berate himself over the mismatch between his practically middle-aged mind and ten-year-old body.  Like, he's finally accepting himself as he is...precocious and a prodigy, but he's a lot more comfortable with it.  As a result, the potential for eventual marriage to Lady Arte isn't nearly as creepy, they interact more comfortably as peers.  (No hint of romance, FWIW, but a caring friendship and shared empathy.  Good foundation for a marriage, particularly if it's to be arranged by their parents anyway.)  Sou Akaike is doing a good job of threading the needle of "reincarnated as someone much younger" romance subplots here, as it's very easy for them to be creepy as hell, or for the running gag to be that the protagonist refuses to get involved because it'd be creepy.  It probably helps that Van reincarnated as a toddler, so he's had a lot more time to get used to being a kid.  It's not that he's losing who he was in favor of what he was born into, more that he's better integrating his past and his present.  Strongly recommended.  $13.99/$17.99Cn, rated Teen 13+ (fantasy violence, frank discussion of slavery).

Also elegant.

Spy x Family vol 15: Viz/Shonen Jump - The other side of Mister Elegant's backstory gets told, and then it's largely one-chapter stories for the rest of the volume as everyone relaxes over holiday break.  The backstory is related to Becky, who effectively lampshades all the ways a standard romance Should Go, while Martha points out that real life isn't that convenient.  While Martha was hurt by Henry marrying while he thought she was dead, she didn't resent his wife and they got along well.  Martha and Henry continued to disagree about important things throughout life, and while they're still friends, Becky's dream of a romantic ending seem unlikely...and that's okay.  One can have a good life without experiencing the typical Happy Endings, a lesson Becky is slowly learning and which many never learn.  I do wonder if this is Endo's way of foreshadowing that this story won't have an archetypal Spy Story ending either, but it'll still be good for those involved...such as Operation Strix eventually failing, but war not being a result either.  Truth coming out without shattering the family, that sort of thing.  Anyway, the other stories focus more on the kids and side characters, but there's a major plot advancement nonetheless.  Things happen whether or not they conform to the tropes, even when it's still very much a story and not trying to be realistic.  Recommended.  $11.99/$15.99Cn/#8.99UK, rated Older Teen (themes of bloody warfare and loss).

Infini-T Force vol 5: Nakama Press/Mad Cave Comics - The volume opens with a story about a reporter for a fourth-rate newspaper determined to figure out what's up with the mysterious heroes, which tends to hew to the usual tropes, at least for now.  The rest of the volume brings in a new Boss type, who is much more aggressive about using the whole multiverse thing as a weapon, or at least to mess with the heroes and test their mettle.  More antagonists from the source worlds are brought into Emi's world, including one who knows more of the true threat (which may be caused by the mysterious bosses, or might be opposed by them, there's a lot of "we need to do these bad things to safe the multiverse" vibes floating around.  A BIG theme running through this volume, particularly involving Casshan, is the meaning of humanity and who does and does not count as human.  A very good pep talk scene, which pays off in a strong "trust your allies and know they trust you" fight.  Oh, and Emi has a bit of an astral trip, which counts as the fan service for this volume, I suppose.  Recommended.  $10.99/$14.99Cn rated Teen 13+ (fantasy violence, dismembered robots, not-actually-naked Emi).

 

Expected next month: Tank Chair vol 6, After God vol 8, Magilumiere Magical Girls vol 11, Way of the Househusband vol 15, Heterogenia Linguistico vol 6.  Asadora! vol 9 and Happy Kanako's Killer Life vol 8 are due at the end of the month, likely won't have them in hand until February, but the local B&N did get Asadora! vol 8 on the shelf, so there's a chance.

Other Trades:

Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, whatever. If it's bigger than a "floppy" but not Manga, it goes here.  

The Glass Scientists vol 3 (of 3): Putnam/Penguin Teen - And now the finale.  While Cotucno does leave things open for more stories (and in fact does one as a text piece at the end), the main story comes to an end here.  The real emotional climax for Jekyll and Hyde comes fairly early in the volume, where they finally have an honest talk with Lanyon and themselves.  Of course, this isn't the end of their problems, but it's the beginning of a solution.  There's some backsliding, as tends to happen, and "I can fix him/me" denial.  If anything DID get resolved a little too quickly, I'd actually forgotten about Jasper's non-lycanthropy issue because it just didn't come up except for a single almost throwaway line.  A good solid trilogy, worth picking up.  Recommended.  $17.99/$24.50Cn, unrated.

Expected next month: Nothing on my spreadsheet (Punderworld vol 2 has been pushed back to February, although those of us on the Patreon got the final pages in late December).  I do have a Webtoon collection (UnOrdinary vol 1) I got cheap at Ollie's a few months ago that I might read if the month feels too slow.

Floppies:

No, I don't have any particular disdain for the monthlies, but they are floppy, yes? (And not all of them come out monthly, or on a regular schedule in general, so I can't just call this section "Monthlies" or even "Periodicals" as that implies a regular period.)

Fantastic Four #5-6: Marvel -  #5 is a done in one locked room murder that's also part of Black Cat's rehabilitation tour.  I guess she's not a ganglord anymore, and she's back to her late 80s era bad luck powers.  It is challenging to do a locked room mystery in a world full of superhumans, and we're asked to take on faith that the more obvious culprits would have no reason to do it, but North finds a clever solution that is adequately foreshadowed and fits just fine into a world of jetpacks and talking apes.  The ending bit does feel a bit too much like the old "anointment tour" Kyle Rayner went on after first getting the GL ring...Sue gives up her distrust and is willing to be friends with Felicia because the character arc requires it, but oh well.  #6 starts an arc called "The Invincible Woman," which is a bit of a deep cut, given that Sue and Johnny's dad was supposedly the Invincible Man (it was a Super-Skrull plot).  With Malice showing up in a house ad for Marvel Rivals, that sort of suggests that we'll be seeing a sort of evil Sue at some point in this arc.  Leaving that aside as ill-advised advertising, though, this issue shows a couple of relatively minor threats and an advancement of Maria Hill's whole "The FF could destroy the world" subplot.  Both issues recommended, although #5 with some reservations.  $3.99 each.

 

The World To Come #4 (of 6): Marvel - The Race War mentioned repeatedly in previous issues is finally detailed, and one of the childhood flashbacks gets a payoff with a reunion of two old fighters whose fighting days are apparently in the past (although still our future).  An old favorite from Priest's Panther run also returns and is Important.  It's all building towards this World To Come, without much time left to actually do anything with the World To Come (keeping an eye on solicits, but so far no sequels or tie-ins or whatever showing up).  As with several of the previous issues, you really need to read the text pieces at the end to fill in the gaps.  Mildly recommended.  $4.99

 

Moon Knight Fist of Khonshu #14-15 (of 15): Marvel - Wrapping up the Haunting of the Wrecker arc as well as this iteration of Moon Knight, who gets new number ones almost as often as a Dynamite book for some reason.  Mind you, I read so few other Marvel books anymore, maybe they're rebooting everything every couple of years now.  The necromancer behind the haunting, who goes by the Executor because he figures playing the supervillain game is the only way to get the attention of his prey, may not be a strong magician in absolute terms, but he's specialized in dealing with people who have a lot of blood on their hands...which definitely applies to Marc and Layla, not to mention the Wrecker.  On the other hand, he still thinks he's being a protector of the innocent (Everyone Is The Hero Of Their Own Story), which can be a distinct weakness around these people.  Along the way, MacKay's usual good banter and clever plans.  Recommended.  $3.99 each.

 

Gatchaman #14: Mad Cave - Berg Katse continues to be horribly petty and willing to throw away major schemes with decent chances of success just so he can be a jerk to the Science Ninjas.  Because of how my subscription works, I have to keep getting issues for a few months after I say to stop, but unless things pick up a LOT very soon, I won't be reviewing this book any more.  Neutral.  $4.99.

Before I go into the next batch of books, I'd like to complain about Dynamite's cover policy of late.  No, not the infinitude of alternate covers...I mean the fact that it's been a couple years since I can recall seeing any cover that had something to do with the story inside beyond "this is the main character."  Like, they're just hiring artists to churn out random portraits of title characters and then slapping 'em willy-nilly on the issues.  There's a LOT of stuff going on in these books that would make for some cool covers, and might actually help sell the comics in this era of retailers selling sealed bags with a no-browsing policy.  Instead, Dynamite is making it clear that they're selling pinup art, and if you want to actually open the cover there's a free story inside.  Very disrespectful of the stories, on top of the "there are twenty four variant covers and our main business model is selling a copy of each to a handful of whales" thing.  For instance, Vampirella #6-8 end one arc and start another, both with very different sci-fi flavored feels, and to look at the covers...nothing.  They're all just generic pinup art.  There isn't even any cover copy like "The Long Night: Conclusion!"  Just a tiny box with issue number, creators below that, and the logo either at top or bottom depending on where it'll cover less of the art.  There is similarly nothing about the Sonja Reborn covers to indicate that this is not just another generic Red Sonja story, certainly nothing to suggest it's "modern person wakes up in Red Sonja's body and has to Deal With That."  Thunderbolt?  Okay, that's a little better, at least there's identifiable opponents in there who do show up in the story...too bad the scene on the Cover A for #1 takes place near the end of issue #2, as if the person in charge of putting the covers on the books thought it was just more generic stuff.  (Cover C for #1 is also the same scene from #2 from a different angle, covers B and D have nothing to do with either issue but maybe cover something from a future issue.)  Variant covers having nothing to do with the story inside is to be expected, since they're the blatant cash grab selling just the cover.  But is it too much to ask for the main cover to at least sometimes be connected to the story inside more strongly than just showing the title character?

 

Sonja Reborn #4 (of 6): Dynamite - Well, one of the flashback scenes crosses over with a recent issue of Vampirella, which firms up the rules under which this isekai plays...this is a world where people Maggie has passed on the street have likely met the "real" Red Sonja, but also where there's loads of alternate reality versions of various characters, so Maggie's likely Quantum Leaping into a version of Red who doesn't have to worry about continuity with Gail Simone's books.  (Priest has lots of experience with Hyperborean comics from the Marvel "James Owsley" days, but isn't necessarily staying abreast...pun intended...of Red's current comics.)  This is Maggie's low point, she spends much of the Hyperborean scenes at some level of debilitated from illness while other characters take initiative around her.  As such, it's very much an installment best read in the collection, it's kinda meandering and whiny on its own.  Mildly recommended.  $4.99, rated Teen (lots of blood, some vomit). 

 

Vampirella #6-8 (Legacy #681-683): Dynamite - After a very talky issue with loads of exposition, the "Vampi of Future Passed" arc ends on largely silent panels that didn't quite carry the story as well as I'd have liked.  Big three-way fight scene in the present with several people showing up conveniently around the same time, and then Vampirella suddenly snaps out of it or something?  I get the feeling that the real resolution is being left as the Big Reveal of the arc that starts in #7, with an AI robot opponent literally getting inside her head (and pants) and trying to figure her out.   I suppose if Vampirella is going to get her own Brainiac "evil library" character, having her be horny makes sense.  Trained that AI on AO3 or something.  Hard to give a proper recommendation because I really do feel like #6 is supposed to feel incomplete and get really resolved maybe in #12.  $4.99, rated Teen+ (some clothed sex scenes, lots of blood).

NOT the Hooded One
(image from Wikipedia)

Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1-2: Dynamite - There's always been something of cultural appropriation about the core Peter Cannon story, your basic Mighty Whitey who learns all the secrets of the Hidden Orient better than their originators, etc.  Later versions tried to play that down a bit, but Van Lente leans hard into it by making the Hooded One into an homage to Count Dante of the 1970s martial arts ads in comics, who then graduates to cult leader and then hidden political grey eminence.  Peter grows up in a martial arts/transcendent philosophy cult compound, and is the sole survivor of the mass "suicide" which is pretty obviously (like, not really a spoiler) mass murder instead.  Where the original Hooded One was a dissenter among the secretive council of oriental masters, he's the whole game now, which makes him much more dangerous to Peter Cannon, since there's no counterbalance beyond a single childhood friend who also survived the cult (she got out before it really got rolling, but then got drawn in by the current incarnation).  If anything, it's gonna be a neat trick for Van Lente to make this series last past the current chase/fight scene that takes up issue 2 and isn't over yet...the original Hooded One could be thwarted without being killed because the rest of the council could keep him in check, but there doesn't seem to be anything like that in play for this version of the story.  And the next issue box does promise a battle to the death, but that might not stop the Hooded One anyway.  However, I have faith that Van Lente can pull it off.  Recommended.  $4.99 each, rated Teen or Teen+ depending on whether you look on the front cover or the back cover (violence, mostly). 

 

Star Trek Lower Decks #13-14: IDW - I suppose one advantage of a six-issue arc is that Sheridan can indulge in side gags that don't need to be elevated to B-plot level, such as the Mudd's robot kit that Boimler and Rutherford build for Definitely Not Sex reasons, or Mariner trying to avoid a dental appointment.  On the other hand, the choice of "Tendi feels competitive with T'Lyn" as the main B-plot feels pretty retread-y given how thoroughly the canon explored that theme.  I suppose one problem is that these comics take place at some generally undefined point during the series, which means that a lot of character bits are locked down, and a bunch of stuff has to be either avoided entirely or manage to reset to status quo at the end of the story.  This wasn't as big a problem with North's "clever idea" 2-parters (especially since he did most of his work before the end of the show, so the need to avoid making too many changes was also based on not wanting to contradict upcoming episodes), but Sheridan doesn't really have the knack for working around these limitations.  I'd much rather they tell stories set after the series (a la the Season Ten issues of MLP), but I suppose it's possible that the license doesn't permit that.  I guess Sheridan just isn't as good at working in the available gaps without me feeling the cramped nature of those gaps.  Mildly recommended.  $4.99 each. 

 

Expected next time: Welp, this month turned out to NOT be a skip month, but next month almost definitely will be.  Dynamite's Thundarr the Barbarian comic will start in January, and yet another new #1 from Moon Knight in February, plus The Fall of Ultraman from Marvel.

Dvandom, aka Dave Van Domelen, is an Associate Professor of Physical Science at Amarillo College, maintainer of one of the two longest-running Transformers fansites in existence (neither he nor Ben Yee is entirely sure who was first), continued his weird tradition of going in to the office to do a little work on Christmas, is an occasional science advisor in fiction, and part of the development team for the upcoming City of Titans MMO.

 

"Then you know we're not the kind of men you should mess with, kid."  "Oh, no.  On the contrary.  You are exactly the kind of men who desperately need to be messed with." - Fireteam Leader and Peter Cannon, Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1