Dave's Capsules for January 2026

Archive of older reviews

Items of Note (Strongly Recommended or otherwise worthy): Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc vol 11

In this installment: A Little Vice, Tank Chair vol 6, After God vol 8, The Way of the Househusband vol 15, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. vol 11, Heterogenia Linguistico vol 6, Jacked Tracts, The Super Hero's Journey.

"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.

Invidia, not NVidia.

A Little Vice: Self-published, Erin Elkin.  This drifts a bit farther from "superhero comics" themes than I generally go in my reviews, but it has some interesting structural stuff I wanted to comment about.  One of those is that this starts on chapter 12, but you're not missing chapters 1-11.  The conceit is that this is an alternate viewpoint of a Sailor Moon style magical girl series themed around the seven virtues and vices rather than planets, and the main character's story doesn't really kick in until chapter 12, when they start questioning their role in all this.  Every chapter ends with a "Next Week On..." blurb, but the actual next chapter may barely touch on that plot material, since it's about this alternate protagonist...even when they're present for the events, it often gets handwaved.  (For the comparative religion nerds, they use the seven virtues that directly oppose the seven deadly sins, rather than the four cardinal virtues set...despite neither side ever making it close to the full set this "season.")  It can be a bit of a rough read at times, because for much of the story the protagonist's primary personality trait is self-loathing with a heavy seasoning of not knowing what would constitute being better.  Oh, and another clever mechanical bit is establishing that magic prevents genre savvy from working a lot of the time (e.g. literally no one connects the green-haired new student with bat motifs on her clothing to the green-haired bat girl who started attacking the school).  Even magical girls aware of the effect have trouble piercing it.  Now, it's entirely possible this was lifted from a magical girl series elsewhere, I have very patchy knowledge of mainstream magical girl stuff.  Still, pretty well used, although it does sometimes mean that the reader is shouting at the screen at characters being appropriately stupid (and a lot of the plot twists are telegraphed it you happen to look up the list of vices and virtues).  Elkin also does a good job of making the Sins' philosophical position valid and most of the individual baddies sympathetic while still reserving a Big Bad that's pretty easy to hate.  And kudos for the pun in the name of the monsters of the week, Resinners.  They're re-sinners, but also empowered by resin from a magic tree, resin-ners.  (Unknown if this is intentional or just parallel development, but there's a touch of Zondar from GaoGaiGar in the Resinners.)  Recommended.  $3.99 Kindle, $15.95 PoD paperback

Expected next month: I'll probably have Wonder Man finished by then, or March at the latest.  I hear it's good, but entire-series drops tend to turn me off lately.

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.

 

Nothing this month.  I did finish catching up on Killing Slimes for 300 Years, but while I enjoyed it as light fluff I don't really have anything to add to my initial review.  Nothing else tempted me to pick it up.

 

Expected next month: Dunno. 

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.

Tank Chair vol 6: Kodansha - For a series practically defined by body count, Manabu Yashiro sure has trouble letting go of non-mook characters.  They just keep coming back one way or another as if they were Dragonball characters.  Anyway, this volume focuses on Nina, the mysterious little girl that Doc Radio has been raising since the big battle three years ago, where "three" is pretty close to Nina's apparent age and of COURSE that's not a coincidence.  Meanwhile, the fate of big-bad Sensei after the body separation last volume is...nobody knows.  He's in the wind, and not terribly relevant to this volume's plot other than making many people nervous.  Tank Chair himself is mostly noodling around with side quests and rebuilding his strength until the final scene of the volume, and while there's several subplots advancing, it's really about one character's work at bringing about the fight in the final scene.  I suppose I could say that one way or another, someone is staying dead after this, but there's way too much weird science flying around to be sure of anything.  Thematically, almost everyone seems driven by desires that they can't fulfill except for Nagi (the original Tank Chair) and his sister, who are just sort of chilling and beating up Gamera for exercise.  The primary antagonist of the big battle this volume is by far the most broken by their unfulfilled desires, but clings to the hope that winning this rematch will make everything better, which is their tragedy, but they're not alone in dreaming impossible dreams here.  Recommended with the usual caveats about the graphic damage to human (and human-ish) bodies.  $13.99/$18.99, rated Older Teen 16+ (ultraviolence)

After God vol 8: Viz Signature - Now that the main secret is out, it feels in a few places like Sumi Eno is rushing to drop all the worldbuilding lore about the IPOs, which tends to demystify them...although that does seem to be the goal.  But never fear, there's plenty of other mysteries cropping up and occasionally demonstrating that just because a knowledgeable character claims something it doesn't mean they're right...even if they have godlike knowledge.  Also, that is not dead which was never really alive, and multiple scenes make it clear the importance of memory in identity...if the memories of the dead survive in some form, are they really gone?  When Orokapi the snake IPO takes the form of people he killed, he becomes them pretty thoroughly, especially when in an environment or around people that imitated person feels strongly about (established last volume, continued here).  Did Alura kill Maka and live as her, or was she shoved into Maka's still-living form as a punishment?  Something else?  Maka does take enough of the spotlight this volume to make that a more pressing question.  While some of the philosophical pondering is a bit "freshman philosophy major" in tone, it's also made clear that most of those at the Anti-God Institute were just the poor saps who couldn't get out of Tokyo in time, and as such can't be expected to be the finest philosophical minds Japan has to offer.  Recommended.  $14.99/$19.99Cn/#10.99UK, rated Older Teen (loads of body horror)

"Onward...to magical
girl merch!"

The Way of the Househusband vol 15: Viz Signature - creepy mob granddaughter gets a peer in the form of arrogant mob grandson Toma, the main new recurring character this volume.  It's got a similar tone to Anya/Sy-on Boy in Spy x Family, but not the same roles, and it does provide for more range of stories, including examinations of "only I get to be mean to my in-group members" themes.  The spotlight does mostly stay on Tatsu, but Kousuke Oono has a robust enough cast now that it doesn't feel forced when the focus drifts to someone else for a while.  And there's still room for some of the classic gags, such as the chapter where Tatsu helps a stranger at the grocery store by introducing her to the wonders of a farmer's market...where everyone seems to be treating it like a drug deal, even cabbage guy.  (Is the farmer a direct riff on Avatar's Cabbage Guy?  Almost definitely not, they just draw on a similar rustic archetype.)  Recommended.  $14.99/$19.99Cn/#10.99UK, rated Older Teen (child on child violence, potentially lethal dietary choices, ghost on ghost violence, cat on everyone and everything violence)

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. vol 11: Viz Signature - The "on their own, betrayed by Kaede" arc resolves this volume and the overplot smashes its way towards the climactic battle against the final boss...capitalism!  Well, a particular capitalist, but it's made very clear throughout this volume that it's way more than just one ambitious rich bastard, it's the whole institution of private enterprise.  The newly formed Sakuragi Planning (basically all of Magilumiere except for Kaede and Shigemoto) infiltrates a fancy product demo (they're clocked instantly of course, they are NOT ninjas or anything, but they think they're getting away with it) in an attempt to rescue Shigemoto, they discover secrets they can definitely not be allowed to leave with, and all the hallmarks of a trap close around them...but first, a flashback sequence to when Kaede met Shigemoto!  As weird as you might expect it to have been, it's probably weirder than you expected. Anyway, this is a Big Damn Payoff installment, in both the quiet and loud parts.  Strongly recommended.  $14.99/$19.99Cn/#10.99UK, rated Teen (fantasy violence, lightly sleazy host club stuff)

Heterogenia Linguistico vol 6: Yen Press - So, after the dramatic vision-questy events of volume 5, Hakaba finds his research trip derailed by little Susuki falling ill.  Netherworld society doesn't really have a tradition of medicine, but it's not just in the same way they lack a lot of more organized social structures that humans take for granted.  Rather, the reason is a bit more sinister.  Thus, Hakaba spends most of the volume looking for someone both capable of helping Susuki and who can be trusted to do so, a task not made easier by a satyr joining the traveling group and being very goat.  Not necessarily evil, but extremely annoying, and in dangerous places the two can be rather similar.  The tone of this volume mostly shifts among flavors of desperation and feelings of inadequacy, which was a bit of whiplash to read right after Magilumiere, as I did.  Hakaba doesn't spend a lot of time specifically wondering how any of these people will survive the coming of humans, but it's a strong undercurrent to everything.  It's hard to just Respect Their Ways when it's so clear that those ways will not save them.  Recommended, but maybe try not to already be in a dark mood when reading this...it's got some light bits to it, but overall it's pretty gloomy.  $15.00/$19.50Cn, rated Teen with Language (I mean, yeah, a LOT of language, that's the point of the series, but they mean harsh language...not that I noticed anything particularly crude, but the satyr might've been cussing up a storm in his language and probably was)

Expected next month: Happy Kanako got pushed back to the end of April, and Asadora 9 didn't make it to shelves so it'll be in the February post.  Go! Go! Loser Ranger! vol 16, Mr. Villain's Day Off vol 7, and Shy vol 12 are still on track for February as well.

Other Trades:

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

Jacked Tracts: Zoop/Dethwurm Publishing Systems - So, the premise here was to have artists draw a page or two from a "Chick Tract," religious Tijuana Bible sort of comic, and then the editor would write new dialogue over the art.  A sort of game of telephone that would result in no part of the originals actually being used, just in case someone felt like suing.  For me, there was a minor problem and a major problem.  The minor problem was that they didn't adapt the classic anti-D&D Dark Dungeons tract.  The major problems was that the editor/writer isn't that funny.  A lot of it is just broad mocking with the expectation that the audience will laugh because the target is deserving, not because the jokes are funny.  The one bright spot was an autobiographical comic in the middle, which told the story of the creator encountering one of the tracts that did get adapted.  I'd have MUCH preferred this sort of "how Jack Chick affected my life, and not how he would have wanted to" story to the weak laugh track we got.  (I was really hoping for brand new one-creator-per-story tracts inspired by and mocking the originals, which I think the crowdfunding campaign gave me the impression we were getting, but that definitely didn't happen.)  Don't bother with this book.  $39.95

The Super Hero's Journey: Marvel/Abrams Arts - I picked this up mostly because of a weird coincidence.  It came out in 2023, but a couple weeks ago a scan of a Jack Kirby quote showed up on a friend's social media.  The next day, I was at a local Amazon returns warehouse liquidation place (the sort that has price based on day of the week, I was in on "everything is $5" day) and saw a few copies of this, flipped through it, and saw the quote.  So, I was amused enough to pick it up.  Now, it's important to point out that this was by Patrick McDonnell, the man behind the Mutts newspaper strip.  And yeah, it's about as sentimental and sappy as that strip, which I didn't even bother reading when I got a newspaper with it, but it's popular.  What McDonnell does here is mix some autobiography with repurposed mid-60s Marvel comic art to create a new story of everyone getting totally negative emotionally because Doctor Doom has opened a portal to the Negative Zone (yeah, not how that works, but he really wasn't worrying about how things work).  While it all hinges on a really good Jack Kirby quote, the story is otherwise pretty treacly and pop-psych, and the contrast between the classic Marvel art and McDonnell's style is jarring.  I got about what I paid for.  I wouldn't recommend this at anywhere near the cover price, though, unless you like the Mutts strip a lot more than I do.  $29.99/$31.75Cn/#21.99UK 

Expected next month: Steam (written by Shaenon Garrity), Punderworld vol 2 (probably), Hilo Presents: the Mighty.

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.)

None this month.

Expected next time: Likely all the non-finished books from the December review, 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.  I should have enough built up to get a shipment in February.

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), heart attack survivor, is an occasional science advisor in fiction, and part of the development team for the upcoming City of Titans MMO.

 

"It's surprisingly easy to devour this sandwich.  But if you eat the entire thing...you'll probably die." - Bonus story recipe time with Miku's "inner chubster," making Francesinha.

It also comes with french fries.