Items of Note (Strongly Recommended or otherwise worthy): Yeah, nothing this month either.
In this installment: Signal City Adventures vol 1, Velveteen vs. the Consequences of her Actions, My Adventures with Superman Season 3, The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used To Be Archenemies vol 1, Happy Kanako's Killer Life vol 8, Dinosaur Sanctuary vol 8, Ichi the Witch vol 4, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. vol 14, Infini-T Force vol 9 (of 10), Tank Chair vol 9, Cat + Crazy vol 4, Shy vol 13.
"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.
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Velveteen vs. the Consequences of her Actions: Subterranean Press - Okay, technically I read this in July too, but I didn't finish it until the day after I posted my July column. It's an omnibus of Velveteen vs. the Seasons and then another novel's worth (novella's worth? I dunno, I read it as an ebook) combining the unfinished arc from Seanan McGuire's Livejournal. Things had been left hanging there, but she finished the story and wrote a satisfying end to it that technically allows for more Velveteen stories, but suggests we won't see any. So, Velveteen's superhero universe is one of the ones where Santa Claus is real and the protagonists can visit Santa's Workshop (like in the Wearing the Cape universe, for instance). I tend to roll my eyes at too much use of "Santa Is Real" setting elements, but Velveteen has a rather rocky relationship with Santa at the start of this, and it goes pretty severely downhill in the first half of this book. Like, "Where's the fat man? I need to shove this candy cane up his..." levels of downhill. Nor does it really improve. In fact, "Velveteen vs. the Seasons" takes its title very literally, with three of the four seasons competing to recruit Velveteen and all of them seem to just assume they're going to lose and they should exploit her as much as possible before she impolitely declines. In short, this is definitely not the sort of twee approach to Holiday Lands that irks me in superhero comics. They are fundamentally inhuman and inhumane, for all that each season wears pleasant masks when it suits those who live there. At the end of it, Velveteen finds that the day that was seemingly saved at the end of the first omnibus was definitely not saved, and has in fact gotten much worse during her extended absence (which does little to endear her to the Seasons, none of which told her that she'd be gone that long). Along the way, there's some echoes of the Indexing books, although I think the timing is such that the relevant stuff was set up in the Livejournal posts and predates Indexing. Authors like to reuse themes, anyway. Now that the whole story is available, I'd recommend anyone who likes superhero prose fiction read it. But read the first part first, this volume is pretty much entirely payoff for all the guns left on mantlepieces in the first half. $6.99 as an ebook, $95.00 as a limited edition hardcover. I got the ebook. Harsh language and some nasty stuff happening. Not for anyone who still believes in Santa Claus.
My Adventures With Superman Season 3: DC/Cartoon Network, plus some streaming service I don't get and don't feel like promoting - The running theme of the overplot was "the future kinda sucks without Superman." I'm pretty sure the writers were deliberately and repeatedly referencing Dragonball Z this season, with both the Android Saga (Hank Henshaw playing the role of the evil android...and DBZ androids were cyborgs) and the Cell Saga (with the Eradicator being the engineered perfect being), complete with future children coming back in time and even a clear reference to "Trunks slices Frieza in half with his sword" from the Android Saga. Mind you, they get all this in, plus several side stories, in a handful of episodes rather than several score episodes, so a definite improvement over DBZ in that respect. Jimmy Olsen gets his own subplot in which he gets to recapitulate many silver age Jimmy mutations (wolfman Jimmy, Elastic-Lad, turtle Jimmy, etc) while dating obviously dangerous mad science women. Well, obvious to anyone not named Jimmy Olsen. About the only bad episode was the Mxyzptlik episode, which didn't even really have important plot stuff like the previous one. A little character development, but mostly just piling onto themes that had been used before and after. If you haven't seen this season, and missed the marathon rerun of it at the end of August, it'll probably be out on physical media eventually. Recommended.
Expected next month: Supergirl will hit physical media.
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.
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.
The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used To Be Archenemies vol 1: Yen Press - Well, I may have found a mentor mascot I hate more than Kyubey. Okay, technically he's an angel who manifests as a guy in a cat mascot costume. And given how full of vice he is, mentoring magical girls must be "one more screwup and you're Fallen" punishment duty or something. (We meet one other angel, and he's just messed up, but not evil.) The premise is similar to Mr. Villain's Day Off or Magical Girl Dandelion in that we have a positive relationship between a protector and an invader, but...way more skeevy. To his credit, the Evil Lieutenant sees her as more adorable than desirable (plus plenty of pity the more he finds out about her living circumstances, vis a vis the pervy angel). Ultimately, though, there's maybe half a volume's worth of material to get out of this premise, even once you add in some more supporting cast (including another magical girl whose internal view of reality is decidedly at odds with everyone else's...like, she sees herself happily greeting a friend while everyone else sees her kick the person in the stomach and start gnawing on their head). Even with the volume padded out with a contest winner "Beauty and the Beast" story that I didn't read, there really wasn't enough to sustain even one book. Cute idea, won't be bothering with volume 2. And CERTAINLY not worth the list price of $30. Apparently it also got an anime? No back cover so I don't know the official rating, but given that the secondary magical girl uses the f-bomb as punctuation and the main magical girl is sexually harassed and groped every day by her "angel" mentor, it's probably Older Teen or Mature Readers or something like that. Or, you know, just skip it.
LibraryPass also got I Was A Bottom-Tier Bureaucrat for 1500 Years and the Demon King Made Me a Minister, which is a prequel focusing on Beelzebub from I Spent 300 Years Fighting Slimes and Maxed My Level. It has a different creative team, but everyone stays VERY on-model. There's less ribaldry than in the main series (so far, I've only been able to read the first volume as subsequent ones have coding issues and are unopenable), but otherwise pretty much the same tone. If you liked 300 Years, you'll like this, but if not, you won't.
Happy Kanako's Killer Life vol 8: Seven Seas Entertainment - Welp, things take a solid turn into paranormal this volume. Yeah, Kanako's "she's so unremarkable it's like invisibility" thing pushed the boundaries of realism, but it could be kinda overlooked since it was more of a "laugh rule" thing a lot of the time. But now? Yeah, if not outright magical stuff, there's at least weird psi effects. So, the two main plot threads this volume are Kanako struggling with her romantic feelings towards a coworker (who may reciprocate but is very emotionally stunted), and the fact that her newly acquired circle of friends (along with her one friend from before the career change) is undergoing some radical changes. Some of these changes don't even involve someone dying! Well, for a broad enough definition, they all do, I guess, but that'll happen when most of your friends are professional killers. Between these two threads, Kanako exudes enough flop sweat to be in serious danger of dehydration, assuming she doesn't die from a surplus of lead first. I am starting to suspect that in addition to her invisibility ability, Kanako also has a "please don't notice I look and sound super guilty" power. Recommended. $14.99/$18.99Cn, rated Teen (13+) for casual attitude towards killing if not much graphic violence.
Tank Chair vol 9: Kodansha - Well, volume 10 hasn't been listed online yet that I can find, but this has the feeling of penultimateness as well. Penultimatery? Whatever. I suppose if the backstory flashback promised for vol 10 is long enough the actual final confrontation could be pushed back a few volumes, goodness knows this title isn't scared of veering off into flashback for extended periods. This volume starts with the big fight between Tank Chair Mk9 (Nagi and enemy-turned-friend migraine mollusk guy Naozumi) and the two-headed head (heads?) of Class A, ends with a rematch against Sensei, and in between there's some corporate bonding baseball. Well, not literally, but work on teamwork. The middle bit also has a decent chunk of "meanwhile, what's the Celestial Mansions group up to?" picking up on the Class B girl who got caught infiltrating their base and then released. We do get some answers there, if only a taste, but there's the promise of a lot more next volume. Of course, even if everything with Sensei does get resolved, that doesn't necessarily mean the series has to end, this is one incredibly messed up world and there's plenty for our protagonists to do after the Big Damn Deal plot is resolved (a DBZ power spiral is a danger for this title, but I can think of a bunch of plausible ways that could be avoided). Recommended. $13.99/$18.99Cn, rated Teen 16+ for loads of violence (the results are mostly kept fairly tame, either just scorch marks or damage to non-human parts like cybernetics, but one dude does get his face kicked in a spray of teeth).
Expected next month: A return of flooding at Espinosa's home has delayed episode 4 of Nancy Drew by a bit.
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.
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| She should look more nervous. |
Dinosaur Sanctuary vol 8: Seven Seas Entertainment - Once Corporate decides you're not contributing to Infinite Exponential Growth, your days are numbered. Enoshima Dinoland gets an ultimatum from Corporate and most of this volume focuses on trying to find ways to do the impossible and avoid being shut down. Pure speculation on my part, since I don't really know how such things work in Japan, but I feel like the resolution is going to be Dinoland being sold to the city/prefecture in a volume or two, only to find a new set of challenges and impossible demands that comes with being a municipal zoo instead of a theme park. The main viewpoint character doubles down on using social media to promote the park, with some success, and some of the weirder ideas what and the others have pay off, but a lot of these plans hinge on nothing else going wrong, so of course the volume ends with something going wrong. It continues to be mostly a cozy workplace light drama with the addition of dinosaurs, and if it's a bit exposition-heavy, well that's kinda the job of a zookeeper. Recommended. $13.99/$17.99Cn, rated Teen (13+) probably for dinosaur poop. Lots of it.
Ichi the Witch vol 4: Viz Media/Shonen Jump - While they're sticking to the conceit of each chapter being a numbered hunt (much as Tank Chair does with chapters being Targets), this volume is really one long Majik hunt, although some of the hunters are also hunted and Desscaras comes to regret that her actions might have consequences. (Note: while Bakugami is referred to as a tapir, Bakus only have a coincidental resemblance to that animal.) Until near the end, Ichi is more of a supporting player, with new character Gokuraku taking the spotlight. It turns out Ichi isn't the first guy to break the "rule" that men can't use magic, as Gokuraku found a way to fuse magical devices to his own body and channel their power. Of course, it's not safe or even necessarily a good idea, but he's more than a little desperate to save his people (specifically his sister) from Bakugami. For its part, the Majik goes all BWAHAHA YOU WILL NOW FACE MY EVIL PLAN to make it absolutely clear that Ichi backed the right side in this. So far, every human-hater Majik has been a different flavor of jerk, and Bakugami continues that trend, being a cruel taunter who loves to lie to people but can't resist turning around and crushing them with the truth. As with last volume, the higher stakes do mean that there's a little less humor (to avoid stepping on the mood too much), which makes it merely a pretty good action manga. Hopefully once Bakugami is dealt with, we get some more downtime for the fun character bits that drew me to this book. Recommended. $11.99/$15.99Cn/#8.99UK, rated Teen (fantasy violence, loads of sarcasm that might go over the heads of younger readers)
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. vol 14: Viz - There is definitely a tonal shift in the middle of this volume. The first part deals with the Calamity Kaii unleashed by the "not quite dealt with" prime mover of the first big arc...and then it's time for a company night out drinking, followed by a baseball game. AST's top magical girl, who initially seemed like a cast iron bitch and has since turned out to just be epically bad at social interactions, is an important part of the whole volume. In fact, perhaps the biggest tension is not during the big fight, but rather when Sakuragi (She Who Reads The Documentation) faces the consequences of bailing on an attempted social interaction from a year ago. Like, yeah, things went nuts for a while, but after a month or two she could've at least contacted AST's Tsuchiba...it's not like she was hard to find. And yes, there's corporate bonding baseball afterwards, including a broken bat home run. The bat was aluminum. Recommended. $14.99/$19.99Cn/#10.99UK, rated Teen (fantasy violence)
Infini-T Force vol 9: Nakama Press - The penultimate volume! But that doesn't mean there isn't time to spend several chapters delving into the background and goals of one more of Z's lieutenants, Raja Khan. (And if Belle's felt kinda Final Fantasy XIV, Raja's doubles down on that vibe.) The plot otherwise tends to step on its own feet, with Shock Revelations that really just feel more like the author decided that they'd written themself into a corner and needed to break down a wall to get out. I won't spoiler it, but revelations about Z felt like a cop-out, plus the big cliffhanger is going to have to be resolved pretty deftly to not feel like Z just decided to emulate Bakugami. Mildly recommended. $10.99/$14.99Cn, rated Teen 13+ (violence, omnicide)
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| The octopus is a natural mimic, but this may be a bit too much. |
Cat + Crazy vol 4: Dark Horse Comics - It's interesting seeing how in some ways this was a first draft for Cat + Gamer, as some themes reappear in that later work but without the paranormal stuff. For instance, one of the big challenges for Kensuke this volume is dealing with having two cats (first cat-sitting for a fellow club member, and later getting his own second cat), although in C+G there wasn't quite so much damage done to the house as a result. Comparing the two series, I think I prefer the C+G approach of NOT having the humans aware of cat communication, Kensuke has started learning the language and can be more certain of some things instead of having to guess, which I think takes some of the steam out of things. On top of that, the cat-lovers club also deals with adding a new member, which goes rather more smoothly than adding a new cat. I guess we can add to the paranormal elements here that some people literally do emit clouds of steam when flustered? So, another volume of cats being alternately adorable and frustrating, while people go all ga-ga over 'em. To me, the more over the top humorous elements help balance out the rougher storytelling, but your mileage may vary. Still, I recommend it. $12.99/$17.50Cn, all ages.
Shy vol 13: Yen Press - Technically I don't have this volume in hand yet because my local store didn't have it in stock and shipping won't get to me until next month, but it's one of the titles that shows up on LibraryPass, so I read it there while I wait for my online order to arrive. After vol 12's Shocking Revelation about the antagonist organization's origins, Shy starts to gather support and further information before acting on the revelation, but I guess we won't see that action until vol 14, because a big chunk of this volume focuses on Century Leader, the American hero with the weird horned costume (which is finally explained as having been based on a sketch by his daughter). We also finally get to see his powers in detail, along with the implication that he might have had some sort of superhuman ability even before getting the Heart Shift Bracelets. As much as his fight against the former novitiate Inori Hallelujah is a clash of powers, it's also a high-energy dialectic about the nature of love. Century, a former soldier, embodies both fatherly love and the "no greater love hath a man than to lay down his life for his fellow man" ethos, compared to Inari's love of a distant and immanent God. I do find part of Inari's origin story a bit problematic (it involves Islamic suicide bombers blowing up her church, which feels kinda Carbombya-ish to me). A few of the side stories also get to advance, including the thread where another Amarariruku member is staking out Teru's house without knowing she's Shy, and Spirit getting caught up in a trap, but it does feel a bit like Bukimi Miku was padding out this volume in order to not start the next big phase until volume 14. Mildly recommended. $13.00/$17.00Cn, rated Teen LV (still no language harsher than "dummy" but some nonconsensual groping which also contributed at least some to the "mildly" part of the recommendation)
Expected next month: Go! Go! Loser Ranger! vol 18 (it got pushed back to September 8), Kaiju No. 8 vol 16, Magical Girl Dandelion vol 3, Spy x Family vol 16, I'm In Love With The Villainess vol 11, Manga Classics: Journey to the West vol 1, Wolf's Daughter vol 4. I may or may not get Five Star Stories vol 1, it'll be a "check it on the shelf" book. Interestingly, nothing I'm getting or thinking about ships in the last two weeks of September, so for once I won't have a "this came out last month but I didn't get it in time" section in October.
Other Trades:
Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, whatever. If it's bigger than a "floppy" but not Manga, it goes here.
Trade paperbacks, collections, graphic novels, whatever. If it's bigger than a "floppy" but not Manga, it goes here.
Nothing this month. I suppose I could've grabbed Hooky vol 2, but I was busy enough with other things this month that I didn't feel the need. I did order a webcomic compilation (Last Human in a Crowded Galaxy) but they're waiting on a second printing to come in.
Expected next month: Nothing for certain, but that backordered webcomic collection should arrive, and as usual there's a couple things I'll check on the shelf before making a decision.
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.)
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.)
Okay, so I did get a shipment RIGHT at the end of the month, but I decided I didn't want to rush through reading them in order to get them into this month's file, so this will be a skip month as previously announced.
Expected next time: Just more issues of the regulars, including Godzilla Monsterpiece Theater's take on War of the Worlds.
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 (Ben Yee insists I was first, I'm not so sure), would very much like these 100F (40C) temperatures to stop, is an occasional science advisor in fiction, and part of the development team for the upcoming City of Titans MMO.
"OI NGO...NEGI O JX..D RE K!!!!" - Desscaras, rendered incoherent with rage at Ichi's latest antics, Ichi the Witch vol 4
Dave's Capsules for August 2026
Reviewed by Dvandom
on
Friday, August 28, 2026
Rating:
Reviewed by Dvandom
on
Friday, August 28, 2026
Rating:
