I always enjoy reading Iron Circus’ comic anthologies. I usually hate like horror, but every one of these stories was a banger. I didn’t find a single bad one in this collection unlike the other anthologies. 

The Girl in the Fields (4 stars) – This one is messed up, but it was enthralling. Frankie is a teen going through normal growing pains and wants to find her independence. The problem is she lives in a Podunk farm with her extremely conservative parents. When her parents want to send her to a gay conversion camp, that’s her last straw. Wanting some type of companionship badly, she meets Clara! She only sees her eyeball through a slit on the other side of the fence. 

I can only imagine how Clara came to be. The farmer ain’t right. 

Mattress, Used  (3.5 stars) - A college student desperate for a mattress finds a used one, then creepiness ensues. This one had a really good horror element!

thing was out here looking like a chewed up tongue and a worm had a baby.

 

The Boy From the Sea (5 stars) - Aw, this one had a black lead! :D I felt for Ayanna so much, trying to save her sister from this CREEPY entity. This one had me wanting to scream-cry. ;__; I thought this was more infinitely sad than scary though it had those vibes for sure. 

Our Lake Monster (3.5 stars) – Gosh, this one was so dark. A kid gets mangled. Also, another infinitely sad one. Whenever it involves kids or siblings, I get so sad. Horror and kids go together so well because kids get so curious and they don’t always understand how dangerous a situation is. 

Kindred Spirits (5 stars) – The lead was an elderly woman! This one was very wholesome and infinitely sad as well. She just wanted someone to talk to.

it’s ambiguous whether this could be considered a happy ending or not. It could be a dead sisterhood who love each other or evil spirits preying on her loneliness.

 

 This book is heavy on understanding and less on tutorials. By no means bad, but think of this as an art history book more so than a “how to paint” book. Shabazz acknowledges this and states that once you’ve seen one "how to draw art" book that you’ve seen them all as far as mechanics go. But he desired to go more in-depth on things like history and gender representation as it concerns art. 

How to Draw Black People describes the planning creators need to consider when designing and writing (black) characters. Readers will understand why it’s important to depict Black characters tastefully, and it shows the history of racist caricatures that have been thrust upon black people. From as earlier as propaganda against African countries, such as Angola and Congo, that were created to lure indentured servants. 

BUT I think the title is heavily misdirected. The better title: How to Create Black Characters. I would say ¾’s of the book covers character theory. Everything here is geared toward the creation of a character that will be reused in a long-running comic or novel as opposed to a single drawing. This book will force you to learn, and you’ll probably be better for it. Why do certain colors wash out melanin-rich skin? How do different hair textures react to gravity? How to represent black features? 

The book also acknowledges just because you’re black doesn’t mean you automatically know how to draw a black person either. It’s not always an innate skill. Like, any other person we have to learn to draw from life or from books, which in the past have not been great for representation. 

Ultimately, this book is better suited for writers and comic book artists. I was a bit disappointed because I love tutorials that focus on rendering dark skin and making kinky hair. Still, I think the book would prove beneficial for art students or anyone in an art class. 

SN: There’s a brief section on “sexuality” and the reference character, a woman, was drawn with sagging breasts and a tummy and perceived as sexy. Kudos for doing something different. 

 But … I’m not sure why there’s a big booty horse-woman in this book. I guess it’s for the furries??? Be all things to all people. 

The artwork is beautiful and sleek! But the beginning is slowed down considerably and not engaging with Lily’s dialogue translating for her wookie mentor. I think her struggles with trying to help people were relatable tho. 

 Jughead’s moody detective motif is kind of fun. Outside of Alex Meyer videos, I have never (and won’t) watch Riverdale, but the comics keep the same type of ridiculous energy as the show. I feel like the beginnings of each story is great, but it ends lackluster, especially Veronica’s story. 

I've said it before but memoirs and/or autobiographies are generally hard to rate. But I enjoyed this one.

A younger Huda had to reconcile with identity, loneliness, validation, ignorance, and discrimination. And some parts of this were very relatable to me like going to church every week, halaqa in her case, and the confessing to a boy you liked him. I almost did that! Somehow, I feel like it would've blown up in my face just like it did for her lol. Pretty charming.

Only nitpick(s): I think the artwork adds some charm, but I think collaborating with another artist could've also been nice. But that's personal preference.

The ending resolution felt slightly rushed.

i would've like to see Huda tell Joe her plan.

. I don't know if it was altered for the sake of the story because it mentions Tiktok, but I'm sure that wasn't there when the author was younger. 

I’ve never been super knowledgeable about Greek mythology, but knowing the backstories of the characters will probably heighten enjoyment. Outside of Persephone, the majority of characters look ageless, so even the parents of children look their same age which was slightly jarring. A point of contention is that Hades is older and more mature than Persephone. 

The whole “meet cute” between Persephone and Hades is off. It’s a unique meeting but the reactions weren’t realistic.

if someone’s in the back of my car drunk, I’m going to be nudging them awake with an intensity. But Hades just calmly drives her to his house without asking questions. Persephone also woke up pretty chill. She was more concerned about her mom finding out then waking up in a strange man’s home (I mean she knows of him but not personally); which might actually speak to how restricting and scary her mom is.

 

The Webtoon version probably has maximum picture quality. Because some scenes, especially dark or at night scenes, are not clear. On the other hand, color direction was beautiful, and the art style had personality. Body language was well done. 

Personal nitpick: I was so tired of seeing Persephone biting her lip; it’s not endearing, at least here. Yes, it’s a character trait, and it adds to her sense of naivety. But for some reason it annoyed me to no end that soooo many characters bite their lips in this story. 

TW (there are content warnings included in the book but this is a bit more descriptive): sexual coercion, sexual assault, “locker room talk,” unhealthy (parental) relationships, kidnapping? 

Epic! really knows how to make engaging stories just by using simple elements. So far I’ve liked all of their series, and this one is no different. The Foxe also made a likeable Twitch streamer. There’s a true sense of tension, and I kept turning pages excited to see the end. I enjoyed both Karoline and Clark and their adventure. The ending is rather quick because a huge point gets resolved offscreen. Still,  Adventure Kingdom is definitely worth reading! 

 I love this series, and this puppy and cat team! Inu is just a sweetie-pie. It almost makes me want a dog myself, but there’s a lot of work that goes into properly caring for one. This series just hasn’t gotten old. I think it’s the feel-good appeal that keeps it fresh.

I'm ready for volume 5! :D 

This is basically an memoir, which is always hard to judge/review. I did ballet as a kid, but I didn't have this all-consuming passion to dance as Siena did. You can imagine how life-altering it is, when she decides to stop dancing. 

I loved the use of purple.

This is all moves very very fast, but it’s oh-so charming. I like the humor as well. The writers managed to turn a brat into a likable character. And I love the artwork and all of Autumn’s hairstyles!