I loved this one from beginning to end! The IDW artists and writers know how to write a Sonic story. They even played with horror elements this time around. The poses were dynamic and colorful. Tails isn't a sidekick and can save himself and others. Sonic has more personality than just being happy all the time.

For a self-contained story, it was great. 

Sasha who hates the spotlight learns to overcome her fears through wrestling! 

This books gets huge kudos from me from

not having the bestfriend be a jerk and disparage her old friend once she starts hanging out with a different crowd

, and that it's okay for friends to have different interests.

rating from personal enjoyment

“To drive a helpless person mad, give them knowledge. Then, to make a monster: Give them power. To make a monster yours: …”

I was intrigued from page one. Playing with Persephone and Hades in a fun way with Death unable to let go of one terse, cranky woman, so he keeps her around as a helper.

I still don't understand all the worldbuilding and the character motivations. Death didn't finish the job and inadvertently let Emilia alter him. Emilia's got some type of power when she touches someone. There's a mentorship when you become Death apparently.

You can tell two different artists are working on this book at the same time and not in a way I particularly liked. The art style isn’t cohesive.

I didn’t like the article excerpts at all (not that they weren’t interesting). But it took me out of the flow of the story.

But I enjoyed the narrative voices for Emilia and Death. I’d read volume two for sure.

not sure why emilia decided to become Death. Did she just want to try it out? learn more about herself? why would she contemplate killing Death? did she know him that long???

4.5

 This series is so charming. Great art, humor, and characters! The brother and genius sister mostly get along, which I love, but I want to give a spotlight to their friends, Nara and Beto. These two are so sweet and selfless! I’d love to have friends like them. More importantly, Wyatt and Adeline appreciate them and acknowledge their sacrifices. 

For this book, there’s less of a focus on the superpowers at this wacky camp because it’s a cover for Wyatt and Adeline to find their lost mother.

I like the bits of depth here. Wyatt’s insecure outside of his powers, and Adeline took their mother’s disappearance the hardest akin to grief.

Also, the art excels. Dynamic poses and great paneling. Nothing stays the same from page to page in the best way possible. All in a cartoony style. I really like the art here. 

An excellent, simple look at how cults start and how the leaders manipulate their flock. This is also a graphic memoir from the author Amy Rose, who had a very traumatic childhood (emotional, psychological, and physical abuse). 

She received the brunt of the cult leader's ire. But Amy's love of books, knowledge, and curiosity helped her realize the situation was dysfunctional.  

Ending:

I purposely didn't read the summary because I wanted to be surprised. I was about to say some things were unrealistic with Amy's continual sad sack existence and "the too good to be true" couple Jeanie and her husband. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with them, but they were genuinely decent people. I was surprised that this was a true story/lived experience. But every cult survival story I have heard has been wild and disheartening.

This volume captured my interest better than the first. The door level game was fun, not because it was clever or challenging, but it gave the story a chance to show character interactions and personality. The same test tackled in different ways by the each character.

I still think Bam is masquerading as a beanbag with a smiley face one it rather than our main character. Polite and gentle characters can work if you make them dynamic. Bam is just a catalyst for the story at this point. 

BUT I will acknowledge these are the introductory chapters. How Webtoon decided to break up the chapters in book form may be affecting the reading experience (good or bad).

 Listen, I’m the last one to talk about storytelling, but this is just way too fast with too many characters at once! The basic premise was set up fine before the influx of characters. The Webtoon format works well with this type of fast pacing (because you're waiting from week to week. the reader nor the author really waste time on filler or backstory), but it's jarring in book form.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Tower of God. At first glance, it seems like a death game (Squid Games, Hunger Games, Alice in Wonderland manga, etc). Having to solve a test on each floor as you ascend higher and higher immediately piqued my interest. Bam, however, did not.

I'm not against 'the chosen one' stories or the main character being gifted. But very often I don't seem to enjoy the Korean comics with male leads that have gotten English adaptations recently (at least from the ones I've read). They tend to fall into a Gary-stu power fantasy, a sad-sack boy abused and bullied by everyone, or a jerk with powers.

Bam is rather dull as of now. He's even-tempered and will do anything to reach his friend Rachael. Okay. I've seen gentle characters before and liked them. But he's not giving me anything.

Still, I'd (and I am) read(ing) book two.

SN: I've read other Webtoon graphic novels, but this is the first I've seen that tells what chapters it compiles. Yes, keep including this! 

A great mixture of humor, poignancy, action, family, and culture! The family aspect was truly one of my favorite parts along with how involved the parents were too.

I also think the art style complemented the story well. Mabuhay! had a lot of personality! If this was a cartoon, I’d happily watch it. 

Siblings JJ and Althea are both dealing with not fitting in, JJ wants to distance himself from anything that references his Filipino heritage and/or others himself while Althea is being ostracized by her former friend group for not “growing up.” If that wasn’t bad enough, then witches and evil spirits started hunting them too. Magical shenanigans abound.

SN: Victor was cringyyyyy—maybe a subtle or unintended commentary on how some children of immigrants (?) ( I don't think Victor's background was addressed) really overdo throwing themselves into hiphop/black-created/urban cultures to find a spot in American society. Or, it could be solely comic relief. Anyway, read this!