Another one that’s made a lot of lists. This has the distinction, though, of sounding like maybe the dumbest thing I’d heard in a while, when someone attempts to explain to you, what it’s about.

After her mother dies, years later, she attempts to get into wrestling herself, only to be thwarted by her father, who fears the same kind of accident in the ring that killed her mother, might kill her, too. But then stuff gets wild. A necromancer from another world offers to have her fight in a Real competition. The reward being the resurrection of her dead mother. And the only person who might be willing to be her partner in this tag team competition, is the man responsible for the death of her mother in the ring.

It is very much a you just need to roll with this, type of story. The artwork is also fantastic, which helps a lot. But I would say the emotion core of it is what makes any of it interesting. The relationship between her mother and her as kids, and the fallout of her death, along with the attempts to make her proud posthumously. It’s Very out there in terms of who and what they fight, and the ending has a good message, even if it feels kind of lame at the same time. It was a 5 star read, up until the final couple issues, where the plot twists took precedence over the emotional core, but then tried to bring it back at the last moment, undermining a lot of the work it had done up to the 3/4 point. I also do not care even a tiny bit about wrestling of any kind in any way, so there’s that.

This is part of my Eisner reading list and it’s actually quite cute and charming. It could be a cartoon on tv. A young precocious, ostracized, because she’s a “nerd”, girl ends up trying to get to the bottom of supposed sightings of a yeti in the male locker room. There’s lots of silly gags and personality quirks assigned to all the kids. It almost feels like watching an episode of The Simpsons, except it’s clearly mostly aimed at children and much less cerebral regarding themes.

Nominated for best single issue. So far, I’ve read the winning story Batman: One Bad Day: The Riddler, which was exceptional, as well as A Vicious Circle book 1–also exceptional. This… was fine. It is interesting because it is a number of short stories with different artists, but really the main story is the Whil Wheaton one. That did feel like the best and with the most meat on the bone. But it also felt pandering to ST fans, assuming you knew stuff I did not. Plus, it’s overly sentimental. As such, this is a super fans wet dream and didn’t mean much more to me than a passable concept and a good execution of one story, with the others being shrug worthy efforts.

I read this because of the Eisners and boy, this is not my humour. I would sum this up as Boomer humour.

This navigates to a really good mix of action and slice of life. There is a fantastic battle-of-sorts, between Frieren and a demon that served to hit every aspect this story has done so well. We uncover more of the past, more worldbuilding around demons and the past occurs, and the resolution of a conflict is done in an unexpected and different manner than you’d find typical in the format.

Also, the additional characters are well fleshed out and it continues to try to communicate Frieren’s character while being quietly subversive. Be it cozy or otherwise. Though, it is decidedly going away from the cozy aspect of the first volume. I hope it still pops up, from time to time, though.

Like most short story collections I’ve read, my interest varied from story to story—and though all are set in the same world and have a broad overarching theme to them, didn’t really build out or drill down into what interested me about the main series. Probably because the strength, for me, was in the character work, rather than the technological aspects, and I just don’t get enough time with a character in short stories to get much emotional payoff, typically.

It’s very nice that there’s a disclaimer before some stories for spoilers as well, citing how it would spoil the reader. I read this last because of it. The most impactful story for me, unsurprisingly, was one that continued the After Mars storyline, because I knew the character and wondered what became of them. Worth reading just for that, really.

Even anticipating that I would love this, it still managed to surprise me in many aspects. This story is, indeed timeless for its nuanced portrayal of (toxic) masculinity and the dichotomy embedded in society being, ultimately, incredibly harmful to everyone. But it also allows the men to be dynamic, especially by today’s standards. Plenty of feminine traits are praised and normalized. In some ways western culture regressed rather than progressed to this current standard of masculinity.

Then the story itself was surprising because it both began and ended at points I never expected, knowing just a little of the Trojan War. It frames what is important and what the “message” is in a very sophisticated way, denying catharsis, yet revelling, carrying the reader up, in the devastation and brutality of war.

To both ends the prose work is absolutely stunning. Wilson absolutely did it again. I do not see how this could have rendered things better nor helped the reader along with the opaque antiquated cultural elements. The flow is perfect, the rhythm a perfect song. Absolutely a landmark reading experience for me.

My one and only complaint is that the forward should be an afterward, which is the case for like 90% of any classic release. I don’t know why, but it is a truism at this point. Baffling.

Oh, also, this is great on audio, as you might expect from a translation of this sort.

This one gets into the weeds a bit more, yet has an even more compelling plot and structure. Again, the characters feel like the stars, with the setting and magic feeling just novel enough to keep things moving forward. A Lot more happens in this instalment, I think slightly too much, perhaps. But it probably is more fun than the former. I’m actually quite looking forward to what the author has planned when the inspiration from Godkiller ends, delivering, potentially, some much anticipated catharsis and interest vicariously.

3.5 rounded up