Set in a post-nuclear-meltdown Montreal, this story follows Flavie, a courier, during one day of work in the perpetually snowbound city. She speeds around on her snow-ski, delivering groceries and packages while avoiding the deadly cold, 6-foot diameter snowflakes, scavengers, and roads blocked by trash and rubble. The latent radiation has caused many Montrealers to develop interesting mutations, anything from skin rashes to extra limbs. But they still want a latte and bagel in the morning, delivered fast enough to keep them piping hot, and Flavie is there to serve. This comic is well-written and well-drawn, but very short. At 90 -odd pages it felt like the first act, rather than a whole story. I real an English language version published by Boom!Box, but the comic was originally published in French, possibly as a webcomic- it has a good webcomic feel.

Two children, Patricia and Lawrence, have formative brushes with a deep and mysterious power in childhoods otherwise dominated by abuse, bullying, and misery. Patricia's experience is a single unexplained day of being able to speak the language of birds and meeting a Tree which tells her of her own magic and connection with nature. Lawrence's involves successfully building a time machine which jumps him two seconds into the future, and busing up to MIT to watch a rocket launch. Neither of these experiences make the kids very relatable to their peers, and through junior high they only have each other... until a sadistic guidance councilor with his own motives drives them apart. Things escalate until Patricia is literally cased out of school by a mob accusing her of witchcraft and Lawrence is sent to a super restrictive military boarding school. They don't see each other for many years until a chance encounter at a party in San Francisco. Lawrence is now deeply involved with a tech company trying to realize inter-space human colonization. Patricia is a full-fledged witch, working on assignment handing out curses and blessings to the unsuspecting. Around them, the world is falling apart: global climate change, massive super storms, degrading democracy and infrastructure, and international arms-rattling are all threatening the viability of human life on Earth. Lawrence's bosses want to "fix" the problem by abandoning the planet, while Patricia's want to "fix" the Earth by abandoning human civilization. In the midst of this, the pair are irritably drawn together by attraction and shared trauma.

I first heard about this play a few years ago and was very excited to get a copy of the published script this year at SDCC. As far as Harry Potter fan parodies goes, this is in a similar vein as "A Very Potter Musical" through it contains opportunities for improv rather than songs. Where it falls short for me is the fact that all seven years of magical education have been squashed into a 100-ish minute play, meaning that each individual scene is VERY short, and so much time is spent just covering ground that there isn't as much development of the original characters as I would have liked. The story follows three students sorted into Puffs the same year that Harry starts at school. Their house motto is "third or nothing!" based on the common occurrence of coming in last in every house tournament. They idolize Cedric Diggory and are deeply shaken by his death. Aside from the friends switching to AOL instant messaging to communicate in the summers and chatting about mid-90s movies and bands the story didn't bring me very much new stuff to get excited about. I've only given the script 2 stars, but I do think it would be much better seen live, and I would still see it given the opportunity. I just wouldn't plan a whole trip to NYC around seeing it.

The main thing I miss when reading The Adventure Zone comics versus listening to the podcast is the silly voices, and especially the pacing of vocal delivery. But what you get instead is a wealth of silly character expressions and visual jokes. They are sneaking in earlier appearances for some characters who were introduced later in the podcast story, which works well. The murder mystery is very effective, especially the final reveal and the concluding battle. I love that they include a fan art gallery in the back of each volume, helping to maintain the alternate fan-canons for character's visual appearances.

I have been a fan of Shing Yin Khor's art for years, and I was so excited when this book was announced! Along with their adorable rescue dog, Bug, Shing sets out to drive the complete historic Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago. Along the way they chat with rangers, bikers, tourists, and the shop and cafe owners that are keeping pieces of American history alive. Shing's voice is warm, personal, and curious. The pages are painted in gorgeous full-color watercolors. The remains of blueline pencil under the finished artwork give the whole book the immediate and intimate feeling of a travel journal. Thoughts on being an immigrant and searching for a homeland are woven through the portraits of kitschy roadside attractions. This book is a quick and highly recommended read.