(read as single issues)

Hate 2 compare but this never gelled for me the way Tom Taylor's All-New Wolverine series did. The whole clone-robot-assassin plot here felt like re-treading the same stuff for Laura without...much new to come out of if it? Still, love these characters and I'm glad Jonathan the literal wolverine got to stay and hang out.

Here's some stuff I don't really care about: Tony Stark's retconned biological parents vs adoptive parents, virtual reality gone awry, robot ethics.

Here's some stuff I do care about: Tony's relationships with Janet and Rhodey, both of whom get like, three panels in this book.

Whew! SOMETIMES I feel like prestigious non-comics writers aren't actually the best picks for superhero comics but Eve Ewing is a great fit for Riri and I loved this volume. As much as I previously enjoyed Riri's adventures with AI Tony, her new AI NATALIE is so funny and yet such a moving tribute to Riri's dead BFF ;_;

I missed whatever happened with her and the Champions--it's alluded to and I don't necessarily feel like I missed out on something--it's enough to know that right now Ironheart is on her own and (re-?)learning that she doesn't have to be (a classique lesson for a young superhero to learn). This is a great jumping-on point for this character.

I also love Eve Ewing to some extent writing what she knows--Chicago and academia.

The art is great too--Riri is so pretty but also young, and there are a lot of diverse faces/bodies shown here.

Given the middle grade audience and media tie-in of it all, I think it's fair to say that this is a bit...simpler than Wein's YA/adult books that I love so. Still, I liked spending time with the Tico sisters and it's a fine adventure for younger readers.

Often as I read this I would have to put the book down and stare blankly into space for a moment to fully process the anxiety and embarrassment I was feeling on behalf of the author. I mean intentionally, she's very honest and open about her experience in a way that I applaud but also /o\

I still love her memoir-y reflections and slice of life stuff but it was also very cool to read a bit about the making of Shrill and the iconic fat bikini party episode.

I endlessly struggle with figuring out how accessible these are to folks who don't listen to the podcast? Truly not sure if/how it translates. But also, that's on those people. I love the podcast and these books are a fun treat!

This was really fun and informative! In the introduction, they say that they hope you'll read this book one-handed because you'll want to look up photos and videos as you read, and that was definitely the case for me. It took me awhile to get through this book because of that but it was a good time. I think the authors (GoodReads is showing this as by Tom Fitzgerald but it's by both Tom & Lorenzo from the blog of the same name) did a good job balancing their obvious fandom of RuPaul and Drag Race with critiques of RuPaul and the show. It's still ultimately something that's for fans of the show but that might give you a new perspective. (No mention of RuPaul's fracking tho.)

Obviously I love the original Animorphs series and I really do hope the graphic novel adaptations brings it to a new audience. I think the Animorphs concept is just so cool and I think this book captures that and the tension of the plot pretty well. I didn't love the art? I felt like the human faces were...bad? I also kind of missed the internal narration of the non-GN books. But again, the originals are very dear to my heart. But I think for a younger audience who might encounter the story for the first time in this format, there's a lot to like.

I've been a fan of some of Jaya Saxena's online wrings and I've been semi-ironically getting into crystals but I probably wouldn't have picked this up if I hadn't read some online reviews that were like "uh this is not a guide to crystals it's actually set of beautiful personal essays" and I was like, sick, I love beautiful personal essays!!!

Each essay focuses on one crystal and its alleged purposes/abilities but then applies that out to moments in Jaya's life/personality/whatever and they're all just really honest and #relatable and lovely. Highly recommended even if you're not into crystals. (But also it's 2021, why not get into crystals.)

wowwww like it's not a hot take that a Pulitzer-prize winning books is great but also, wow, it was great.

I was a little intimidated to start reading it because it's long and my attention span has been frazzled due to the everything, but it's SO interesting and so readable. It was brilliant of her to focus in on 3 of her many interviewees (while supplementing with other research/anedcotes from other interviews) because it gave you these three "main characters" (who are real people) to follow and be invested in.

It's really compelling and infuriating. (Also there's some graphic descriptions of lynching that I regretted reading before bed personally!) But truly an important and great book that fills in a lot of gaps left by most US history classes/books etc.