#guess i should say this about square-enix too because those two companies have a lot in common.

[robotsafari]

“I’ve been alone so long that having someone else around is a little… overwhelming.”

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO MY FAVORITE INVERSE DUO MOMENT

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 6/8/20

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 26 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – The fall season has begun! Furuya is wearing the ace number and dominates the first game, much to Eijun’s distress, since he’s still suffering from “the yips” after striking a batter with an inside pitch. Thankfully, Miyuki and Coach Kataoka arrange for Chris to drop by and teach Eijun a new trick, which seems to help get him out of his doldrums. Meanwhile, Furuya’s performance begins to deteriorate, rumors about Coach Kataoka’s imminent departure begin to circulate, and the guy who’s been observing them (but who is probably Kataoka’s replacement) plans to focus solely on cultivating Furuya the ace and objects to how much time and effort Kataoka devotes to the other players. I mean, I can only assume that this guy is going to get sent packing at some point, but I definitely appreciate that Terajima-sensei is able to make me this anxious about his presence. Perennially recommended. – Michelle Smith

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, Vol. 3 | By Kazuma Kamachi, Yasuhito Nogi, and Kiyotaka Haimura | Seven Seas – The first half of this volume is a giant flashback, and you know those are always bad in the Indexverse. Expect dead kids, dead adults, and a whooooooole lot of evil science. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot here that relies on the reader knowing one of the antagonists is from New Testament Vol. 11… which we have not seen in English, and might never see. Too much continuity. Junko continues to be laughably retroactively strong, going toe to toe with a level 5 here. And there’s the bond between her and Misaki, which may be “master and servant” but is also a close friendship (and yuri tease, as Misaki herself demonstrates). Railgun fans will like this. – Sean Gaffney

The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún, Vol. 8 | By Nagabe | Seven Seas – The eighth volume of The Girl from the Other Side is unbearably sad—so much so that I struggled to finish it, as watching Shiva come to terms with losing Teacher is a shattering experience. Compounding my sense of anguish were the final chapters, in which we learn why the Inside world was so desperately interested in Shiva. The parallels between her situation and our current health crisis are impossible to ignore, reminding us about the human cost of capitulating to fear, ignorance, and superstition in the face of a pandemic. In a less fraught moment, I’d be inclined to recommend The Girl from the Other Side for the lessons it imparts, but I think it’s OK to decide that Nagabe’s allegory is a little too on-the-nose to offer insight or comfort right now. – Katherine Dacey

Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest, Vol. 3 | By Aki Irie | Vertical Comics – After two messy but interesting volumes that see-sawed between mystery and travelogue, Go with the Clouds, North-by-Northwest finds its groove in volume three. Michitaka—who disappeared from the previous volume—takes center stage in the latest installment, as Kei inadvertently stumbles across some important clues about what happened to his aunt and uncle back in Japan. Though Kei’s discovery propels the story in a new and unexpected direction, the latest plot twists feel earned; the sometimes awkward shifts in tone and genre that characterized the first two volumes are smoothed over by new revelations about Michitaka, and a new sense of urgency about solving the trail of gruesome deaths he’s left behind. The result is a compelling story that has the trappings of a Scandinavian crime show but the soul of an X-Files episode. Recommended. – Katherine Dacey

Kakushigoto: My Dad’s Secret Ambition, Vol. 3 | By Kouji Kumeta | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Whereas Zetsubou-sensei made a point to seemingly attack everything in the world for leaving the author (and, by extension, Nozomu) in despair, Kakushigoto is zeroing in on the manga profession in particular. Here we get mysteries answered, such as why are the pages of weekly magazines colored differently, who determines the order the stories go in, and what is the exact nature of a deadline? We don’t get real answers for any of these, as it turns out things are very fluid. As for Hime, she’s still cute, and still investigating things with her not-Zetsubou girls mystery club. And there’s still that flashforward threatening us with the death of Hime’s father. Will the series get that dark? – Sean Gaffney

The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History’s Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants, Vol. 1 | By Shu, Kayaharuka, and Yoshinori Shizuma | Square Enix – This isn’t my usual fare, but I hoped it would help with my Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun withdrawal. And it actually did! Anoth Voldigord was the all-powerful demon king, but sacrificed himself to end a perpetual war with humanity, pledging to reincarnate in 2000 years. When he does so, he’s invited to a school attendend by his many descendants but nobody believes he’s who he says he is because his magic is too vast to be measured and all of the facts about his reign have been distorted or forgotten over time. Anoth isn’t too likable at first, but the fact that his smug announcements of superiority garner no reaction, his jokes fall flat, and he must deal with a pair of doting and dimwitted human parents all help to humble him a bit. I guess it sometimes pays to venture out of your comfort zone! – Michelle Smith

My Senpai Is Annoying, Vol. 1 | By Shiromanta | Seven Seas – Thankfully, the senpai is not annoying in the way that I feared—this is all on her. Futaba is a new OL at a company who is so short she looks about twelve years old. She also has a near-terminal case of tsundere. This mostly comes out when around Harumi, her senpai at the company, who is huge, nice, helps her with her work and occasionally lightly teases her, and she is absolutely not ready to deal with it. This manga has one joke—Futaba is embarrassed and gets mad to hide it—and if you like that joke, it can be fun. It’s also based on a webcomic, with most “chapters” being about two pages. Towards the end, there’s longer original content, and that works much better. Recommended for those who like 4-komas and tsunderes. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 9 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – You got the sense that Kou wasn’t going to stay in France forever, and sure enough, she’s back by the end of this volume. There’s some nice stories here about not-quite-rivalries between her and Aoba’s friend Hotaru, and of course the inevitable yuri tease between Kou and Rin, which will never rise above a certain level but that level is pretty damn high. Other than that, a big part of this volume features the danger of farming out parts of your game to outside companies to complete, as they’re harder to control and can easily affect quality in ways that need to be fixed somehow. We also see Aoba continue to grow into her role as a real adult, even as she continues to never quite take the starring role. Cute. – Sean Gaffney

Primitive Boyfriend, Vol. 1 | By Yoshineko Kitafuku | Seven Seas – Kamigome Mito is popular with the boys at her school but feels nothing for any of them, finding them all insufficiently manly. Mito is lamenting her circumstances while working on the family farm, when she suddenly receives a visit from Spica, Goddess of the Harvest. Mito’s hard work has not gone unnoticed and as a reward, Spica sends her back in time 2.5 million years to meet her soulmate, a member of the species Australopithecus Garhi. He takes care of Mito, she falls for him, and when she’s sent home just as his life is in peril, she’s desperate to return. It’s pretty fun, I guess, if you don’t let yourself get bogged down in the realities of how their relationship will never work. Thankfully, it’s also only three volumes long. It’s short, it’s unique, and thus I will keep reading to see how it all plays out. – Michelle Smith

Species Domain, Vol. 8 | By Noro Shunsuke | Seven Seas – The series has now reached the Culture Festival, and seems like it might slowly be gliding to an ending, which in a series like this means pairing up more people. The “joke” confession that wasn’t in the last volume gets revisited here, with much embarrassment all around. Kazamori’s desperation for other girls to be attracted to Ohki may end up getting her in trouble down the road. Mikasagi explains why he isn’t ready to commit to anything, etc. There’s also an extended bathhouse scene, for those who like fanservice, which includes discussion about where Mizuno should be, on the men’s or women’s side. Again, I appreciate the care they’re taking with this character. Fun. – Sean Gaffney

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 3 | By Kousuke Oono | Viz Media -As I have said in previous reviews, you read this series for its one gag, and should not expect more than that one gag done extremely well. Beyond that, here we see that our househusband is not the only former yakuza trying to make a living doing mundane everyday things, and that it’s much easier to change what you do than how you act. We also see why he’s such a good husband, manipulating things a bit so that his wife can meet some live action Pretty Cure actors (or rather the non-copyright violating Pretty Cure knockoff). That said, I think it’s Santa’s appearance that is absolutely the highlight of the volume, along with the stunned reaction of all the children. Hilarious. – Sean Gaffney

By: Katherine Dacey

[dbethelcomics]

The Week - 22 December 2017

This is the week where the winter break really kicks off for me because I finished all of my grading and can dive all the way into Long John for the better part of a month...until school starts back up again at the end of January.

LISTENING

Source: RainyMood.com

RainyMood

Towards the end of grading, when focus seems to slip and patience wanes, even music wasn't working for me. RainyMood is a white noise website that just has an endless loop of a rainstorm that will play behind anything else you put in front of it. Want to listen to classical music with the sound of rain peeking through? RainyMood.com is your jam. I discovered it years ago and I every time I return to it, it unfailingly calms me down. They have an app version for smart phones; what I wish was that they had an app version for my desktop; though, I guess, that would just be the website.

READING

When grading, my mind becomes a highly functional bag of mush. Even when I have an evening to dedicate to reading, or now, right after I'm done grading, if I sit down with a novel or a book that's just words, I can't bear to look at it. As my brain heals from the semester, I continue on with the literature that got me through the semester: comic books (i.e., books with words and pictures).

X-Men: Grand Design #1 by Ed Piskor

source: Marvel. Art by Ed Piskor

One of the understandable barriers for entry into reading comics is the deep history that a lot of the more popular books have. A potential reader can often be stopped in self-doubt before picking up a new Batman comic because, as soon as they see or hear that Batman has been around for 78 years, a lot of questions can start crowding the mind. What do I need to read to understand this issue? Do I have to start with #1 from 1939? How often do they change things? WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?!

The X-Men have been around since 1963 and their history is just as cloudy and problematic as any other book. What indie cartoonist, Ed Piskor, is doing with his limited series, X-Men: Grand Design, seems impossible. Taking the 54-year history of the X-Men, Piskor will try to have it all make sense over the course of six oversized issues. The simple truth about comics that have long lineages is that––no––you don't have to read every single issue ever. Even with the trend of telling about 6-issue serialized stories, go ahead and pick up the book in front of you. What matters is that you have fun instead of necessarily understanding everything. What happened before doesn't matter, you're smart enough to figure out what you need to know. These schisms in narrative have a wide variety of reasons, from editorial demands to shifts in culture to simply ignoring what came before. For some reason, thankfully, Piskor is going to find a through line through every main X-Men story and tie everything to it. Not that it can't be done, but most of my interest in this book lies in the "how" of it over the indie cred he's bringing to the X-Men, which is cool, too.

Hillbilly Volume 2 by Eric Powell

Source: Albatross Funny Books. Art by Eric Powell

I don't really know how to describe Hillbilly. I came to the first collected volume with little knowledge of the premise. Instead, I bought it sight unseen because I love the art and enjoy the writing of its creator, Eric Powell, who wrote and drew the crudely hilarious, powerful, and beautiful (and often very, very gross, making it hard to recommend to people) comic series, The Goon, before this. Like The Goon, Hillbilly is an unexpectedly satisfying mashup of genres, in this case a seamless blending of fantasy and tall tale southern gothic. It's clearly a dark Americana but there are no guns; instead, there are swords and axes and fantastical creatures outside of ramshackle log cabins. The following panel is the entire comic in a single image:

source: Albatross Funny Books. Art by Eric Powell

And it (at least with my reading of Volume 1) really, really worked. I mentally filed issue #2 into my nebulous list of all-time favorite single issues of all comics ever. The comic is mysterious and episodic and seems, in a way, to suit Powell's writing style even better than The Goon did. It caught me off-guard and, with this week's release of Volume 2, I can't wait to slog through that world again.

WATCHING

"The Death & Rebirth of Final Fantasy XIV", parts 1, 2, and 3 by Noclip

I was a big Final Fantasy fan during the first leg of the series' run, avidly and ravenously following the releases from its beginning on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to its sixth installment on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (however, at the time, only three of the six games had ever made it to North American shores). After Final Fantasy VII was released on Sony's Playstation, my interest began waning as new games and genres became more attractive to me. I fell off after Final Fantasy XII, but I always am interested in what happens with the series and privately hope that each game does well, even if I have no intention of playing it.

All I knew about Final Fantasy XIV was that was the fourteenth game, duh, and that it was their second attempt at making an online-only game, specifically a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG; I swear, that's the acronym for those unfamiliar with this world) like World of Warcraft. Not only had my interest left the series by the time Final Fantasy XIV first released, but I never play games online, so I was doubly uninterested in this game. However, I am interested in good writing, criticism, and journalism about gaming and I was familiar with the mind behind the YouTube channel, Noclip, Danny O'Dwyer.

An opinionated, brash, and thoughtful game critic, he split from a good corporate journalism gig to start a completely crowd-funded documentary YouTube channel about the gaming industry that would have the polish and journalistic veracity of any documentary made by a major studio. And, I must say, his promise been met with aplomb. He takes a look at the stories of the making of games big and small and, with "The Death & Rebirth of Final Fantasy XIV," he gets about as big as you can get.

He actually flew over to Japan and interviewed high-ranking people in the company that made the game, Square Enix, and the candor he was able to elicit from these executives and designers is almost unprecedented when it comes to Japanese game makers. In a nutshell, it's a game that was originally released and completely failed. They took a risk, however, and while the game was still going online, completely made a brand new Final Fantasy XIV in the background and, when it was done, they torched the old one and imported all the players' characters into the new one. What's more is that they wrote in this into the story of the game as well. It resulted in becoming a very popular and well-received game, a tale of an expensive and risky turnaround that has never really been done before, in particular within the realm of MMORPGs.

So, I watched a two-hour documentary (over three parts) about a game I have never played and have no interest in and I loved it. If anything, that speaks to the quality of the work O'Dwyer's venture has been putting on to the internet for free.

LONG JOHN UPDATE

No drawing happened this week between grading and focusing on other work that I needed to get done before doing some traveling for the holidays. However, I do plan to jump back on the horse, so to speak, to get the rest of the pages drawn and scanned, at least, by the end of the winter break. Since next week is the last Friday before the new year, I'll do something big for you then (specifically, cover and title reveal). This week, however, I'll drop another panel from the beginning of the book.

art by D. Bethel

Again, I'm ready to jump into the details about the page when I should be saving that for the actual page notes. I will say that Chapter 3 really feels like an end to the first act of Long John. In all honesty, Chapter 3 would be more accurate if it were numbered Chapter 2, Part 2 as Chapter 2 ended in a cliffhanger and Chapter 3 picks up from right where we left off (which is why I'm not having any issue showing off artwork from early in the book––we know where it's headed). This chapter will be the first major change for the character of Long John Walker, the first step to becoming a new person after everything was taken away from him (hence the tag line, right? "Losing Every Thing Changes Everything") and is partially designed to have a structure mirroring Chapter 2.

Like I said last week, I am incredibly proud of this chapter in a variety of ways, with writing and structure being a big part of it. I worried that Chapter 2 felt like such a tonal shift and doesn't have the swagger that Chapter 1 had, but admittedly that was kind of the point. I feel Chapter 3 delivers on the setup of Chapter 2 while sewing together all three of the chapters so far into a nice complete package.

Until next week, that was The Week.