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weirdandpissedoff · 5 years

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Rian Reads: Astonishing X-Men #3

Writer: Scott Lobdell & Jeph Loeb Artist: Joe Madureira Inker: Tim Townsend & Al Milgrom Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comcraft Colorist: Steve Buccellato & Digital Chameleon

Cover Date: May 1995

As this issue opens, Wild Child (who I still feel as though I know next to nothing about) races to destroy Holocaust’s Infinite production plant on the orders of Sabertooth. In pursuit are a small group of those very same Infinites, who manage to stop him in his tracks with a well-placed laser blast to his back. Peculiarly, the laser blast in question is accompanied by some unusually verbose and unnecessary narration which gave me pause. Having greatly enjoyed Scott Lobdell’s writing on the first two issues of the Astonishing X-Men series, something immediately seemed to be amiss this time around. Well, a quick glance at the credits on page 1 revealed that, while Lobdell plotted this issue, Jeph Loeb wrote the dialogue…

*sad trombone sound effect*

Anyway, Holocaust himself shows up before the Infinites have a chance to finish Wild Child off, then reveals himself to actually be Morph in disguise, accompanied by the rest of the X-team who are the focus of this particular mini-series (Rogue, Blink and Sunspot). Sunspot takes out the Infinites and then the crew desperately tries to communicate with Wild Child to find out what happened to Sabertooth. However, lacking the ability to speak (I guess…?) he instead leaps onto Rogue and touches her skin (see: licks her face) so that she’ll absorb his memories and know what he knows without having to be told. What they don’t know, but we find out in the very next scene, is that Sabertooth is alive and is a currently captive of Holocaust.

A short while later the team arrives at the Infinite factory Wild Child was meant to destroy. How exactly he was supposed to do that on his own, I’m not sure, but the group sets out to finish what he started when Blink suddenly seems to sense Sabertooth’s presence. She teleports away to discover him chained up and hanging on a nearby cliff overlooking the facility, which is where the issue ends. This ending seems to thematically tie in to an earlier sequence which flashes back to Sabertooth and Wolverine rescuing Blink from a burning building. When, where and under what circumstances that scene takes place, I’m not sure. Hopefully it will be expanded upon later.

The one other sequence of note in this issue is another cutaway to Magneto and Bishop back at the dilapidated, would-be X-Mansion. In a moment of confusion, Bishop (who, let’s all remember, is apparently a bit off his rocker due to everything he’s experienced since Legion Quest) threatens to kill Magneto, thinking that it could somehow reset things to the way they were back in the regular Marvel Universe timeline. After Bishop comes to his senses (following a swift slap to the face from Erik), Magneto’s robot maid/nanny alerts the two of a security breach at the mansion before cocooning Charles (Magneto’s young son) in a protective, metal egg which sinks into a hole in the floor…as one does. Having been teased at some point in one of the various Age Of Apocalypse tie-ins (there are so many that I’m beginning to lose track of what happened where and to whom), this breach is presumably the coming of Apocalypse himself.

Despite Jeph Loeb’s intrusive writing style, I still enjoyed this issue of Astonishing X-Men quite a bit. While the artists of some of the other mini-series’ seem to be falling behind and relying on fill-ins, Joe Madureira is holding strong, which is a big positive in my book. The overall story of this particular series is still one of the more compelling to me (despite how annoying both Sunspot and I find the Age Of Apocalypse version of Morph to be) and I’m greatly anticipating the final showdown between the X-Men and Holocaust, which I am assuming will be the ultimate climax of the series in the next issue.

- R.

#Rian Reads #Rian Reads Astonishing X-Men #Astonishing X-Men #X-Men #Age of Apocalypse #Magneto #Bishop #Morph #Sabertooth #Holocaust #Rogue #Sunspot #Wild Child #Blink #comics #Marvel

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joigami · 7 years

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A showdown between cats #origami #big #cats #blackpanther #sabertoothtiger #smilodon #sabertooth #tiger #paperart #papercraft #paper #art #craft #design #sculpture #daily #illustration #instaart #instaartist #painting #photography #photo #painting #drawing #nature

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iishipallthethings · 7 years

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Three is (not) a crowd

Chapter 4: Let’s talk

Story Summary: Two months after Kuvira was defeated, things have finally settled down in Republic City. For better or for worse, Avatar Korra is ready to talk to Asami about the Unspoken Thing between them, however there's something Asami had been hiding from her friends. And that something is Lin Beifong.

Korra had been to Asami’s mansion several times before but she could never get over how big it was. It took her ten minutes to walk up to the front entrance after she got off Naga. Korra took her time walking, looking over the crisp lawn and impeccable hedges. There were some spirit milling about and they didn’t seem to care that they were on someone else’s property. Korra suspected that Asami didn’t mind the otherworldly creatures as long as they kept to themselves and didn’t trash her place. Korra walked to the door and rung the doorbell before she could turn tail and leave.

She practiced the breathing exercises she learned from meditating as she waited. She went over the speech in her head again. Korra gave up on trying to think of a way to tell Asami she had seen the duchess fucking Lin without having Asami try shocking her. She just had to come clean, that’s all. As soon as she sees Asami, she’ll tell her everything and hopefully Lin will have pity on the Avatar and pull Asami off of her.

The door opened and Asami Sato stared at Korra with a raised eyebrow. There was slight irritation in her eyes but her mouth was quick enough to smile. “Hey, Korra.”

The words were stuck in Korra’s throat and she made her head jerk up in greeting. She opened her mouth to beg forgiveness. “Sorry about canceling our picnic today,” Korra blurted out. Fucking coward, she growled to herself. “I, uh, ran into someone and we had a bit of a chat.” “Oh?” Asami crossed her arms and she looked genuinely curious. The fact that Korra was blushing made things more interesting “Who was it?”

Korra rubbed the back of her neck. “It was Lin.” Korra looked up at Asami, remembering the look on her face when she caught her with the Chief. She appeared innocent now, well not exactly innocent but definitely not calling Lin a whore and fucking her doggystyle. Wait, she shouldn’t be thinking about that now! “She actually asked if I could come over so we could all talk.”

If Asami was surprised she hid it very well. “Lin is here now so we can start.” She went inside the mansion and Korra had no choice but to follow. “She said you were coming over today and we already have a room to ourselves.” Korra could hear the apprehension in Asami’s voice and saw how tense her shoulders were. So Asami knew something was wrong but she didn’t know what. Korra wasn’t sure if she was glad that the duchess expected something was up or if that just made the situation worse.

The two women walked through the mansion with Asami leading. Korra wanted to take her time and delay the talk but the duchess’s strides were too purposeful. They passed through a few hallways but didn’t run into any people. Did Asami let the help have the day off or did they do their duties at night?

Asami stopped in front of an insignificant door and went inside without saying anything. Korra followed suit and gasped at the sight of the room. There was a bar that one would expect to see from a high end restaurant, complete with ten bar stools and an assortment of liquors that would make an alcoholic think they were in heaven. The bar took up one side of the room and in the middle of the room was a round table that could easily sit fifteen people. The far end of the room had a magnificent fireplace and a stuffed sabertooth moose lion rearing and baring its fangs at potential guests. It was obvious that this was some sort of entertainment room for influential friends of Future Industries. Korra almost asked if Varrick designed this room but when she turned to look at the wall that was hidden by the open door, the question died on her lips. There was a crimson couch pushed up against the wall with paintings of important-looking people hanging above but that wasn’t what caught Korra’s attention. What made her freeze up was the sight of Lin sitting at one end of the couch, reading the newspaper with a deep frown.

When the door opened, the Chief glanced up and met Korra’s eyes. The Avatar could read the question in them and she gave a quick shake of her head as Asami went to join Lin on the couch. However, when the duchess sat down, Lin got up and made her way to the bar. She rummaged down in the counter for a moment before pulling out three glasses. Lin grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the assortment of liquors and poured quite generous amounts of the alcohol in each glass. She handed one over to Korra, or more like thrusted it in her hands, and gave the other to Asami. Lin sat down next to Asami and took a sip out of her glass, obviously waiting for the Avatar to start talking.

Korra looked down at her glass and forced herself to take a gulp to buy her time. She coughed and sputtered as the liquid seared her throat. “Fuck,” Korra muttered, staring at the drink like it had tried to kill her.

“Too much for the Avatar?” Lin asked, the quip clear in her voice.

No one immediately answered or called attention to the rude jest. Asami tried to decipher the meaning of Lin’s taunt while the other two women knew exactly what the Chief was inferring. Korra met Lin’s piercing eyes and in a burst of courage, or recklessness, took a deliberate swallow of her drink again. This time she managed not to have an outward reaction but it still burned her throat. Lin had something almost like approval on her face before she took another drink from her glass, this one much bigger than Korra’s.

Asami grimaced down at her drink. She could practically see the tension between the two of them. It was like the two women were challenging each other but instead of fighting, they were drinking. Asami wanted no part in this. “I don’t like to drink two nights in a row.” The duchess tried to offer it back to Lin but the Chief shook her head. She just wanted a day alone with Lin but the other woman simply told her to expect Korra to arrive at some point and afterwards it was like the Chief was waiting for a showdown. Honestly it was wearing down on Asami’s patience.

“You’ll want to,” Lin said, gently pushing the glass back to the duchess. She looked back at Korra who was still standing in the same spot when she gave her the glass of whiskey before turning her attention to Asami. “Korra knows.”

“Knows what?” Asami asked at the same time Korra called out, “At least warm her up to it!” The duchess looked at her friend as her eyebrows knit with confusion. The duchess must have noted the blush on Korra’s face because realization leaked on her own before she turned her head to look at Lin. “What are you talking about?” The words were strained as was Asami’s grip on her glass.

Lin sighed and glared at Korra as she answered. “She saw us last night. Together.”

Those few words snapped all the pieces together in Asami’s mind. Now Lin’s sudden reluctance to have the duchess touch her last night to her hastily leaving her own house this morning to Korra’s canceling their picnic made so much more sense. Asami took a gulp of her whiskey, much bigger than Korra. “What exactly did you see?” The question was directed at Korra, whose blush deepened a considerable amount, but before the younger woman could answer, Asami raised a hand. “Wait, I don’t want to know.”

Korra swirled her drink in her glass before taking a tentative step forward. This must be strong stuff. She could already feel her belly grow warm and the liquor lend her some courage. “I didn’t know you were into, uh, older women.” She knew she said the wrong words when Lin’s lips twitched in displeasure and Asami glance away. “Sorry, I just, I’m trying to wrap my head around this.”

“There’s nothing to wrap your head around,” Lin growled. She finished off her drink and placed the empty glass on the table stand next to the couch. “As far as you’re concerned, you didn’t see anything.”

“I thought you wanted to talk about this, not antagonize me some more,” Korra countered. She took another sip of her liquid courage and took a few steps forward. She looked down at Asami who was staring into her drink, a light flush on her face. “What I don’t get is how you could shack up with her of all people! She’s, she’s Lin, Asami!”

Lin narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She got off the couch and was about to go over to hit the Avatar but a firm hand touched her arm.

“What did you expect, Korra!?” Asami yelled, unable to keep her voice calm. Both Lin and Korra were shocked at the intensity and Lin sat back on the couch, content to let the duchess talk before she did anything to the Avatar. Asami saw Korra shift in her spot, clearly uncomfortable at the turn in the conversation, and that just made it worse. “You were gone for three years with only one letter letting me know you were alive! I was lonely, Korra, and Lin was there for me. She didn’t suddenly disappear off the face of the earth.”

“I didn’t disappear!” Korra argued. “I was at the Southern Water Tribe being healed after Zaheer crippled me. You could have visited anytime.” It only took Asami narrowing her eyes for Korra to see how wrong she was. Even if Asami had visited, the Avatar wouldn’t have let her see her broken.

Asami continued, gesturing to Lin with her free hand. “Lin actually listened to me unlike you. She stayed when I needed her.”

Korra felt the guilt go back to chewing at her and hid it with a drink from her glass. She looked at the two women, really looked at them. Despite the couch being several feet long, Lin and Asami chose to sit right next to one another at one end. Lin was never one to openly express her feelings but Korra could have sworn that the Chief was stealing glancess at the duchess every couple of seconds. Asami was more evident in her affection. She would sometimes meet those glances Lin gave her and her lips would curl up slightly like she wasn’t even aware of it. They’ve been doing this since they first sat down together.

The Avatar drank the rest of her whiskey and set the glass on the bar’s counter. After debating with herself, Korra took a seat at one of the bar stools. She was close enough to be in the conversation but far enough away that she could attempt to dodge an attack if her next question provoked the two women, namely Lin. “So how long have you two been dating?” she asked lamely.

Lin and Asami shared a certain look that made the Avatar flush for unknown reasons and they both looked at Korra. “We aren’t dating exactly,” Lin answered.

“We just have fun sometimes,” Asami explained with a shrug. The anger she felt a minute prior was replaced with curiosity. Why would Korra think she and Lin were dating? They were adults, they didn’t need to be together to have a bit of fun every now and again.

“Well, it looks a lot like you two are dating to me.” The puzzled expressions on the women’s faces still didn’t go away. “Well,” Korra drawled, rubbing at her jaw to figure out where she should start. She looked at Asami and decided to begin with her. “You picked up food for Lin.” Asami didn’t look convinced so Korra continued, “You knew it was her favorite and it was for her birthday. If it was anyone else, you would have thrown the biggest birthday party you could think of but you had a small celebration with just you two.” Korra turned her head to Lin. “You told Asami about your birthday even though you hated it when I gave you the present.”

“I didn’t hate it,” Lin muttered, crossing her arms. Korra didn’t miss how Asami’s eyes flashed down to the Chief’s arms for a brief moment. “I just don’t like it when people make a big deal about my age.”

Korra waved away the words. “But you still told her and you threatened to throw me in jail if I ever said anything about,” Korra hesitated and felt the heat rise in her cheeks, “about what I saw.”

“You threatened to throw Korra in jail?” Asami asked, incredulous that Lin blatantly threatened to abuse her power as the Chief of Police.

Lin had the decency to look a little embarrassed before she schooled her features and shrugged. “I threatened to throw a lot of people in jail. Korra’s not special.”

Korra wasn’t sure to be offended by that statement or not.

“And she did break and entered my own house,” Lin continued, taking care to stare down Korra. “I have every right to arrest her if I wanted.”

Again Korra waved away the words like they were not important. “But the fact that you still threatened me shows that you care about Asami. And you let her buy you that expensive wine!” In truth Korra had no idea if the bottle of wine she found at Lin’s house was expensive but she couldn’t see Asami bringing some bottle she picked up along the way. “Just admit it that you’re seeing each other.” Korra may never be able to tell Asami that she cared for her but she would be damned if she let Lin stay with her friend and deny the woman that comfort.

Asami and Lin stayed quiet after that. They both thought over how they ended up in this room with the Avatar telling them that they were dating. Asami was the first to come to the same conclusion as Korra. The duchess turned to Lin like she was seeing her in new light. “We are dating,” she said.

Lin groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Fuck, we are.” She lifted her head to glower at Korra. “Don’t you dare tell anyone.”

At this point, Korra felt like they were going in circles. “Yeah, I already said I won’t but why? Who cares if you two are together, it's your lives.”

Asami spoke up before Lin could retort something that made the situation more tense than it already was. “It’s not like that, Korra. If we were in any other position, we wouldn’t care what people would say. Or at least I won’t.” On an impulse, Lin touched Asami’s hand gently and the duchess smiled gratefully at her. “Think of the scandal this would make for both of us. It’s too much of a risk.”

Korra didn’t understand. “Explain.”

Lin rolled her eyes with an irritated huff. “Use your brain for once and think. I’m the Chief of Police. If word gets out that I’m dating Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries and daughter of a known equalist, we both be screwed. I let her stay out of prison when I arrested her father and I led the investigation on her company to see if it had any ties to the Red Lotus after you were poisoned by Zaheer. How long do you think it would take for people to question whether I showed Asami favoritism and let her and her company off the hook because of our relationship.”

“But you two weren’t together during Amon and Zaheer.”

Lin nodded at Korra’s statement. “True, but do you think they’ll care about that little fact? Especially President Reiko? You already know how much he lacks a spine,” Lin grumbled. “All it would take is for a generous donor to whisper in his ear about how I’m tampering with justice for a nice pair of tits and ass.” Asami slapped Lin’s arm but the Chief was unfazed. “I’m just saying what they would to the president.”

After a minute, Korra nodded. “You’re probably right about that.” She sighed and nodded again. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about you two.”

“Don’t promise to Lin,” Asami said. Even though they were across the room, Asami managed to look into Korra’s eyes and pull something in the Avatar. “I want you to promise me, Korra.” All three of them knew that Korra’s promise to Asami had far more weight than Korra’s promise to Lin. Korra took a peek at Lin and could tell that the older woman didn’t like that knowledge. She had crossed her arms and was studying the stuffed sabertooth moose lion.

“I promise, Asami.” Korra managed a weak smile and tried to take a swig from her glass before she realized she didn’t have any whiskey left. “You guys do make a good couple.” Asami laughed while Lin nodded in silence.

#three is (not) a crowd #korra #avatar korra #asami #asami sato #lin #lin beifong #legend of korra #lok #linorra #korrasami #linsami

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adawomantium-blog · 7 years

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k so i saw logan last night and i think i’ve finally collected myself enough to give my thoughts on it

obvious spoilers ahead if anyone cares to read:

i’ll start w/ the cons:

- first off, it was just an overall amazing movie. its my favorite movie ever made period. not even just an amazing comic book adaptation. as everyone is saying, this is something even non-comic book fans/readers are enjoying pretty greatly. nothing is perfect, though, and while i expected this movie to be perfect from what i had seen from trailers and tv spots and clips, theres some stuff i’m nitpick-y on, like how i kinda wished logan didn’t just die right then and there in the woods. i was hoping he would make it for maybe another few days or at least hours but it could have been worse.

- the reason i wanted him to live a little longer was just so he could build up a bit more of a bond with laura. he spends the entire movie not giving a single fuck about her until maybe the last 25-30 minutes. i would have liked a bit more development with their relationship, but it was still really touching a believable when logan starts to accept the fact that laura is his daughter (also! laura is his biological daughter in this, not a clone! and thats not a con for me, i’d rather it be that way tbh)

- not a huge fan of how he died, either. on . . . a fallen tree stump?? i wished laura could have at least pulled him off or something. i was ok with x-24 being the one to kill him but. . . idk

- i wish laura got to be the one to kill either rice or pierce. preferably rice, as hes directly tied to her comic origins and pierce isnt, plus pierce is killed by the rest of the kids. she got to kill x-24 though, which im alright with.

- also, kinda upset that the munsons died. but, choosing to kill them off (especially in the fashion in which they were killed) was a ballsy move. this movie is hardly a feel-good one at any point.

- the fact that gabriella wasn’t sarah/the woman who gave birth to laura bothered me a little bit, but i’ll live with it. she loved her, and that’s what mattered.

that’s all that i can really think of right now. even still, all of these things are very minor and could have been done a lot worse. while there were certain things i would have preferred, im still okay with how they really turned out. these are just nitpicks, not things that i truly disliked or even hated.

now, the pros. everything else in this movie was pretty much a pro, so i’m only really gonna go over my absolute favorites:

- laura’s introduction. not when we first see her in the back of gabriella’s car or at the motel (i gasped, though, at those parts), but when she meets logan and charles. thats when i started crying, was when charles kept saying “this is laura! this is laura!” the joy he has when he realizes that mutants are still there,,,,,,that theres still hope for them,,,,,,,,,,

- laura’s relationship with charles overall. OH. MY. GOD. when she holds his hand after his seizure in vegas (and how she did everything that she could to help him and give him his medicine). THE WHOLE LIONESS ANALOGY = MY FAVORITE THING EVER I CANT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. him speaking spanish to her and doing whatever he can to keep her calm when the reavers first show up. how she keeps him under her and away from the bullets and the reavers who jumped onto logan’s limo and does whatever she can to protect him. how she goes berserk when she realizes x-24 stabbed him. how laura flips out when she realizes charles is dead. it fucked me up ok.

- the whole western theme

- the munson family. while im kinda okay with the fact that they all got killed off, i still loved them a lot. nate was so nice to laura sl;dfsdkfs;dfkl

- the mutant kids!!! they were awesome i hope we get to see more of them too

- caliban was great ok. i didn’t expect to like him as much as i did. im ok w/ his death tho because it was a heroic sacrifice and i didnt wanna see him keep suffering.

- as shitty of a person he is i actually really liked pierce??

- at first, i didn’t really like the idea of x-24, but as it played out, i was all in for it. the fact that in the end, logan did kind of end up killing himself.....HOWEVER, someone did bring up the fact that, rather than a complete clone of logan, they could have just brought sabertooth back and he could have been brainwashed by rice and sent to kill logan, and we could have finally gotten a proper showdown between logan and victor and the characters could have really gone out with a bang (no pun intended to x-24′s death......)

- laura and logan’s relationship. as obsessed as i am w/ laura and charles’ relationship, i think laura and logan’s still gets to me the most. the fact that she called him ‘daddy’ is something i’ve been thinking about nonstop since i lost the movie. i couldn’t even cry at that moment!! my soul just...left my body completely.

- at the end of the day, while laura is the light of my life, this is still logan’s movie. i....i really can’t believe he’s gone, y’know? i grew up with this character. some of my earliest memories are of watching the original x-men movies w/ my dad in our living room. a part of me wants to see him again in the movies, but i feel like that would be kinda cheap. i think, for the sake of good storytelling, they should keep him dead. if we ever see him again, i think it should at least be a flashback. they shouldn’t resurrect him completely. but shit...i just can’t stop thinking about it. the last words he heard were from his daughter. the last words he heard were him being called ‘daddy’.

- laura. just......laura. she was done so perfectly in this. i have no words. im stunned. speechless. dafne is so fucking talented.

as i said, this movie is amazing. it didn’t have everything that i wanted but it gave me things that i, while i didn’t necessarily want, was okay with. sometimes even MORE than okay with.

even tho i have some nitpicks, i would still say it’s perfect to me. i feel like if it catered to everything that i wanted then it wouldn’t be as good as a film as it was generally. go see it, if you can. please. i wanna see it again a million times. it can’t come out on dvd fast enough.

thank you james mangold. thank you for everything, hugh and patrick. good luck, dafne.

#j speaks #spoilers #logan spoilers #logan movie spoilers #my soul finally re-entered my body and i can finally talk about this movie without feeling breathless

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recentanimenews · 7 years

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Bookshelf Briefs 6/12/17

Anne Happy, Vol. 5 | By Cotoji | Yen Press – There’s a new character introduced in this volume who I thought at first was going to be an antagonist but it turns out is merely another one of our broken, unlucky heroes. That said, “terminally shy” is not really unlucky so much as a basic personality flaw. As for the class, we’re looking beyond graduation, and while I will marvel if some of these ditzes manage to survive in the adult world, it’s a good thinking exercise to get them to ponder dreams they’d like to achieve—Botan as a school nurse is amusing and obvious, Hibari’s “botanical research technician” a bit less so. As for the culture festival, they’re doing a play, probably to continue trying to force them to interact with others till they can do it more naturally. Mildly recommended. – Sean Gaffney

Captive Hearts of Oz, Vol. 2 | By Ryo Maruya and Mamenosuke Fujimaru | Seven Seas – As I noted in my review of the first volume, folks did not particularly read Alice in the Country of Hearts for the reverse harem—or if they did, the worst volumes of it were only concerned with that. No, they read it for the dark subtext, and I am pleased that Captive Hearts of Oz is well aware of that and turns the dark subtext into text. There are some sweet, heartwarming moments, don’t get me wrong, such as Leon finding his courage and Nick’s daring rescue of Hayward. But there’s also chilling stuff here, as one of the crows we met earlier is vanished into black mist, and after seemingly being killed in the rapids, Nick just… comes back wrong. I am fully down with this series now. – Sean Gaffney

Fairy Tail: Rhodonite | By Kyouta Shibano | Kodansha Comics – This says volume two on it, but it’s actually a single volume spinoff—volume one was Twin Dragons of Sabertooth. This second volume deals with Gajeel and his past, and as such has a lot of cool fights, disturbing revelations and shonen stubbornness. But of course I didn’t get it for that reason. I got it because Gajeel x Levy 5-evah. And I am pleased to note that fans of this pairing will have a lot to work with, from Levy’s realization that she’s never really asked much about Gajeel’s past, to Juvia’s straight-up shipping of the two of them (who can blame her), to Gajeel’s pure and honest respect for Levy. They’ve come a long way from his beating her to unconsciousness and crucifying her. Recommended for Gajevy fans. – Sean Gaffney

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 18 | Story by Yuto Tsukuda, Art by Shun Saeki | VIZ Media – I was hesitant going into this volume since the beginning of the “Erina’s horrible dad takes over” arc was rather distressing. It isn’t over yet, and several research societies get squashed in the shokugeki they requested to challenge the order to disband. Still, Yukihira does prevail in his rigged showdown with the fate of Polaris dormitory on the line, so there’s some hope. Too, we learn that Azami at one point idolized Yukihira’s dad and is now doing all of this because the “rotten and corrupt” culinary world “dared to ruin” him. Oh, and Erina now knows that the person she looks up to more than anyone is Yukihira’s dad, causing her to reflect on all the times she’s treated him shabbily. Probably my favorite part of this volume is seeing her among the Polaris gang; I hope she loosens up a bit more under their influence. – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 12 | By Haruchi Furudate | VIZ Media – Ah, what a tremendously satisfying volume! With little preamble, the first game of the Spring Tournament preliminaries begins. Everyone is much more confident now after spending so much time practicing against strong Tokyo teams, and Karasuno makes it through its two exciting games, earning a spot in the qualifier round. Essentially, this volume offers both in-game awesomeness as well as training montages, as the two months between tournaments pass quickly, with various guys making improvements, Hinata and Kageyama’s new quick set upping its success rate, and even Tsukishima asking for tips on how to effectively block a superior player. It’s also great to see Hinata getting respect on a wider stage. Sounds like volume twelve will be a great one, too! – Michelle Smith

Murcielago, Vol. 2 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – Hinako is on the cover of this volume, and she does get a chapter of focus to herself, which mostly serves to make us wonder if she’s meant to be sixteen years old or six. It’s also unclear exactly what her relationship with Kuroko is beyond ‘buddy with car.’ Kuroko certainly seems like she can handle things herself, finishing up the murder mansion subplot with a few more corpses and a lot more gore—though less than I expected, as the murderous maid loses a few limbs but not her life—something it’s hinted she may regret. We also begin a new arc, trying to rescue a girl from her father, who may be a serial killer. If you like lots of over the top violence and lesbian sex, Murcielago STILL may not be for you—it’s pretty twisted. – Sean Gaffney

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, Vol. 3 | By Kenya Suzuki| Seven Seas – As with the second volume, this one ramps back on the sex talk, though there is still some as we discuss pubic hair and the benefits and drawbacks to large breasts. Mostly what we get is more character-based gags, as Galko and company go video shopping, visit an art museum, and have a school festival, which brings about the majority of the drama in the latter half of the volume—Galko is excellent at reading aloud, so is drafted as narrator of the school play. But this means she can’t do the festival with Otako and Ojou! Fortunately, she has a childhood friend who, while he’s attracted to her, also understands her needs, and the problem is solved to a degree. A lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Rose Guns Days Season Two, Vol. 3 | By Ryukishi07 and Nana Natsunishi | Yen Press – This ended up being a lot more idealistic than I was expecting, even if there was a bit of manufactured drama when Zel’s real identity is revealed. The chase is on to try to rescue her father and also help Rose not surrender to the Chinese—something Lee is happy to help with provided he can consolidate his power base. Also, turns out a few of the cast from Season One are not quite as killed off as they appeared. The whole season is set up like a heist film, and a heist is what you get in the end. If there’s a problem, it’s that it all goes far TOO smoothly—you get the sense that even more was cut from the visual novel to squeeze this one. On to season three, which is in 1949. – Sean Gaffney

By: Michelle Smith

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