Here we are kicking off day one of Kuriousity’s fourth year! How about starting a new tradition with some new weekly content?
Buying manga isn’t something that seems to be as shared and celebrated as I’d like it to be, despite knowing that thousands of people are out there enjoying their purchases on a daily basis. Though my reviewers and I have managed to accumulate almost 700 reviews these past few years, they’re barely even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the books we buy and enjoy (not enough hours in the day!).
So! I’m going to start sharing what I buy with a few first impressions before I sit down to read them. Whether they serve as a reminder that ‘oh such-and-such a title is out now!’ or a simple ‘neat, she’s reading it too!’, I hope people find some fun in what’s in my shopping bag this week and are encouraged to share what you’ve bought recently as well! And if you’re interested in hearing more about a particular title, please feel free to let me know and I’ll do my best to have that title reviewed in full here on Kuriousity once I’ve finished reading it.
So what was in the bag this week thanks to new-comics-Wednesday at my favourite stop-and-shop location, Strange Adventures? Let’s take a look-see! (anyone but me have a bad habit of forgetting what they bought on the way home? At least there’s that fun rediscovery later!)
Twin Spica (Vol. 02)
*New Release* I picked up the first volume of Twin Spica from a combination of nostalgia (I watched a few episodes at an anime club meeting many a year ago) and lots of recommendations. I really did love the first volume, it was very charming and I’ve since recommended it to several friends in turn. So of course I was really happy to see volume two sitting there on the shelf today! A quick flip through shows there’s lots more of the flashbacks and semi self-contained stories that the first had – the last chapter in particular has so much strong imagery that it took all my willpower not to stop and just start reading right there!
Chi’s Sweet Home (Vol. 01)
*New Release* First and foremost – I don’t like cats, with minor exception to being able to admit that some tiny kittens are capable of being cute. So what then could a series all about a small daft-looking cat tromping around his happy home offer to someone like me? Well cute is cute and I’ve heard so many people say good things about this series – even going so far as to call it Yotsuba&! with a cat- so I’ve got to give it a try. Plus Vertical does good work and just holding the book in my hand and flipping through the full-colour pages, I’d definitely call this another high quality release on the publisher’s end. So now it’s a matter of who will win – my disdain for cats or Chi’s apparently-adorable hijinks.
Ultimo (Vol. 02)
*New Release* I was pretty hit or miss with volume of Ultimo – it wasn’t bad but it didn’t wow me either. It was impressively exact about its own promotion however – it really did feel like a precise combination of Stan Lee’s storytelling and manga-influence ala Shaman King (drafted and drawn by the same artist). But I always try to give a series at least two volumes to work its potential magic so we’ll see how volume two fairs.
Kindachi Case Files: The Opera House Murders
Yay for neat bargain bin finds! I’ve never read any Kindaichi before but I’ve had the series suggested to me several times. I love a good mystery series and the retro sort of style looks fun. I like that it’s a one-shot too, I hope it’s an okay volume to start with though.
Pokemon: The Complete Pokemon Pocket Guide (Books 1+2)
Alright it’s not manga but I’ve been wanting these books for a long time – they’re so snazzy! Cute little digest style books that’re basically just a Pokedex in book form. What can I say, I’m a big Pokemon fan and recent revivals among my friends prompted me to finally pick up these fun little collectibles. A must-have for Pokemon fans, very handy for quick look-ups and trying to catch up with the 500 Pokemon they cover.
OTHER GOOD STUFF:
And because I don’t just purchase manga, my other purchases of the day were the Power Pack single issues of the 4-part arc starring Thor: Thor and the Warriors Four. I’m a huge fan of this new Power Pack drawn by the wonderful GuriHuru and just from flipping through and seeing all the Norse-style clothing and cuddly-cute meet-ups and smack-down blast-fights, I knew I needed to have these ones now – waiting for the collected edition be darned!
The same went for the first single of the mini-series, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade which sees not only the return of the Young Avengers but demi-god-of-the-Marvel-comic page (as far as I’m concerned) Jim Cheung. Young Avengers is the one series I can never wait for the collected editions of – must have now! And so I indulge and it looks absolutely lovely.
Time to read!
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Ohh, what fun! I've been thinking of doing something like this myself on lj, just because I've been on a buying-streak lately… but I'll add some of my own recently-obtained manga here too :D
Like you, I grabbed Chi's Sweet Home when I saw it on the shelf. I am a cat lover, and after finishing it I lent it to my brother, who shared it with his roommate (a cat lover)… I was pretty excited to be able to share something like that with people who aren't regular manga-readers. And I agree, the book's presentation and colour art is very satisfying to look at. I hope the adorable Chi wins you over too!!
I also picked up the first volume of Library Wars, which I liked a good deal more than I expected, and the first/only volume of CMX's Diamond Girl, because I was feeling a little rebellious (buying something with no plans to be continued here) and lonely for CMX. And Magic Touch 8 which made me laugh a lot, and Itazura na Kiss 2 which made me really anxious for volume 3… and My Girlfriend's a Geek, which also made me laugh a lot as I read it at the beach. It was a good holiday weekend :D
Oh, and just the other day I got comp copies of my first two lettering projects! Romeo x Juliet and Ugly Duckling's Love Revolution 1, both from Yen Press! Excitement!!
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