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by Sara Smith
In 2022, I challenged myself to read 300 books, but that quickly became an unreasonable pace to keep with as I got more involved in things with my school. I re-set my sights on 250 books, and was ultimately successful. From those 250, here are my Top 15, with 5 honorable mentions, and some shout outs to series I selected last year that kept churning out bangers in 2022. (Note: any review marked with an * will require a Booklist subscription to read) #15 - The Oates and the elphyne![]()
Written and illustrated by Michael Walsh
The Oates move to Newfoundland to be closer to their family and to help console a branch who just lost a loved one. Not long after, a creature of darkness lurking in the woods kidnaps the youngest daughter, Beth. While the adults scour the forest for the child, the other Oates children, Ben and Lynn, decide to take matters into their own hands. Read the full review here. #14 - Nicola traveling around the demon's world![]()
Written and illustrated by Asaya Miyanaga
Nicola is a human girl and a struggling witch, saved by the demon Simon, who now finds herself traveling incognito in the Demon World, where humans aren't allowed. The two of them make a bit of an odd couple as they travel around. Simon peddles trinkets and some possibly fraudulent pieces in his attempt to make a living in what can sometimes be a hostile world. He tells Nicola about the stereotypes in the demon world and she successfully finds beings who buck his stereotype, which encourages Simon to be less judgmental. Read the full review here: vol 1 #13 - saigami![]()
Written and illustrated by Seny
Ayumi has a troubled home life - her dad left long ago and her mom neglects her in favor of alcohol. When she receives a letter from her dad about meeting one night, she jumps at the chance to find out why he left. Instead, she finds herself transported to a magical fantasy world with dragons and astral sorcerers known as Saigami. She immediately meets Sean, a noble-born from the Zenosa Clan of dragon-rearers who is also a Saigami. Along with Sean’s friend Reyji, the three travel to Zaosz, the capital and seat of The Saigami Order, hoping to find some answers about how she came into this world. Read the full review here: vol 1 #12 - beauty and the beast of paradise lost![]()
Written and illustrated by Kaori Yuki
Belle is a young girl with purple hair who is convinced a red rose from deep in the forest will help her strange purple locks be more appealing. Her mother follows and begs her not to go into the forest because of the terrible beast who lives there. As if she summons him, Belle's mother is abducted, and the Beast steals her beautiful face. Belle’s father can’t take the loss of his wife, so he shuts Belle up in their house and refuses to let anyone see her, while he spends the day drinking away the pennies she makes with her seamstress work. One day, Belle escapes and is determined to find her mother, who she believes is still alive in the Beast's castle. She finds the Beast, but he isn’t exactly how she remembers him. He’s rude, uncaring, but not murderous, and doesn’t steal her face. Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2 #11 - the faraway paladin![]()
Written by Kanata Yanagino, adapted by Mutsumi Okubashi
In an almost abandoned temple, Will is being raised by three interesting guardians: Gus, a powerful magic user who teaches Will how to use the Words of Creation to cast magic; Blood, a super strong warrior who teaches Will to fight and hone his own physical strength; and Mary, who teaches Will about growing his own food and preparing nourishing meals. All three provide Will with valuable lessons that will keep him alive in this strange world, and all three are undead. Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2 #10 - toilet-bound hanako-kun![]()
Written and illustrated by AidaIro
Hanako-kun is one of the seven mysteries of Nene Yashiro’s school. She summons Hanako-kun one day because she’s heard she can be granted one wish, but Hanako is nothing like she expected. To begin with, he’s a boy bound to a toilet in the girls' bathroom! Nene finds herself sort of indebted to Hanako-Kun, so she pays him back by becoming his assistant. With a third student, Minamoto, the three try to keep all the mysteries in line and away from terrorizing the students. They aren't always successful! Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5, vol 6, vol 7 #9 - Frieren: Beyond journey's end![]()
Written by Kanehito Yamada, illustrated by Tsukasa Abe
Four adventurers return home after a ten-year journey to fight the Demon King. They take their rewards, enjoy a powerful meteor storm that happens once every fifty years, then go their separate ways. Frieren is an elven mage, and she plans on traveling the world to gather as much magic as she can. Along the way, Frieren finds herself adventuring again, this time with her apprentice, Fern, a scared warrior named Stark, and a host of other companions. Interspersed with flashbacks from Frieren's first adventure, this series focuses on the life after the heroes come home. Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5 #8 - solo leveling![]()
Writen by Chugong, illustrated by Dubu
Jinwoo Sung is one of the weakest Hunters in the game, but he has to keep adventuring because the health benefits are paying for his ailing mother’s extended stay in the hospital. Jinwoo continues to put himself in harms way and put tons of pressure on himself because his sister is about to go off to college, and someone needs to pay for her tuition. Jinwoo adventures with large parties, hoping to not be killed in the dungeons that pop up all over town. The latest mission is in a D-rated dungeon, which most of the group has no problem handling. After defeating the dungeon’s “boss”, another way opens up. What they find at the end of the long tunnel changes the entire party, and sets Jinwoo on an entirely new path that he doesn’t fully understand by the end of volume one. Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5 #7 - moon knight![]()
Written by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Greg Smallwood and Jordie Bellaire
Marc Spector wakes in a mental hospital, where he has obviously been thoroughly mistreated, judging by the black eyes and a number of other bruises. His psychiatrist, Dr. Emmet, is dismayed by the lack of progress he's made, especially in that he continues to talk about his other personas. He often slips in and out of his mind to talk to Khonshu, his patron god, who is also disappointed that Marc hasn't seen through the lies and broken out of the hospital yet. Marc starts to recognize some of the other patients as people who have been helpful or important in his life. The facade of the hospital starts to crumble, and Marc begins to see the hospital staff as agents of Ammit, with crocodile heads and very foul tempers. Read the full review here. #6 - grim![]()
Written by Stephanie Phillips, illustrated by Flaviano, colored by Rico Renzi
Jessica Harrow is a Reaper, responsible for helping the recently dead realize their death and then take them to the afterlife. On one of her many routine missions, Jessica suddenly crosses into the world of the living and interacts with people who are alive! This leads Jessica and her two friends, Marcel and Eddie, to start investigating what could be different and why she has this power that only one other reaper has ever had: the big guy himself, Death. Read the full review here: vol 1 #5 - blue lock![]()
Written by Muneyuki Kaneshiro, illustrated by Yusuke Nomura
Yochi Isagi is a striker in his high school club soccer team, and his team’s hopes for nationals are dashed by a loss Isagi might have been able to prevent if he had taken the shot instead of passed. But soon, he and 300 other high school soccer stars are summoned by the Japanese Football Union. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Jinpachi Ego. He has devised Blue Lock, an enclosed facility with a Hunger Games/Squid Games style, cutthroat, elimination element designed to train and turn out Japan’s best striker. Isagi and the 299 others are drawn in, and they enter this strange world of battle-soccer. They must train together, compete with each other, and somehow (not) work together to defeat 25 other teams to become the best striker in Japan. Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3 #4 - Galaxy: The Prettiest star![]()
Written by Jadzia Axelrod, illustrated by Jess Taylor
Taylor and her associates are posing as a makeshift family in a small town outside Metropolis, but they’re actually refugees from another planet, hiding from a cruel enemy called The Vane who destroyed their world. For an extra measure of protection, Taylor’s general and pretend father made Taylor’s disguise a human boy, even though Taylor’s true identity is The Galaxy Crowned, Princess of Cyandii, and she feels out of place in her male body. When a girl named Kat move to their small town, Taylor’s facade starts to really distress her, and she breaks her cover to reveal her true self to Kat. The community, however, isn't as accepting of having an alien in their midst. Read the full review here. #3 - zatanna![]()
Written by Alys Arden, illustrated by Jacquelin De Leon
Zatanna Starr, the daughter of renowned Coney Island illusionist Ezra Starr, is not a fan of crowds and performing. She’s much rather hang out with her friends or boyfriend and ride Coney Island’s coasters, grab cotton candy, walk her pet rabbit, or laze around at the beach. Her whole life changes when they visit a traveling band and find Mirror Script, a backwards script trick magicians used to use to hide their spells and tricks. Everyone else seems to have difficulty reading it, but Zatanna is able to read it just fine. What's more, whatever she reads comes true, and she can't figure out how this illusion is working! Diving deeper into this mysterious world unlocks other secrets about her family and her past that she must confront in order to truly understand what she's capable of. Read the full review here: vol 1 #2 - lost lad london![]()
Written and illustrated by Shima Shinya
College student Al decides to stay in London for the winter holidays to work as many shifts and save money for the next term, but when London’s mayor is found dead in the same subway Al was on, he gets tangled up in a clandestine investigation with Ellis, a detective seeking redemption. Al's flatmate also gets intertwined with a disastrous outcome, so nothing is looking too good for Al. The search for leads forces Al to seek out his birth mother and confront a past he had been content to keep buried. Read the full reviews here: vol 1, vol 2 #1 - summertime rendering![]()
Written and illustrated by Yasuki Tanaka
Shinpei returns home to an island in the bay of Osaka for the funeral of a friend. Despite being a strong swimmer, she somehow died out at sea while saving a little girl. Shin arrives on the island to find all is not well - mysterious shadow beings are taking over the personas of people in the town and killing them to become their replacements. Strange enough, Shin is killed but finds himself back on the ferry into town! Through looping, Shin can relive moments and try to save his friends and the whole island before the shadows take over and escape across the bay. Read the full reviews here: vol 1-2*, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5 honorable mentions
These books are all rated 9/10, but were just edged out from being in my top 15. There was some fierce competition this year, so definitely give these five a look as well!
Neverlanders![]()
Written by Tom Taylor and illustrated by Jon Sommariva
While panhandling in the subway one day, Luz is bumped onto the train tracks and saved in part a stranger named Paco. Paco turns out to be an orphan just like Bee and Luz, so Bee invites him back to their hideout: a trailer in a junkyard. There, he meets Felix, Gracie, and Justin. Paco asks them all if they wish for a better life, and when they say yes, he and a fairy whisk them away to Neverland! Read the full review here. Season of the Bruja![]()
Written by Aaron Durán and illustrated by Sara Soler
Althalia and her grandmother, are both special witches - they are "bruja", tasked with keeping a natural order between the living and the spirit realm. But, their kind have been hunted for centuries by an order of catholic priests that can trace their lineage back to Cortez himself. Lia and her two best friends use their supernatural abilities to tackle all manner of evil spirits, including renegade demons who escape cursed dolls. Read the full review here: vol 1 Hollow![]()
Written by Shannon Waters & Brandon Boyer-White, ilustrated by Berenince Nelle
Izzy and her family move from San Francisco to Sleepy Hollow after her mom lands a job as the head chef of the town’s Michelin-star restaurant. While Izzy might prefer books to interacting with people, the school assigns her outgoing Water Polo star, “Croc” Byun to be her guide. Then, Izzy sees Victoria Van Tassel, as in the Van Tassels from the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Read the full review here. Shonen Note: Boy Soprano![]()
Written and illustrated by Yuhki Kamatani
Aoi is starting middle school, and he is supremely sensitive to sound. He's just moved to town and will start middle school with the new term. While exploring his new city, he is drawn to the sound of the choir for his new school during their practice, and he knows he has to join them. Some of the other students, however, resent Aoi’s beautiful soprano voice and his innocent faith. Read the full review here: vol 1 rain![]()
Written by Joe Hill, adapted by David M. Booher, illustrated by Zoe Thorogood, colored by Chris O'Halloran
Honeysuckle and her girlfriend Yolanda are so excited to be finally moving in together. As they pack up the car with all of Yolanda’s things, the dark storm clouds over Boulder open up and let down a deluge - of razor sharp, nail-like crystals that pierce those out in the open. And this isn’t an isolated incident. Read the full review here. 2021 favorites still publishing awesomeness
Check out my reviews of ongoing series that I loved last year and STILL love this year.
2 Comments
Lori
2/6/2023 10:37:51 am
Just got our copies of Blue Lock today! Excited to read this one.
Reply
Sara Smith
2/26/2023 12:44:23 pm
That's awesome! I hope you and your readers enjoy the series!
Reply
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About MeI've been reading Manga and comicbooks for years. Now, it's time to share my knowledge with you.
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