Shang-Chi (2020), Vol 1: Brothers & Sisters, illustrated by Dike Ruan and Philip Tan

Shang-Chi is holding down a normal job in a Chinese bakery in San Francisco’s Chinatown when remnants of his past life break in and demand he be pulled back into the cult of his father. Sister Hammer, Shi-Hua, recently killed the Supreme Commander of the Five Weapons Society, but rather than put her in charge, the flame of their father’s spirit alights on the Fist. Enraged that her father’s spirit would pick her brother, Shang-Chi (especially after Shang-Chi practically murdered their father), Shi-Hua sets a plan in motion to kill her brother and finally become the rightful Supreme Commander. But, two others oppose her usurpation. Brother Sabre and Sister Dagger seek out Shang-Chi and help him regain the strength and will to take his rightful place as leader of the Five Weapons. Shang-Chi is sent down his path to confronting his destiny and the family he thought he left behind.

As her mother is pulled into the abyss, Hina is given this task: find the Fabled Ace, a war hero from centuries ago, and give him an orb with great power. Hina spends the next several years walking all over known creation looking for him.  This helps her with her "count" - the magical number emblazoned on everyone that goes up or down depending on what they do.  Everyone has a different reason for their count going up, and Hina gets hers to go up by walking.  Despite having walked across the world, Hina is still very sheltered when it comes to the way thing work.  When a man in a cafe tries to swindle her of her count and the orb her mother left her, who else comes to her rescue but the Fabled Ace she's been searching for! But, aside from saving her, Licht is not as altruistic as she hoped he would be.  

Here's the latest series pulling on my nostalgia and purse strings alike.  Kodansha has released an anniversary edition of Cardcaptor Sakura in hardback, and of course I need to get all of them.

​Fourth-grader Sakura Kinomoto, with her latent magical ability, accidentally sets free a deck of magical cards, called Clow Cards, from inside a book in her father’s study. She’s also awakened “Cerberus,” nicknamed Kero-San, the Guardian of the Seal, who gives Sakura the key to the book and the ability to capture the cards again. These cards have gone out into the world and will wreck havoc in their own ways depending on their magical affinity. Sakura must capture the cards and use their abilities to capture even more cards. 

Adapted by P. Craig Russell, illustrated by Jerry Ordway, Mike Mignola, Jill Thompson, Piotr Kowalski, and David Rubín
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This series is an adaptation of the book, Norse Mythology that Neil Gaiman published in 2017. Presented in this volume are a few of the major myths of Norse mythology: the creation of the world in Odin’s slaying of the giant Ymir; how Odin lost his eye but gained all his wisdom; the treasures of the gods obtained by Loki  as he pitted two dwarf craftsmen brothers against each other; the way in which the Aesir gods got their wall around Asgard; Loki’s children and how Odin dealt with all of them; and, the “marriage” of Thor, pretending to be Freya, to a giant who stole his hammer.

The whole high school, including the Drama Club and the Gardening Club, is still preparing for Meteor Festival. Legoshi is still working out his feelings for Haru, but he has generally come to the conclusion that he has a crush on her, and not that it is a carnivorous urge to devour her.  However, Haru had some major feelings for another member of the Drama Club, not Legoshi. She’s sweet on Louis, who regards her as a high school fling. He knows once he graduates that he will find another red deer to be his mate. To complicate matters, Juno, another grey wolf, has started coming on strong to Legoshi, and she has the same mentality that Louis has - Legoshi is the only grey wolf, so they will naturally become a mated pair in the end.

Vol 1: Little Worse than a Man, Vol 2: Little Better than a Beast, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez Walta, colored by Jordie Bellaire 

Vision, his wife Virginia, and their twins Viv and Vin, move into a house in the suburbs of Washington DC. Vision is to become advisor to the President on Avengers matters. Virginia is a house wife for the time being until she decides on a career. The twins start at the local high school where they are supposed to learn social skills since they can memorize any fact presented to them.  Vision admits freely that he created his family members - Virginia received memories and personality traits from Scarlet Witch, which the twins were created to grow and evolve in a more similar timeline to human children.  Vision wants nothing more than all of his family members to maintain an air of complete normalcy.  One night while Vision is away, the Grim Reaper shows up, claiming that none of the family members are real and demanding vengeance for the use of his brother in creating Vision. The fight becomes the turning point in which none of the family members can sustain the veneer of "normal."  Virginia's self-preservation and maternal instincts kick in to too-high of a gear; the twins' school life is threatened; and, a glimpse into a possible future shows Vision betraying his friends.  The Avengers send in Vision's half brother, Victor Mancha, to intervene, but this may well have set all of the future events into motion they were hoping to avoid.

Elias has revealed his full, true form, and takes on the being known as Josef, who has been trying to capture the Church Grim in order to make a chimera.  Chise awakens from her injury inflicted by Josef, and she manages to calm Elias down back into his "human" form.  She forms a bond with the Church Grim, who becomes her familiar even though he is a fae, which means his eternal life will end when hers does.  Chise renames the Grim "Ruth" because of his loyalty. Days later, while wandering and looking for Elias, Chise comes across a man named Joel tending his garden full of beautiful roses.  He has a muse attached to him, a parasite who normally feeds on the energy of people in exchange for inspiration, but this muse is content with just being near Joel. At the very end, Chise receives an invitation from Master Lindel to return to the Dragon Sanctuary to make her wand.

Fifteen of Japans most ultimate high school students are accepted into this year’s Hope Academy, one of the most elite high schools in the country. But, once they all get there, they realize this is the beginning of a sick game meant to pit them against each other in life or death situations. The game they have to play is stay forever at Hope Academy, where they will have food and a room and entertainment, or they have to kill one of their classmates in order to “graduate.”  Not only do they have to kill a classmate, they have to do it without anyone else knowing. The class must conduct a trial where everyone votes for the culprit. If they vote correctly, only the culprit will die, and the rest continue to live on in Hope Academy. If they vote wrong, the entire class will die and the culprit gets to "graduate" and walk free.

Illustrated by Gianna Meola 

Josephine, or J. B. to her friends, is your typical C-average student in high school who finishes in the middle of the pack in PE and gets Cs or high Ds on her French tests.  One day, when accosted by agents demanding to know about her actions in France on a recent "business trip" with her mom, J. B. finds out she’s actually an operative for The Company, and she’s been brainwashed into not remembering her skills, training, or missions. What’s worse, is that this was all done to her by her mother, who wants J. B. to have job security within The Company! J. B. has never been in control of her full self, so it’s time to change all that and fight back against The Company and other forces that are trying to control and use her.

Illustrated by Cyril Pedrosa

In a distant kingdom that feels very much like medieval France, the king has just passed, and the coronation of his daughter, Tilda, is soon. The greedy barons want to tax peasants more and blame everything else for their poor yielding fields, but Tilda isn’t about to have her people suffer even more.  The coronation doesn’t even have a chance to start when Tilda is usurped and betrayed, then thrown into exile. Flanked by her only two loyal retainers left, Tilda decides to head to the Peninsula, where there is one more loyal man left in her kingdom, one more hope for taking back her throne. Filled with intrigue, secret societies, and treasure, Tilda’s adventure is just getting started.