Illustrated by Andy Ristaino

In this entry of Science Comics, artist and writer attempt to break down a complicated system and explain it with clever illustrations, narrated by bacteria found throughout the digestive system.  Readers are taken through the major areas of digestion: the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and the rectum.  Other organs discussed are the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and appendix.  Vomit, burping, and farting are also explained as products and necessary functions of digestion.

Training and rank wars continue as several top, elite agents test the apprentices of Jin to see what all the fuss is about. First up is Mikumo against Kazama. The two go 25 rounds, with 24 going to the A-ranked Kazama, and a tie on the very last battle. Then, after fighting for as many rank points as he could, Yuma challenges A-rank Satori for being disrespectful to Mikumo. Chika also wows the trainers and execs with her off-the-charts Trion levels. It’s all fun and games until Jin’s side effect predicts a massive invasion from Neighbor, which leaves everyone preparing for battle.

The Science Comics line has around 20 books, as of this writing, and they are all separate storylines delving into a concept in science.  

In Rocks and Minerals, Wally is trying to prove he can be a worthy assistant to geologist Sedona. He brings her a rock sample, and this starts Sedona down the path of describing where rocks and minerals come from, starting with the Big Bang.  Sedona then covers the different layers of the earth, plate tectonics, volcanos, caverns, minerals, and so much more. ​There is a lot of great information for the budding geologist or rock hound, and I really liked the inclusion of a glossary of terms that are highlighted in orange throughout the book.

Welcome to a wild world of dinosaurs, outlaws with fun nicknames, and magic.  The Doolin brothers, Duke and Dan, are just trying to get back to their loot but they’ve got robotic cops after them.  Their other brother, Dave, just wants to find a quiet place to raise a girl he rescued.  The Doolin father, “Death”, gifted each of his sons with a skull of a vampiric race, rumored to have magic capabilities.  One grants a brother immortality, another skull grants the power to open portals to another dimension.  This portal magic can be manipulated and used to decapitate adversaries.  Dave and Dan leave the young girl with a friend, another outlaw and bounty hunter named “Symphony”, while they try to recover the third magic skull.  Dave and Dan are captured, and an execution date is set for three months time. Meanwhile, Symphony teaches the girl how to shoot and how to protect herself.  This all comes in handy when bounty hunters come after her, and she has to flee the city.  All the attention garners some anger from another outlaw, “The Cherub of Golgotha”, who is upset that she is becoming more notorious than he, the previously most notorious child outlaw.

Illustrated by Boichi

Senku succeeds in making gunpowder. An experiment gone wrong sends smoke billowing in the air, signaling their location to Tsukasa. But off in the distance, other smoke columns rise. Who could be setting these? We also go back to the moment when Senku wakes, and we see just how many experiments he tried in the early days.  This time is very different than after Taiju wakes up because most of the experiments Senku does with his friend are successful, but those he does alone are an exercise in patience that Senku doesn't always have.  We also see Senku as a child, and that what sparked his voracious appetite for Science was his life-long dream of becoming an astronaut.

Illustrated by Boichi

​One day, all of humanity, and some animals, turn to stone, right as Taiju was confessing his love for Yuzuriha. Time ticked on, and now it’s thousands of years into the future. Senku has been awake for six months, after counting all the seconds while conscious in his stone body. Taiju wakes after holding on to his love for Yuzuriha while he was stone. The two work on a formula for breaking down the stone of others when they are beset by a pack of lions. They use their liquid to de-stone Tsukasa, the strongest and most primitive of their high school class. Tsukasa wins against the lions but has some funny notions about restarting the world with only pure souls and no adults. He smashes several stone people, effectively murdering them. Senku and Taiju decide they need to create a weapon to stop the super-strong Tsukasa.

Illustrated by Wyeth Yates

Join ambitious high schooler Nadia and her mentor, ISS Pilot Eleanor, as they discuss the main problems that are face us today in getting a manned mission to Mars.  The topic is presented as a conversation between the two with various diagrams and “trips” to the International Space Station, Mars, and others as Eleanor describes the hurdles scientists and engineers have to overcome.  Some of the issues include the Rocket Equation, the formula for calculating how much fuel you will need to get the mass of your rocket off the ground, how to keep humans alive in space, how to safely land on Mars, and how to return home, among others.