Reviews - The Graphic Library

Prince freya vol 7 by Keiko Ishihara

2/14/2023

Cover of Prince Freya volume 7. Freya is in a white dress with brown ribbon tying up the sleeves and trimming the bodice. Around her are white wings and puffy pink clouds.

Freya becomes even more entangled in Nacht's dealings. It seems that the queen, the rightful heir to the royal line of Nacht, was deposed when Sigurd took control of the kingdom. Her infant son was snatched from her, and her husband, the ruling King, forced to marry a Sigurdian princess to keep the kingdom firmly under the thumb of the evil king of Sigurd. Freya has uncovered the whole plot, but wonders if the deposed queen has the strength to bring her people back to her side. Freya vows she's not doing any of this in order to force Nacht into a pact with them - she's righting wrongs, and they can come along against Sigurd in their own time.

Mao vol 5 by Rumiko Takahasi

2/7/2023

Cover of Mao volume 5. Kamon is in his signature green vest with button-up white shirt. Across his shoulder is his katana.

Kamon comes face-to-face with Shiranui, the powerful water caster who has been plaguing Mao for several volumes. Back in her own time, Byoki manages to track down Nanoka, but mostly to warn her. He begins to tell her why she should stop giving her blood to Mao, but then Uozomi saves her before he can finish his thought. Later, Mao is called on to assist another doctor who fears for one of his former patients. Another family has moved into the manor, but the doctor swears he saw his patient in the window of the second story. Who are these strangers who have taken over the house? Later, a nasty metal shikigami attacks Mao and Nanoka, and once again, she might be the only person who can save him.

Blissful land vol 1 by ichimon izumi

2/6/2023

Cover of Blissful land volume 1. Khang is walking through the wilderness in his every-day green tunic, black pants, and boots. Around him, the land is lush with flowering plants and green grass.

Khang Zhipa loves collecting medicinal herbs in the mountains above his peaceful, farming village. As he journeys home for the day, he stops and diagnoses a fellow villager with exhaustion, and rushes home to get him some medicine. As he arrives, he finds out a traveling merchant’s family will be staying the night with them, along with a bride-to-be who eagerly helps Khang make more medicine. In the morning, he finds her still in their home but without her family. To his surprise, he discovers he is the groom-to-be! Khang and his fiancée, Rati, spend time together, getting to know each other and helping each other, and integrating Rati into his family's daily life.

The fiancee chosen by the ring vol 1 by yue matSuyuki

1/31/2023

Cover of The Fiancee Chosen by the Ring volume 1. Lady Aurora Porta is lying down with her embroidery supples around her - two spools of thread and a loom with embroidery cloth. She's in her signature pink dress with white lace down the middle on her front. At the top of her bodice is a pink bow. Her blonde hair frames her face. She's looking at us with two green eyes and smiling slightly.

Adapted and illustrated by Jyun Hayase

Lady Aurora Porta is the daughter of a minor count and doesn’t get invited to high society functions all that much. But when she does, she takes the opportunity to indulge in one of her favorite pastimes - studying embroidery. At parties, she’s specifically looking at patterns on the ladies’ dresses and trying to learn more for her own embroidery patterns. At the latest affair, she is hit in the forehead with a ring, a ring that was chucked by Sir Felix, who is so tired of his constant barrage of suitors that he chucked his ring randomly and declared who it hit to be his bride-to-be. Between Sir Felix' duties as a guard for the Crowned Prince and Lady Aurora's special embroidering, the new couple has a lot on their plate in this slightly humorous romantic fantasy.

Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost vol 3 by kaori yuki

1/30/2023

Cover of Beauty and the Beast of Paradise Lost volume 3. Belle is in a high-collared white button-up shirt that also extends all the way to her wrists. Her lilac hair is billowing all around her, and there is a sadness in her amber eyes. There are a few blue butterflies flying around her.

Belle has followed the Beast into the lair of la Médium, and she's come face to face with the villain who carted off her mother all those years ago. Belle learns more about the history between the Beast and la Médium, and the Beast denies none of it. He savagely asked la Médium to kill his parents so that he could ascend to the throne, but when la Médium found out he was just using her for her powers, she lashed out jealously and cured the Beast and his people. She then swore to find a face he could fall in love with so that he would finally reciprocate her feelings. Belle gets further entangled in the stand-off between the two, and the Beast discovers there is a spy amongst his subjects who has been feeding la Médium valuable information!

Canto vol 2.5 and 3.5 by david m. Booher

1/24/2023

Cover of Canto volume 2.5 and 3.5. Canto is standing in the center reading from a book, and there are stacks of books around him. Behind him is The Bard, a magical being with patchwork clothes, a green cape, and a red hat. He glares evilly at Canto.

Vol 2.5: City of Giants, and 3.5: Tales of the Unnamed World, illustrated by Drew Zucker, colored by Vittorio Astone

This volume collects two short adventures of Canto and his friends, which come between some of the other volumes. The first is City of Giants, which happens in between volumes two and three, where Canto travels to the titular city to try and gain the support of the giants in the fight against the Shrouded man. In order to gain their trust, Canto must first solve a labyrinth outside the city, which includes fighting some fierce monsters. In the second side story, Tales of the Unnamed World, Canto and his friends find their way barred by a Bard, who requires, as toll, a story he has never heard before. Canto and his group each take turns telling their best stories, but they're all ones the Bard has heard before! This story takes place after volume three of the published stories.

Wonder cat KYUU-CHAN vol 1 by sasami nitori

1/23/2023

Cover of Wonder Cat Kyuu-Chan volume 1. The top half of Hinata's face is seen, and his eyes look like he's not very amused. He has brown hair that's a little messy. Sitting on top of his head is Kyuu-chan, who is white with tan paws and ears. Kyuu-chan is wearing a pink bow tie.

One day, as Hinata walks by a free kitty in a box, he decides to adopt it and names it Kyuu-chan. Kyuu-chan turns out to be adorable and makes Hinata's life more interesting! Kyuu-chan loves playing with toys, but more than that, Kyuu-chan loves spending time with Hinata, including curling up inside his scarf. Like most cats owners can attest, Kyuu-chan also loves the box more than the toys that come in it. Kyuu-chan also loves snacks and getting his fur on the bottom of Hinata's pant legs. The two are always doing things for each other, including Kyuu-chan traversing half the city and the subway to bring Hinata his forgotten lunch!

Kaiju no 8 vol 4 by naoya matsumoto

1/20/2023

Cover of Kaiju No. 8 volume 4. Vice-Captain Hoshina holds his two sword blades ready to strike. He's in his special suit with his breathing mask on.

The assault on the Defense Forces' compound continues, and the leader of the pack has taken up fighting with Vice Captain Hoshina. But Hoshina's strength has always been in slashing and quick swordplay. After being told to abandon his fighting style as a youth, Hoshina was recruited by Captain Mina as a perfect compliment to set her up to take lethal shots. She relied on Hoshina to move kaiju into position for her mega-powerful cannon. But, with the Captain gone, Hoshina needs to take down a kaiju who seems to be only getting stronger with each slashing blow he lands. After the kaiju transforms into a humongous creature, Kafka comes to help, but ends up ruining everything.

Jujutsu kaisen vol 4 by gege Akutami

1/19/2023

Cover of Jujutsu Kaisen volume 4. A sorcerer has his outstretched hand with palm facing us, and his fingertips are blood-stained.

Itadori and Nanami continue battling Mahito and Junpei. Itadori tries to convince Junpei to stop fighting for Mahito, and to come back and join him at Jujutsu High. He promises Junpei that he will grow as a Jujutsu sorcerer, but Mahito is more interested in trying to get Sukuna to come out of Itadori. Mahito tries to frustrate Itadori and put him in hopeless situations so that Itadori has no choice but to release the demon inside him. Back at Jujutsu High, the tournament is about to get underway, but the two teams of students have nothing but beef with each other. The visiting school of sorcerers don't believe Itadori should be left to live, much less train as a jujutsu sorcerer, and they take their frustrations out on Itadori's peers.

public domain vol 1 by chip zdarsky

1/18/2023

Cover of Public Domain volume 1. The Bottom half is red and comicbook pages can barely be made out behind it. The top half is black. In between the two halves is a superhero mas with what looks like a tear running down the middle.

Vol 1: Past Mistakes, written and illustrated by Zdarsky.

Miles Dallas can't stand anything to do with The Domain and the whole superhero universe run by Singular, a mega corporation that screwed his dad, Syd, out of all rights to the character he created decades ago. Miles thinks Syd should fight for some more of the profits that are coming out of these mega-movies and all the merchandising. When an older copy of the rights paperwork is found by a Singular worker, they learn that Syd might actually have more of a stake in his creations than he originally thought! Meanwhile, Miles is trying to climb out from under loan sharks and find another writing job since he's been kicked to the curb. Getting what the family is owed is going to take all of them working together - something the Dallases haven't been great at!