Sometimes you gotta give yourself a break from novels and pick up a comic or three. It gives me the chance to squeeze in a bit of reading without burning up too much of my busy schedule. I don’t have to worry about cliffhangers or getting sucked into the story knowing I have to stop at some point. (I also realized this was definitely a case of judging books by their cover as I started writing this.) So, a rundown of three issues I picked up and enjoyed!
Self/Made
“When chaos besieges the kingdom of Arcadia, warrior Amala Citlali sees it as her chance to escape her clearly-defined role. She could never have predicted that it would also be her chance to confront her God.”
I’d be lying if I said the description alone drew my attention to Self/Made. On the cover, Amala reaches skyward towards a luminous hand as she sits atop a pile of bodies of herself. Why? Are they corpses? Failed copies? Brazilian artist Eduardo Ferigato does a fantastic job of catching your eye. Detailing the important parts of the cover against a simple background and continues throughout the story. When I picked up the first issue I never would have guessed the twist awaiting me in the last few pages and the journey awaiting Amala. One of self-discovery as she changes her destiny.
Something is Killing the Children
The children of Archer’s Peak are going missing. Most never return but the ones that do have terrifying stories of creatures living in the shadows. Erica Slaughter is a stranger who believes the children and sees what they see. This mysterious person is Archer’s Peak’s only hope of eliminating the threat.
I kept seeing this comic in shops but would forget to look up a summary. So I bit the bullet and bought it, despite not hearing much buzz surrounding it. The sudden turn from kids telling scary stories in the dark to the terrible plot a few pages later only pushed me onward. Why are these monsters here? Have they’ve always been there? Whatever the answers might be, I can confirm two things: something is, in fact, killing the children. And I’m invested in the burden Erica carries in killing these monsters when no one else can.
Spider-Verse (2019)
I loved ‘Into the Spiderverse’. A lot. Of course I had to give the beginning of this 6-issue run a try. (They’d have to do something pretty drastic for me not to pick it up.) Miles gets dragged into a multi-dimensional adventure as he traverses through new worlds and spots more than a few familiar faces. But who spun the new web? Why? And who exactly is Spider-Zero? Whatever those answers may be, a new generation of wall-crawlers have to come together (again) and save the multiverse!
With the exception of Self/Made, the wait for the Trade releases would be bad if I didn’t have a dozen other things to read. I’m already updating my current list with other series to try out in the future. As tempting as the list is, maybe I should focus on titles currently on my shelf just to bring the pile down.
Reading Rites 