Monday, March 24, 2025

Book Review: Disney Twisted-Wonderland - The Manga - Book of Octavinelle vol. 1


Stranded in the world of Twisted Wonderland, Yu must brave a magical school filled with ghosts, monsters, and uncooperative students!

Whisked away to the world of Twisted Wonderland and enrolled in the magical school known as Night Raven College, Yu encounters a strange scenario: his fellow students are doing too well on their exams! But there couldn’t be anything sinister behind great test scores, could there?

Disney's Twisted-Wonderland: Book of Octavinelle volume 1 by Wakana Hazuki and Sumire Kowono will be published on July 8, 2025. VIZ Media provided an early galley for review.

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Book Review: Superman's Good Guy Gang


Eight-year-old Clark Kent is pretty super: super fast, super strong, and super cool! But being so super can also be super lonely, until he meets fellow super powered kids, Kendra Saunders and Guy Gardner a.k.a. Hawkgirl and Green Lantern! Together, they’ll form a club where other supers can be themselves, test their powers, grow together, and maybe earn some good guy points along the way.

Superman's Good Guy Gang by Rob Justus (with lettering by Lucas Gattoni) will be published on July 1, 2025. DC Comics provided an early galley for review.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

Book Review: DC's Misfits of Magic


Ricki Jones is your average middle-grader. Her fellow-orphan-turned-adopted-brother Ross is, too. The seven mystical monks training them to protect the Earth from dark supernatural forces are pretty standard adults—they want nothing more than a little peace over summer vacation and all their prior attempts to get the kids out of town led to the camps going out of business. So this year? Rikki and Ross are heading to the town library, where Zatanna Zatara took a camp counselor job she expects to regret.

It’s fate (not like, Dr. Fate, just regular fate) that brings her together with Danny Cassidy, the Blue Devil. He’s got ADHD and kinda fused with his Halloween costume, giving him demon powers. And Boston Brand, who died in a horrifying microfiche accident and roams the halls as Deadkid. And don’t forget June Moon, who changes into an incredibly powerful sorceress named The Enchantress. But don’t hold that against her, she’s really very sweet when she's not causing trouble.

Friday, March 21, 2025

Book Review: Ravenloft - Heir of Strahd


Five strangers armed with steel and magic awaken in a mist-shrouded land, with no memory of how they arrived: Rotrog, a prideful orcish wizard; Chivarion, a sardonic drow barbarian; Alishai, an embittered tiefling paladin; Kah, a skittish kenku cleric; and Fielle, a sunny human artificer. After they barely survive a nightmarish welcome to the realm of Barovia, a carriage arrives bearing an invitation from Strahd von Zarovich to dine at Castle Ravenloft.

With no alternative, and determined to find their way home, the strangers accept the summons and travel to the forbidding manor of the mysterious count. But all is not well at Castle Ravenloft. To survive the twisted enigmas of Strahd and his haunted home, the adventurers must confront the dark secrets in their own hearts and find a way to shift from strangers to comrades—before the mists of Barovia claim them forever.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Book Review: Spider-Man - Octo-Girl vol. 2


Spider-Man rogue Doctor Octopus faces his biggest challenge yet—living life as a middle school girl in Japan!

Mad scientist Doc Ock and Japanese middle school girl Otoha Okutamiya are having a hard enough time sharing a body in Tokyo before they have to contend with a sinister would-be hero—Superior Octopus! The battle between the pair of Doc Ocks escalates into all-out war, with Otoha’s friends caught in the fray.

Spider-Man: Octo-Girl volume 2 by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court will be published on May 13, 2025. VIZ Media provided an early galley for review.

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Book Review: The Only Song Worth Singing


Childhood friends Patrick, Ciaran, and Malachi would've been happy to play music for coins on the streets of Dublin, but when their sound – a blend of traditional tunes and rock styling – lands them a record deal, they also get their first tour of America. As they gather fans, however, they also get the attention of three sídhe, fairies straight out of Irish tradition who play by their own rules.

Mal finds himself beleaguered by a prankster whose malicious tricks make him think he's losing his mind, while Ciaran falls hard for a hanger-on whose primal sexuality saps the life from him. Patrick can save them – if he's willing to trust the superstitions he learned during a painful childhood he thought he'd left behind long ago.

But the only thing that matters more than music to Patrick? His friends.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Book Review: Doctor Who - A Cultural History


From its first airing in the immediate wake of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Doctor Who has been a fascinating portal through which viewers observe changing times and standards. For over sixty years it has told the story of not just the central protagonist, the Doctor, but also of humanity. To understand the Doctor is to understand ourselves through the eyes of a stranger.

In Doctor Who: A Cultural History, Graham Gibson highlights the incredible impact of the long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who on television by guiding readers through the show’s history and evolution to remain a fixture of popular culture for over six decades. Investigating a range of topics from religion and politics to gender and technology and even the very nature of good and evil, Gibson demonstrates how the show reflects our society, sometimes showing a powerful prescience, sometimes not. Beginning with the first Doctor through to the fifteenth, this book covers everything from fan-favorite Doctors played by David Tennant and Matt Smith to the introduction of the first female and Black Doctors, respectively, as well as iconic lore such as the Tardis’s origins, the Doctor’s essential companions, and key foes from the Daleks to the Master.