Some highlights from the ComicList for Wednesday, April 23, 2008:
It’s Go! Comi for the win this week, with new volumes of three of my favorite series arriving simultaneously.
I’ve almost run out of good things to say about Setona Mizushiro’s After School Nightmare, which is probably one of the best Japanese comics currently in release, and certainly one of the best examples of the shôjo category. The cover of the seventh volume, due tomorrow, is particularly creepy for regular readers of the series.
While the second volume of Yuu Asami’s A.I. Revolution didn’t have quite the same feeling of discovery I found in the first, it was still a lovely reading experience. It’s got a sweetly old-fashioned feel as it explores the relationship between humans and robots. The robots are hunky, the humans are quirky, the stories are comforting and varied, and the art is gorgeous.
Train + Train, by Hideyuki Kurata and Tomomasa Takuma, got off to something of a weak start, but it’s become one of my favorites over its six-volume run. Likeable kids Arena and Reiichi get more education than they bargained for as they travel across a teaching planet on the “Special Train,” learning lessons in the form of dangerous missions. I’m not sure Takuma ever fully realizes the visual possibilities of this set-up, but the development of characters and themes is strong.