kanehito yamada – The Hub

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2023) Featured Review of Kaiju No. 8, Vols. 1 & 2 by Naoya Matsumoto

Kaiju No. 8, Vols. 1 & 2 by Naoya Matsumoto
Shueisha
Publication Date: Vol. 1: December 7, 2022, Vol. 2: April 5, 2022
ISBN: Vol. 1: 9781974725984, Vol 2: 9781974727148

When Kafka was a kid, he made a pact with his childhood friend, Mina, to one day join the military organization Japan Defense Force and kill as many Kaiju as possible to keep Japan safe from monsters. In the present, Mina is leading a division of the JDF and Kafka is a member of Kaiju Corpse Cleanup, having failed multiple military entry tests. However, a new rule means he has one more chance to join… the only thing stopping him now is that he also happens to be part Kaiju!

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2023) Featured Review of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, vol. 1-4 by Kanehito Tamada and Tsukasa Abe

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, vol. 1-4
by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe
VIZ Media
Publication Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN-13: 9781974727254

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, vol. 1-4 is the story of what happens at the end of an epic adventure. Elves in this world live much longer than humans and even dwarves. As the years pass after her world-saving adventure with Himmel the Hero, the corrupt priest Heiter, and dwarven fighter Eisen, Frieren watches her compatriots age and die, sending her on a literal and emotional new journey. Along the way, Frieren must grapple with the concept of mortality while letting new humans get close to her.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2023) Featured Review of Pixels of You by Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota, and J.R. Doyle

Pixels of You by Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota and J.R. Doyle
Amulet Books
Publication Date: February 8, 2022
ISBN-13: 9781419749575

Pixels of You is a futuristic story about two photographers completing an internship at an art gallery. Indira, a human girl with a cybernetically augmented eye, and Fawn, an AI who appears human, don’t get along when they first meet. When their conflict leads to a public argument, their mentor assigns their final project to be a cooperative gallery show. Forced to work together on their photography, this is a short but sweet enemies-to-lovers story.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2023) Featured Review of Borders by Thomas King and Natasha Donovan

Borders by Thomas King and Natasha Donovan
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Publication Date: September 7, 2021
ISBN-13: 9781443460675

Six years after his older sister left the reserve to make a new life in Salt Lake City, a boy and his mom pack their car to drive south across the border to visit her. When his mom declares that they are not American or Canadian, but Blackfoot, they are denied entry and turn back toward home, only to face the same problem at the Canadian border. The two are then trapped in physical and legal limbo between Sweetgrass, Montana and Coutts, Alberta with dwindling food and supplies.

Great Graphic Novels (#GGN2023) Featured Review of When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers by Ken Krimstein

When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers by Ken Krimstein
Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: November 16, 2021
ISBN-13: 9781635573701

When hundreds of autobiographical essays of Yiddish teenagers written just before the start of WWII were discovered hidden in a Lithuanian church in 2017, author and illustrator Ken Krimstein selected six to highlight in this nonfiction graphic novel. With a somewhat chaotic and unfinished illustration style that emphasizes the unknown future these anonymous teenagers face, Krimstein uses the original text of the essays to portray the struggles and triumphs of the universal teenage experience.