Hotel Transylvania Graphic Novel Vol. 3: Motel Transylvania by Stefan Petrucha

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second time that I was given an opportunity to receive a reading copy of the Hotel Transylvania Graphic Novel from the publisher. The 50-page comic book is another amusing installment in the story of Drac and his family. I like how Jonathan, Drac's son-in-law, wants to help his in-law on trying to make it easy for everyone to enjoy the exact pleasure that Hotel Transylvania provides by setting up motels near people.

However, it is not easy to expand a business just like what Jonathan has planned. They faced a lot of troubles trying to provide a good service because of some creatures who always create mischief in the motel. Jonathan may be silly but his unwavering perseverance makes him a good person. There are several funny portions in the story, especially in the latter part of this issue.

The Lion and the Bride #1 by Mika Sakurano

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I've requested a reading copy of this manga from the publisher, I knew that the plot might be a just like some romcom TV series. But I what I didn't expect is that even though that it's like that, reading has taken me by surprised me because of how entertained I was on reading the banters between Yua and her stepson/classmate Subaru.

As for me, I think Yua's hasty decision of accepting Ryo's marriage proposal is a big no-no. And I bet that there's no love involved when Yua decided to get married. Meanwhile, Subaru mentioned that Ryo, his father, only pity Yua because she's already an orphan and that no one's there to take care of her. A bit harsh but I think I agree with Subaru's opinion.

In addition, it's quite predictable that there would be a love triangle in Ryo, Yua, and Subaru's setup. But what's not foreseeable is whether Yua and Ryo will divorce in the end because Yua chose Subaru, or Yua will stay with Ryo. And I reckon that is what readers are anticipating in the succeeding volumes to be released in this manga series.

In general, if you like reading the romantic-comedy genre, The Lion and the Bride is a great manga and good for light-reading.

The Wormworld Saga Vol. 2: Shelter of Hope by Daniel Lieske

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love the first installment of this graphic novel series so I was hoping that this second volume is on a par with its predecessor. Janaka Jiiva's vision and Jonas' mission were explained here, thus there are too many dialogues or exchange of conversations between the characters. I was even looking forward to more of the adventure or fight scenes, but I guess that would be available in the succeeding volumes.

There are two chapters in this installment, but I love more the additional chapter entitled, "A Premature Adventure," because it shows the origin of the painting that was created by Jonas' great-grandfather. Jonas' grandmother, Laura, was included in the story, therefore, it shows that she is aware that there's a magical world behind that painting.

Hope that the third volume will show more exciting adventures of Jonas and Raya. I will still be following this series because I want to know how the story will conclude.

Wormworld Saga Vol 1: The Journey Begins by Daniel Lieske

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first volume of The Wormworld Saga compiles the first chapters of the comic series. The story starts on the last day of Jonas from elementary school. He has 6 weeks vacation at his grandmother's in the countryside and he plans to spend it by playing in the forest and the fields. However, he failed his Math so he was given homework for the rest of his vacation.

Three years before, Jonas found a secret hatch in the bedroom he occupies in his grandma's house going to the attic and it became his secret hideaway. Jonas also likes to draw but one afternoon, the sketch of the bug he drew came to life and it made a portal in the attic and it leads to a monstrous and magical forest. And that's where his adventure to the magical Great Forest began.

I enjoyed reading the story and the illustrations drawn by Daniel Lieske. I also like that there's a part in the ending where it tells how the author was able to come up with this graphic novel. There are also snippets of his sketches and a fan art gallery that will delight readers.

Kinski by Gabriel Hardman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A traveling salesman Joe found a puppy and he thought it was for him to save the black labrador from its owner(s). I think that the dog is not neglected at all because looks like it is being taken care of Holly and her son. Joe thought that the dog was being disregarded just because it got lost.

Although I deeply disapprove the tying of any dog outside or in the yard, Joe could have talked with the dog's owners on how to properly take care of the hound. But I guess Joe's intense affection to Kinski has led him to get him out from an animal shelter in Mexico. Holly's boyfriend intentionally left the dog in the road, therefore, Kinski might have crossed the border and end up in Mexico.

I appreciated the story of being compassionate and rescuing animals, however, Joe's personality seems quite odd here because of his obsession with getting the dog out of town, when in fact, Kinski was loved by Holly and her son. The illustration is great and even though it is only in black and white, I still appreciated how good it was drawn.

Mae Vol. 1 by Gene Ha

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first volume of the graphic novel, Mae , started really good. However, I find that I slowly lost interest in the latter part of the story. Nevertheless, I still appreciate the illustrations, and that I like how the story and relationship of Mae and Abbie as sisters was strongly emphasized. This graphic novel is good but not considerable to recommend to my fellow comic book enthusiast.

Southbound! by Zidrou

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Glorious Summers: 1 Southbound is a graphic novel that narrates the supposedly final summer vacation of the Belgian family, Faldérault, before the parents' plan of divorce. Their adventure going south to France gave some time for the parents, Pierre and Maddie, to reflect on their life together and how much they really love their family. A great short-read that will also make you want to join them because of how fun they were having on their journey.

Moteki, 1: Love Strikes! by Mitsurou Kubo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Moteki is a decade old manga series written by Mitsurou Kubo. It tells the story of Yukiyo Fujimoto who is no-girlfriend since birth and is in his late 20's already. Readers could see how frustrated Yukiyo is about his zero love life and how his life started to transform one day that got him entangled to several ladies.


The first volume is 438-pages but reading this will not bore readers because of how funny and how fast the story progress. If I have the chance to watch either the film adaptation or the TV series of this manga, I will try to check them out and see if they are as good as the manga version. I can't wait for the second volume of this amusing manga and hope that there will be ARC also available.

Brina by Giorgio Salati

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story of Brina and her short adventure with the stray cats named Gang of the Feline Sun is a short yet a bit remarkable because of the lesson Brina learn in the end. Although it is not mentioned, the importance of spaying and neutering domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats, is a must to avoid cases like Vespucci that was thrown away by his owner because there are too many of them already. Kids 12 and below could learn a lot from reading this one-shot comic book, notably caring and loving for the animals.

Disney Pixar Manga: Wall-E by Shiro Shirai

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love how Disney is slowly publishing manga of some of their famous animation movies. I'm a fan of their films and one of them is Wall-E. I grabbed the opportunity to have the chance to get the reading copy of this manga and reading it is like re-living the movies.

However, I found out that there are some comic panels that are a bit hard to comprehend or follow. Thankfully, I've watched the movie version several times already, thus I was able to understand them immediately. But for the young readers, there may be some problems that they may encounter. Nonetheless, this is quite entertaining and hopefully, they will produce more manga version of their movies in the future.