The Wallflower: Volume 26

by Tomoko Hayakawa, 163 pages

When Sunako's unusually cheery behavior leads the boys to think she might have fallen in love--thus proving she has become a "lady" and thereby granting them their free rent deal with the landlady--they're all for it. Until, that is, they suspect the object of her affection is her married science teacher. Caught between morals and financial freedom, Kyohei finds himself the appointed agent of intervention. Also this volume, the right to enjoy hot springs in peace, appreciating the value of a good woman (whether or not she can cook), and pushy parental influence at school.

Tee hee! Kyohei is uncharacteristically supportive this volume without losing his selfish, sarcastic edge. And Sunako gets to punch out a jerk while defending her auntie's honor--take that! :D

Saturn Apartments: Volume 3

by Hisae Iwaoka, 188 pages

The story unfolds in greater complexity as the reader's perspective expands in a slowly broadening radius out from Mitsu. What is the big picture, really? Who should we believe?

For more details on this quietly thoughtful series, please see my review of volumes 1-3 on NoFlyingNoTights.

Saturn Apartments: Volume 2

by Hisae Iwaoka, 188 pages

Mitsu shows himself to be his father's son more and more every day. Some of his coworkers--who worked with his father before him--find this endearing, some frustrating.

As we get deeper into the lives of these characters, we begin to see more of the flaws in the system and to fear for their safety. Mitsu needs to get on with breaking down the walls between people before the gap gets too wide to bridge.

Saturn Apartments: Volume 1

by Hisae Iwaoka, 188 pages

When he graduates from junior high, orphan Mitsu immediately joins his late father's window washers' guild and starts learning the ropes. And that's no simple task, as the windows he's washing are 35 kilometers above the Earth's surface on the planet-ringing space station the world's population now calls home.

As he works, Mitsu thinks about his father and about his future and peeks in the windows of his often wealthy clients' living rooms. This is the story of the individual lives that make up the whole of this displaced community as much as it is one little boy's.

Lovely all around. This first volume was listed as one of YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2011.

Long John Silver: Volume 1: Lady Vivian Hastings

by Xavier Dorison (story) and Mathieu Lauffray (art), 56 pages

Years after the events of Stevenson's Treasure Island, literature's most famous peg-legged pirate agrees to a bold lady's request to help her fill out a ship's crew in order to double-cross her cold-hearted, neglectful, fortune hunter of a husband--for a share of the spoils, of course. But they'll have to make it through the adventure alive first.

Nobody's slate is clean and no one's motives pure in this grown-up semi-sequel inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's classic. Jen H's earlier review piqued my interest, and now I'm hooked, too. It's dark and moody and the lush art easily conveys tone and temperature through skillful use of color and perspective: snow on the dirty streets is bitterly cold, the fireside of an apartment a little dangerously toasty, the winter sun weak through the tall windows of a loveless mansion. Neatness. I need to read the next one soon!

Flight Explorer: Volume 1

edited by Kazu Kibuishi, 109 pages

Mice, goldfish, cats, purple not-Barney monsters, and a host of other anthropomorphized critters and their human companions fill the pages of this graphic short story collection for kids.

As with the Flight collections put out for older readers, some of these stories work better than others, but the idea of pooling a bunch of creative and artistic talent like this just for the fun of expression and exposure is a great idea and I hope they do more. Besides, there's Jellaby. And Copper. And Zita. And Tarzan caught in traffic on the way home from getting bagels. :)