Here’s the latest list.

Oh you want my opinion?  OK!

No surprises at all on any of the lists but there are some great recommendations here.  From the Hardback list -

#2 – BATMAN: BATTLE FOR THE COWL Do you miss the 2008 presidential election?  All that drama for one little shot at being the most powerful person in the world?  Well, yay, now you can see grown men duke it out for a bat cape.  Actually, it’s pretty intense but there are no shocks as to who takes it.

#4 – WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN I rewatched X-Men Origins: Wolverine and realized that it really is as bad as they say.  But it also reiterated what I already knew – if it’s got Wolverine in the title I’ll read/watch it about a million times.

#5 – GREEN LANTERN: AGENT ORANGE Geoff Johns really can’t do any wrong at this point can he?

#7 – THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ The stunning artwork in this novel make it a must have.   I want to cut it out and decoupage my walls with it.   Seriously.

From the manga side (I’m skipping the paperback list for the interest of time and most of them are old news anyway):

#1 – WARRIORS: RAVENPAW’S PATH, VOL. 1 The purists have to shut up a bit this week as a “global manga” or “original English language” book takes the top slot.  I don’t like this series but I hear kids love it.  So if you’re looking for a good graphic series (ties into the prose series) for a kid then there you go.

#10 – SOUL EATER, VOL. 1 I can’t tell how I feel about this series.  On the one hand it’s funny and silly and I like the spikey art.  On the other hand, it’s also juvenile, gross and unoriginal.  Still, I read it every month in Yen Press so there must be something there right?

I (finally) got my first issue right around the time my last issue of Shojo Beat came.  So I was able to compare.  While I’ll be sad that SB is gone, I actually enjoy the stories in Yen Plus a lot more.  There’s more variety and I appreciate the edgier tone.  Will it completely replace SB – I don’t know.  It does what people have been suggesting which is combine shojo with shonen and more stuff for older teens.  I’m still not convinced it works completely since, as a shojo lover, I kind of ignore the “boy” titles.  I would much prefer a giant magazine of only stories *I* like to read.  But who gets that?

Hands down my favorite story is Pig Bride.  In this issue the gang goes to camp or something (missed the last few issues).  Anyway, the pig bride is assaulted and has her mask stolen.  The thief then ends up hurt and scared and our hero returns the mask.  I swear they have names but without the magazine here I can’t remember them.  This installment shows the dark side of all the characters.  The pig bride is vengeful though it maybe a result of the curse.  The hero is frustrated and lets it be his excuse to torment his stalker.  All in all, it’s developing into a good character driven story.

I also enjoy Nighschool which is just good old fashioned, supernatural fun.  Stock characters and the artwork has them all looking like fish with eyes on either side of the head but still, lots of fun.  Plus the library comes to life and is a person made out of paper!

On the manga side, Soul Eater has won me over with its humor.  I don’t get too into the fighting scenes but, like Naruto, there’s enough going on that I don’t get bored.

So in the end, despite all my irritation at getting the thing to my door, I’m super glad I did.  I can’t wait for next month!

cover of Yen Plus issue 1

I picked up a copy of the new Yen Press magazine, Yen Plus, at ALA Midwinter.     I kind of let it sit around as I caught up on other stuff but really, I should have picked it up immediately.  I should have known that one of my favorite publishers would put out a great magazine!  Twice the size of Shojo Beat (though more expensive), it offers a ton of manga PLUS manhwa and OEL (original English language).   As with Shojo Beat, I didn’t like every story in there but I did enjoy almost all of them.

I especially enjoyed the manwha.  I really like the pace and artwork.  Manwha tends to move a bit faster than manga and the characters are all long, lanky, wispy things.

The highlights:

James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, I haven’t read the books and I really wasn’t all that excited for the OEL.  However, the first installment was exciting!  A family of young angels (?) live in secret on top of a hill.  Their lives are isolating but they try to make each day special.  Then, the Erasers find them.

Pig Bride, a manwha about a young, spoiled boy who’s tricked into marrying a girl in a pig mask.  This marriage, he’s told will break a curse that leave the girl horribly mutilated – hence, the mask.  He thinks it’s all a dream until his Pig Bride shows up on his 16th birthday.  I can’t tell where this story is headed and that’s nice.  Usually you can spot a love story a mile away but the mystery of the pig bride has me wondering…

The other stories are fairly strong though there are a few that just made me go – what? 

One Fine Day follows the day to day lives of a dog, cat, mouse and their master.  It’s not super interesting but when the focus is on the animals they are drawn as people in animal costumes.  It’s so cute, it will make your teeth hurt.  In fact the whole story just seems to be one long attempt to out cute itself.

Soul Eater can’t decide if it’s a story about a boy trying to become stronger, better than he is or a silly fanservice filled romp.  Though those two things can often go hand in hand.

Needless to say, I subscribed and am searching for the issues I missed.