[continued from previous message]   
      
   triangulation.  Recommended.  Kindle edition $4.99, trade paperback $19.99.   
      
        Terminal Engagement (Wearing the Cape book 10): (I think this is   
   self-published?) - When the first book of the Capes series came out, the   
   implication was that it was replacing Wearing the Cape, and Harmon was done   
   with Astra, having given her a happy ending.  Yeah, and Doyle thought he'd   
   killed off Sherlock Holmes.  The Capes cast does show up in this one in a   
   significant if short role, but this is another Astra novel.  Like, the whole   
   plot is that someone is trying to kill her, at the behest of a shadowy   
   international criminal organization, so it's one of those "the hero makes   
   their own problems" stories rather than one where the hero needs to deal with   
   something that would've been a threat regardless of their presence.  While   
   such stories make sense and are almost inevitable, I think they're harder to   
   turn into strong pieces, because the "well, if the hero goes into hiding   
   it'll blow over" solution is sitting right there making you wonder why the   
   hero is continuing to put everyone around them in danger.  Yes, this solution   
   is addressed and dismissed, but it still feels like the sort of thing that   
   would be better served as backstory.  Like, skip this one entirely, refer   
   back to it as Astra goes after a larger plot by the people who tried to kill   
   her.  You know, whatever Real Plot they needed her out of the way of.  It was   
   okay, but I actually had to wrack my brain to remember much of it a couple   
   weeks later when writing this review, where the PDTMP book above remained   
   vivid.  Mildly recommended.  Kindle edition $9.99, trade paperback (PoD I   
   suspect) $19.99.   
      
        Expected next month: Dunno.   
      
      
   Digital Content:   
      
        I will not be reviewing ongoing webcomics in this column, sticking with   
   collections that I'll get in hardcopy form.  eBook novels and streaming   
   TV/movies will go above in Other Media.  This is for full comics read in   
   digital form, either because that's how they come out, or because I tried it   
   out on the LibraryPass app but either didn't care for it or wasn't able to   
   get a hardcopy before the end of the month.  The heyday of ComiXology   
   Originals is long gone, though, so there's not a lot of regular books I get   
   digitally.   
      
        Touring After The Apocalypse vol 1: Yen Press - Just before the end of   
   the month, LibraryPass got the first three volumes of this series.  James   
   Nicoll has been reviewing it as it comes out (up to volume 6), so I was a   
   little interested, but not interested enough to order online and it wasn't on   
   the shelf locally.  The premise could be roughly outlined as "What if   
   Fallout, but just a mostly peaceful travelogue?"  It is an unknown amount of   
   time after a disaster that struck in the 2040s, and the two protagonists have   
   spent a rather long time living in an underground bunker while waiting for it   
   to be safe to go outside.  One (Airi) is a full body cyborg or android (but   
   she still needs to eat, so there's some organic elements, but she's   
   Touring-complete) and the other (Youko) might have some enhancements but is   
   mostly human.  The latter survivor's "older sister" (there's hints that this   
   is not how they're connected) left behind a phone full of travel pictures, so   
   the duo sets out once it is safe-ish to visit all the places on the camera   
   roll.  The world is largely empty.  They do meet a military "ghost in the   
   shell" sort of cyborg briefly, and other definite AIs of varying levels of   
   intelligence and sanity, but since they're kinda used to being just the two   
   of them the absence of people is more wistful than shattering.  This feels   
   like a VERY slow burn mystery.  What happened to all the people?  Why are   
   structures still fairly intact (e.g. has less time passed than it seems, or   
   perhaps the near future tech made everything more durable, even old   
   buildings, etc)?  Why just humans gone, since plenty of animals are around?   
   The reader knows there was some military action and a the tourists run into   
   some craters and a submarine blown onto the roadway, but too much is intact   
   to be a full war of annihilation.  The disaster was quick but not instant, as   
   there's signs that some people were aware it was coming and perhaps   
   unavoidable (remnants of the last ComiKet...well, a parody of it...are found   
   in an abandoned convention center with indication that it was put on by a   
   handful of survivors determined to get in one last con before the end).  All   
   in all, it gives the vibe of "people largely just vanished where they stood"   
   for the most part.  A side message of the series is, "Maybe visit all these   
   cool places before it's too late and the world has ended?"  The LibraryPass   
   editions don't include the back page with price.  Interesting enough I'll   
   probably read the other two volumes for next month, and might just go ahead   
   and buy the hardcopies.  The rating is one of the things that goes on the   
   back page, but there's a little violence and a few decaying human corpses, so   
   probably Teen.   
      
        Expected next month: Who knows?  I might just remove this category, I   
   don't use it as much as I used to.   
      
      
   Manga Collections:   
      
        Most of these are "tankobon" or collections of work serialized in a   
   weekly or monthly publication, although some were written directly for the   
   collection.  All of them have been translated from Japanese (or maybe Korean,   
   although I don't think I'm reading any manhwa) into English.  Things with a   
   manga aesthetic but done in English originally will go in one of the sections   
   below as appropriate.   
      
        Infini-T Force vol 2-4: Nakama Press - Okay, so volume 2 ends with   
   something that should've been in volume 1: a brief explanation of who the   
   characters were.  Sure, Gatchaman didn't need it that badly, and both   
   Casshan/Casshern and Tekkaman have gotten enough reboots and sequels and toy   
   lines that it's not too big an assumption that someone drawn in by Gatchaman   
   might have heard of them.  But Polimar was the odd man out in that era of   
   anime.  As for the plot, volumes 2, 3, and the first half of four focus   
   primarily on a new boss Para Bellum, who is much more of a planner than the   
   brute who got defeated at the end of volume 1.  Really, the volume 1 end boss   
   was more of a tutorial fight, to continue the game metaphor.  Para gets   
   backstory and motivation, nested plans that build slowly and hide success   
   within failure.  Of course, the quartet of heroes tend to make things easier   
   for him along the way, and Emi doesn't always take things seriously.  The   
   four heroes are either lone wolves or part of teams that aren't present   
   (although Casshan gets his sidekick along the way), and even by volume 4   
   they're only just starting to behave like one team instead of four lone   
   agents with similar goals.  Oh, and the high school student cheesecake does   
   persist, plus Emi's classmates practically throwing themselves at the high   
   school teacher cover identity Tekkaman has taken on.  His discomfort with   
   this leads him to try to take a break, which sets up the main plot of the   
   second half of volume 4.  There's some deep nostalgia stuff here, but the   
   actual story is...okay.  The creepy elements aren't too severe, and the   
   writer at least seems to somewhat recognize the creepiness.  Mildly   
   recommended.  $10.99/$14.99Cn rated Teen 13+ (violence, occasional   
   cheesecake)   
      
        Chainsaw Man vol 19: Viz - And now things get weird, even by the   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)