The Adventures of Blanche

Written by: Rick Geary

First line: My favorite memories of childhood are of the summers I spent in my grandmother’s little town.

Why you should read this book: A whimsical work by an award-winning artist, this book follows the unsinkable Blanche from New York, to Hollywood, to Paris. Despite her unassuming nature, classical piano training, and somewhat Victorian sensibilities, Blanch plunges from one crisis to the next, escaping from cultists and giant tentacles, jumping off bridges, dangling from flying contraptions, and (possibly) saving the world. Good clean fun for fans of the fantastic graphic novel medium.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: This is probably just me, but I found that fact that every single character in this book is drawn in such a way that their cheekbones look like cat whiskers sort of confusing.

Children of the Sea

 Written by: Daisuke Igarashi

First line: I’ll tell you a story about the sea.

Why you should read this book: Strange things go on in the world’s oceans in this manga: global climate change, unexplained lights, disappearing fish, human children living underwater. After being cut from her handball team due to excessive violence in her defensive tactics, Ruka stumbles into these mysteries, accompanied by two strange boys who were reportedly raised by dugongs, and her own childhood memories of seeing a ghost in her father’s aquarium. Danger is afoot, and Ruka’s new friends may be threatened, or they may be about to sacrifice themselves to something amazing, spectacular, and world-changing.

Why you shouldn’t read this book: I read it three times and still can’t really explain the ending, possibly because this is actually the first volume of a much longer work.