Beat the odds with this week's Fresh Friday Features, an inspiring list to help you overcome any challenge! Whether joining your dream sports team, saving the world, or even just yourself, beat the odds and make all your dreams come true!
This week, @ArtCrumbs picked for this week:
- Comic - Elmwych: The ongoing adventures of the Elmwych Paranormal Investigation Club.
- Graphic Novel - Astrion: Mahonia has just recovered from the aftermath of the war with Independent Space Federation. But a new threat has appeared on the horizon.
- Manga - Soccer In The 6ix: In 2026, the FIFA World Cup is coming to Toronto (aka "the 6ix") and 15 other cities in North America. Toka, a 14 year old boy who loves soccer. Follow along to see how Toka fights for a Toronto Soccer Club Team spot.
- Webcomic - Mejaz Jade of the World: During the night of their consummation, Mo Yan was ruthless in his words after overhearing a rumor about his wife being in love with another person.
Elmwych, 11 pages - Published by JP Sewell, (cc/ @Ironscarf)
The ongoing adventures of the Elmwych Paranormal Investigation Club. Mystery, magic, monsters, wild romance and blood. Mature readers.
Story and Art by JP Sewell
Comments by ArtCrumbs:
Spicy and spooky, Elmwych is just getting started, and I'm really curious about Lydia. She seems like such a chaotic force and that's such a fun character, I think! There's clearly something dark and evil lurking around, and I'm wondering what trouble Lydia and this Elmwych vampire are going to get into.
The pages are beautifully detailed, backgrounds are fantastic, this is a series you want to start now and not miss out as it grows! Also, where can I get that NSFW necklace? Asking for a friend.
Astrion, 44 pages - Published by The Sphere Graphic Novel, (cc/ @AstrionLin)
Astrion - first story of THE SPHERE graphic novel. Mahonia has just recovered from the aftermath of the war with Independent Space Federation. But a new threat has appeared on the horizon. This is a story about a desperate expedition into the unknown in the hope of saving the planet.
Story and Art by The Sphere Graphic Novel
Comments by ArtCrumbs:
The formatting and approach to showing off the world was something I really enjoyed and appreciated. Astrion has a very complex world from what I've been able to gather so far. Throughout the graphic novel, there's a series of panels that show "news broadcasts with headlines". That's a very ingenious way to share world lore, events, etc that are relevant to the story without dropping a wall of text or a lore dump to get that across. It blends in perfectly with story-telling flow too. It might seem like an obscure thing, but it really helped me understand the story, so I wanted to point that out.
Overall what I also love about Astrion is a hero that is positive, but we see the fears. We see the risks. We see the apprehensions and struggles with moving forward with this plan. It's a really refreshing break from heroes/MCs that are overly confident. It's more realistic and relatable I think. The color schemes are also pleasant, muted to match the mood and supported by beautiful artwork, lineart, and backgrounds to match.
Fantastic work, great paneling, amazing flow. Keep up the awesome work!
Soccer In The 6ix, 67 pages - Published by JHoCircle, (cc/ @jhocircle)
Soccer In The 6ix Writer: A.N. Art: JHo In 2026, the FIFA World Cup is coming to Toronto (aka "the 6ix") and 15 other cities in North America. Toka, a 14 year old boy who loves soccer. He's been practicing by himself in his huge backyard for as long as he can remember. But, he has never played on a team before, and to make matters worse, he lives in the boonies of Ontario. Follow along to see how Toka fights for a spot on the Toronto Soccer Club Team.
Story and Art by JHoCircle
Comments by ArtCrumbs:
We all have those things we love doing as kids, but sacrifice as we grow older. Not Toka! He knows what he wants, and he's gonna do what he needs to get there! It's a very cute and wholesome "beating the odds" manga, classic for a sports-themed story. I'm curious to see how the match to figure out the team captain will go. There are lots of ways that could end up.
Additionally, when you have a really physically active sport like soccer, it can be easy to get lost in the flow of what's happening with the players and ball itself. I think the paneling here was done well, dynamically, and did a good job showing what the players said and thought too. That's a lot of things to manage, and it's easy to get tangled up. I had no problem following it in this manga. As someone who isn't very familiar with soccer as a sport, that's nice. haha
I can't wait to see how that match for the captain's position goes. Great work JHo and A.N.!
Mejaz Jade of the World, 2969 pages - Published by Marano Comic World, (cc/ @nsunthorhong)
A marriage alliance between two influential magical families was made, turning Mo Yan and Xuanyuan Yu a married couple. But during the night of their consummation, Mo Yan was ruthless in his words after overhearing a rumor about his wife being in love with another person. He thought she'd be fuming mad, but she wasn't worked up at all. It made him taken aback instead!
Story and Art by Sasa Dongman
Comments by ArtCrumbs:
Marriages out of love are for some, a luxury. Mo Yan and Yu are certainly an interesting pair right off the bat in this webcomic! They seem to have expectations for each other, assumptions which don't seem to be correct. That was such a tense interaction, and even the morning after, seeing all the drama in teh family. My goodness, there's gonna be some tense stand offs a lot in this series.
It's clear that Mo Yan is a busy man, and wants to stay away from his new bride, who he doesn't love, but Yu, there's something else about her that I want to know. She's intelligent and there's a plan going on. I wonder what her goals are being here. Based on the cover, I'm excited to see how her relationship with Mo Yan grows.
The art itself is also beautiful, detailed, and soft? It's easy to overdetail artwork and make it just too much. But the softer colors work really well here to balance out all that detail. I only read into the first few chapters here, so there's a lot I need to read to catch up. Definitely a comic I'm going to binge this weekend. Great work, team!
That's all for now, but we'll have another set of Fresh Friday reading recommendations next week. You can also browse through our Featured Comics news section!
Check out more amazing stuff from @ArtCrumbs below.
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