Contrasting feelings of sweet and sour flavors create a diverse meal for this week's Fresh Friday Features. Be inspired, motivated, and then disgusted, horrified, and bewildered, we all need a balance of good and bad to appreciate things!
As the famous Bob Ross said, “It's like in life. Gotta have a little sadness once in a while so you know when the good times come.”
- Comic - The Tea Dragon Society: After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik.
- Graphic Novel - Demon Bitch- The Books!: She's a low-level demon from the 13th pit of Hell where people throw their dog shit and gum wrappers!
- Manga - Goldfisch Manga: A fisher-boy in a flooded world overrun with dangerous mutated animals known as “anomals”, he's got his own problems to worry about. Namely, how everything he touches turns to gold!
- Webcomic - Chimeran Legends: Follow the journeys of young furry, feathery, and scaley individuals as they travel through the magical fantasy Kingdoms of Chimera
The Tea Dragon Society, 213 pages - Published by Oni Press, (cc/ @GCpartnerships)
From the award-winning author of PRINCESS PRINCESS EVER AFTER comes THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY, a charming all-ages book that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, and the people she meets as she becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons. After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik.
Story and Art by K. O'Neill
Aromatic and wholesome, each tea dragon is a little different. They're quirky little creatures with leaves and/or florals growing from their heads. I loved the style, soft and painterly, smooth and crisp like various teas in the story!
It was also great to see a POC main character, LGBTQ relationships, and characters of all abilities. It's incredibly well written, and there's even a card game to go with it! I can see why it's an Eisner-award winning comic.
Demon Bitch- The Books!, 372 pages - Published by HoraTora Studios, (cc/ @DemonBitch)
She's a low-level demon from the 13th pit of Hell where people throw their dog shit and gum wrappers! She wants to bring the Second Coming of Armageddon, but the first one never happened because she's a fucking idiot. Here are her dumb books that you get some goodies in, ya bums! Sketches and forwards that I somehow bribed people for and different ways to see her through different fanart!
Story and Art by HoraTora Studios
She's mean, devious, nasty, and not very smart. Demon bitch is here to take over the world! I've purchased a couple of these books and some of the situations she gets into are just hilarious. One of the things that I appreciate is it does actually follow a plot as mini-episodic bits along the way. Potty humor, adult situations, and awkward canidid-ness all has a place in Demon Bitch! The super rough sketchy art style suits it perfectly! If you like titles such as South Park or Family Guy, you've got to meet Demon Bitch!
Goldfisch Manga, 414 pages - Published by TOKYOPOP, (cc/ @GCpartnerships)
Say hi to Morrey Gibbs! A fisher-boy in a flooded world overrun with dangerous mutated animals known as “anomals”, he's got his own problems to worry about. Namely, how everything he touches turns to gold! Sure it sounds great, but gold underpants aren't exactly stylish -- or comfortable! Together with his otter buddy and new inventor friend Shelly, Morrey's on a quest to rid himself of his blessing-turned-curse and undo the tragedy it caused. That is of course, if they can dodge the treasu...
Story and Art by Nana Yaa
A fun spin on the tale of King Leon, the power of turning things to gold isn't always fun and games! I read this manga several years ago and I was stoked to see it join the platform. I don't want to spoil the tragedy mentioned in the description above, but it's something I think most people would be desperate to fix if it had happened to them.
Despite the heaviness of that tragedy, it's got lots of humor, which I think is great. There's lots of water and animals (mutated animals, but animals) and the backgrounds are just done so well. It's one of my favorite Tokyopop titles and I think you'll like it too!
Chimeran Legends, 221 pages - Published by AK Illustrate, (cc/ @AK-illustrate)
Follow the journeys of young furry, feathery, and scaley individuals as they travel through the magical fantasy Kingdoms of Chimera, facing terrifying monsters, ferocious beasts, despicable people, and their own personal conflicts.
Story and Art by AK Illustrate
The dynamic art, elemental magic, and compositions are just stunning! Not to mention the character designs of a fantasy world. As a plant-mom myself, I loved seeing plant magic as a main hero's power. That's amazing and not seen that often, so excellent choice. I think my favorite scene was the fighting at the exam, overlapping the mini-scenes of those fighters was very creative. It flowed so well, and now the Florent and his new friend are going on an adventure? This can only end well, right? Please end well.
Beautifully done! Even after just the first episode I can't wait to see more. I would definitely want a printed edition of this on my shelf.
That's all for now, but we'll have another set of Fresh Friday reading recommendations next year as we move into our End of Year Most Popular features! You can also browse through our Featured Comics news section!
Check out more amazing stuff from @ArtCrumbs below.
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