The titles for this week's Fresh Friday Features don't need color to shine! With their beautiful brushwork, lovely linework, and hella cool textures and effects, they show us what's possible with a minimalist palette. As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover!
This week, @ArtCrumbs picked for this week:
- Comic - King's Rule: An optimistic young boy wants to be a king more than anything. He wants to travel the world, make friends, and have a kingdom to protect.
- Graphic Novel - SpaceDust: Your Alien BFF!: Stella, Mae, and Percy are a 2 human and 1 alien trio set on making as many friends on Earth!
- Manga - Celestial Chronicle Shion: Shion is the captain of a space battleship and has a rare ability to control it with her mind, giving humans a small advantage against the draconic aliens who are trying to invade Earth.
- Webcomic - S.C.D.: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Cases Division: Kasumi Kotani is a cop working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. She learns of a minor division that seems to handle cases that are not quite natural.
King's Rule, 41 pages - Published by King Comics, (cc/ @KingBicy)
An optimistic young boy wants to be a king more than anything. He wants to travel the world, make friends, and have a kingdom to protect. However, even with training from a king, he realizes how hard it is to achieve his dream. He must face difficult choices, his emotions, and strong enemies who want to keep him down. Join Brick on his adventure in discovering what being a king and a leader really means.
Story and Art by King Comics
What an adorable kid, Brick is!? A young man who simply wants the best for people, it's nice to see a young protagonist that isn't exactly arrogant or snarky or over-confident in an almost cliche way. Brick seems genuinely wholesome so far, and I'm curious to see how his training could affect him. Being a king is tough, and no doubt will leave its scars on him. The artwork also stands out, even among monochrome works, as the tones have a wonderful texture and feels very alive rather than a simple flat tone. It definitely compliments the inking well.
SpaceDust: Your Alien BFF!, 86 pages - Published by SuperCrunch, (cc/ @Blaffski)
Embark on a cosmic adventure with SpaceDust! Stella, Mae, and Percy are a 2 human and 1 alien trio set on making as many friends on Earth! Navigating social norms, evading authorities, and intergalactic fun await! Upload dates are on Sundays @ 6:00 am MST!
Story and Art by SuperCrunch
We've all been there, the awkward period of trying to find new friends, being the new kid, or the strange one. You know, the introverts. If you can't make friends with other humans, maybe an alien would make your fancy! A sweet read with cute characters that's maybe a little too relatable, it was nice though to see someone I can understand and laugh at myself with. After finishing the most recent chapter, I wonder what other trouble these kids can get into? Navigating society is a bit troublesome, but they'll figure it out, I just know it!
Celestial Chronicle Shion, 404 pages - Published by Cave Comics and Art, (cc/ @Cavechan)
Shion is the captain of a space battleship and has a rare ability to control it with her mind, giving humans a small advantage against the draconic aliens who are trying to invade Earth. Her brother, Senri, works as the navigator and becomes suspicious as he finds evidence of a traitor, but the reality is far more fearsome than anything they could have imagined.
Story and Art by Cave Comics and Art
Celestial Chronicle Shion is one of the oldest titles on the platform, having been from one of the beta titles with me back in 2018. It's been incredibly inspiring to see how much work Cavechan has put into her manga, to see its growth, both in story and in art style. We don't commonly see a lot of space styles SciFi as much as we used to, so it's a nice refreshing manga to read. As someone who hasn't read a lot of Sci-Fi, it's also great to see that the "techno-babble" is softened to make it really easy to understand what's going on to be accessible to any reader. There's tech, there's drama, there's love, it's got something for every manga reader, and I strongly encourage you to check out one of our founding OG series.
S.C.D.: Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Cases Division, 82 pages - Published by SoraZamurai, (cc/ @SoraZamurai)
Kasumi Kotani is a cop working for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. She learns of a minor division that seems to handle cases that are not quite natural... S.C.D. is a Japanese urban fantasy series about cops with magical abilities keeping peace amongst the unknowing humans and the supernaturals that coexist. Updates 2 pages every Tuesday!
Story and Art by SoraZamurai
We all love a good mystery, and our hero Kasumi is eager to prove herself! Working on the force isn't as easy as it seems, and it's frustrating sometimes when your coworkers... well don't co-work with you! The expressions are fantastic here and really varied, something I think a lot of other creators could use as an example to study from. The description tells of supernatural goings-on, so I'm curious to see what actually happens as I keep reading. It's hinted here and there, which I think is fun, as it puts us in Kasumi's shoes, slowly seeing it all as she opens up to it too. Great work!
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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