New Year, New Comics and Anime Recommendations

I’m sipping my evening kombucha while typing this intro to the sound of my wife watching The Pitt in the background. It sounds stressful.

January has been great so far. I’ve created systems in my daily routine to stay on top of my habits and goals.

2025 brought writing back into my life, and I’m accelerating that habit this year.

In This Issue:

• December Comics

• New ComiClub Episode

• Anime Recommendations

• What to [watch] this weekend

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Some Comics I Read in December

I finished my Fantastic Four reading journey in December. Last year, I merely meant to dabble with Fantastic Four comics in the lead up to the movie, but I ended up reading basically everything from Mark Waid’s run in 2002 to Ryan North’s modern run. That’s a lot of FF comics. There was some truly great stuff in there (Jonathan Hickman’s run), but I got burnt out and I’m happy I’m done.

Here are some comics I enjoyed over the holidays.

• Space Opera Xanadax - ★★★
  Awesome art with an old-school kick-butt action aesthetic.

• The Witch’s Egg - ★★★½
  Trippy as hell.

• Look Back - ★★★
  Manga one-shot by the creator of Chainsaw Man. It was OK.

• Goodbye, Eri - ★★★★½
  By the same creator as above, but this one ruled. very meta-textual.

This month I’m reading a big list of comics that were on best of 2025 lists. Stay tuned.

Follow me on League of Comic Geeks for more reviews.

ComiClub Book of the Month: 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank

We’re kicking the year off with a fun and short crime comic. It’s about four friends who decide to rob a bank to help out the lead character’s father.

This is our First Impressions episode which is a spoiler-free shorter episode so you can decide if you’d like to read the book.

Strong Anime Recommendation: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

What happens after a Dungeons & Dragons party saves the world? And what does the elf in the party do next when all of her friends die of old age?

This anime follows Frieren, the titular elf mage on a new adventure. Her relationship to time is so vast that she has a difficult time appreciating relationships. She starts a new adventuring party this time taking on the leadership and mentor role. The new crew visit previous locations and Frieren fondly remembering her past adventures.

The tone is a relaxing fantasy slice of life adventuring. It doesn’t overuse that weird slapstick goofy chibi anime thing that grates me.

My favorite part is that nearly every episode has a chill montage of the characters wandering a town, exploring nature, or exploring a dungeon.

Other Anime I Enjoyed: Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine

Lupin the Third anime series, based on a manga by creator Monkey Punch, have been around since 1971. This series is a reboot for a more mature audience.

Traditionally, these stories follows the grandson of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin. But this series follows the femme fatale of the group, Fujiko Mine, as she meets the band of thieves.

The animation style is fantastic and I really dug it. It’s very NSFW fyi.

What to [watch] this weekend: Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2

This show is extremely my vibe. I’m legit excited to see where this show goes. I hope they add a new member to their party at some point.

Created by: Manga series written by Kanehito Yamada and illustrated by Tsukasa Abe

Logline: “Elf mage Frieren and her fellow adventurers have defeated the Demon King and brought peace to the land. But Frieren will long outlive the rest of her former party. How will she come to understand what life means to the people around her?”

Have I watched it yet? No

Where to watch? Crunchyroll and Netflix

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See you next week.

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