It’s been awhile since I talked about my recent comic reads, but today I have 3 mini reviews for you. These are all fantasy graphic novels, and are fairly new. They’re all 2018 releases. We’ll talk about I Hate Fairyland, Moonstruck, and Watersnakes today. Let’s get into it!

I Hate Fairyland Vol. 4: Sadly Never After – Skottie Young

I’m so sad this is the ending of this wonderful comic series! I think this is the first comic series I ever read and is also the first one I completed. We followed Gertrude on her last quest in volume 3 and I wasn’t sure where this next volume was gonna go to be honest. We first follow Larry and Duncan Dragon, two wonderful characters! Gert is in hell and we get to see a little bit of that as well. I don’t want to say much else about the plot because it was quite thin and I would spoil most of it.

This volume had a less blood and gore than the other ones and I think story wise it was the least developed one. The art is what I’ve come to expected from the previous volumes and still one of the things I like most in this series. I did really enjoy this last installment, although I do think it went by a little fast. I would’ve liked a little more depth and just some more pages to the story. The ending was wonderful and really bittersweet in my opinion! I did read that we might possibly get another story set in this world somewhere in the future and I’m definitely looking forward to that!

Moonstruck Vol. 1: Magic to Brew – Grace Ellis & Shae Beagle

I ordered this one not too long ago and read it last week. When I started reading it I realized I didn’t really remember what it was about, but I think that was a good thing! Someone on Goodreads described this as a pastel fantasy and that is the absolute perfect description for it. We follow Julie and her new girlfriend Selena on their second date. They bring Julie’s friend Chet along and Chet get’s cursed. The friends all have to work together to help Chet. The art is super cute and I adore the style. All the colors are pretty much pastel (you might’ve guessed that from the pastel fantasy name haha). I think this style worked extremely well with the story.

The setting is really cool, it takes place in a university town and almost every one is a supernatural being. Julie and Selena are werewolves and Chet is a centaur for example. This was very enjoyable to read about, especially in this modern setting. Werewolves seemed to be discriminated against in this world, which was an interesting aspect of the story. There was also a lot of diversity, both Julie and Selena are POC and plus sized, loved that aspect. Plotwise the story really lacked unfortunately. The story wasn’t well developed and the problem got resolved extremely fast. I was really disappointed by that part because I could see the potential. Hopefully we’ll get better development in the second volume.

Furthermore, Julie and Selena’s relationship had a bit of a weird development and I did not like how Selena treated Julie near the ending. She did apologize to Julie, but it left me feeling a bit uneasy about it. I do hope we get to see a healthier version of their relationship. Lastly, Julie and Selena both love the same detective series and we get to read some pages from them in between the story. I liked that addition a lot! All in all a very enjoyable first volume, I will continue this series in hopes of the plot getting better.

Watersnakes – Tony Sandoval

I got a copy of Watersnakes through Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. This author is Mexican and this graphic novel was first published in Spanish, French and some other languages. I’m very happy it got translated to English this year. The plot is a bit hard to explain without giving away to much. It’s a pretty small and contained story. I would’ve liked getting more and an additional volume actually. Especially since not much of the world or what was going on was explained, that’s also why I didn’t rate it higher. Is was also a little bit confusing at first, but I really liked it the ending.

We follow Mill, who meets Agnes during a boring summer. I really liked the relationships that were formed in this story. This story is very surreal and fantastical and it also has some horror elements. It has absolutely gorgeous art that fits the story so well. Especially the battle scene was incredible, both the writing and the art were amazing there. I don’t think this story is for everyone, but I was definitely impressed.

So these are three of the recent comics I read! Have you read any these? Or do you plan on reading one of them? Let me know in the comments!