Sam continues to enjoy Mega Princess from BOOM! Studios, while Jackson gives All New Wolverine #16 from Marvel Comics five stars!

Want to hear more about what we thought about these issues? Read on – and let us know what you thought in the comments below.

Sam’s Reads

Mega Princess #3

Author: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Brianne Drouhard
Publisher: KaBOOM!
Source: BOOM! Studios DRC
★★★★☆

We’re halfway through the Mega Princess miniseries and I’m already dreading the end. I’ve cutback on the comics I’m reading but Mega Princess has held a special place on my pull list for the past few months. The reason behind that is simple: it’s just a really fun, really cute book. It’s an enjoyable read from start to finish – even if I’m maybe not the target audience.

In this issue, the ultimate mystery of what happened to Princess Max’s little brother, Bobs, grows as royal babies in other kingdoms begin to go missing as well. Max’s parents seem a little naive thinking that they’ll find Bobs (and the others) soon because now everyone is looking for him but hey, that’s just another reason to be glad Max will someday be inheriting the throne. She’s a smart kid and her adventures rely a lot less on the magic she’s been bestowed than they do on her quick thinking and intuition.

This time around she’s looking for the kingdom of Atlantis and luckily her magic is pretty multifaceted because she manages to become a mermaid. Justine, meanwhile, has some kind of scuba apparatus extension to her armor, letting the two of them go in search of the underwater kingdom.

Fish, it turns out, aren’t particularly helpful. They either chat your ear off or appear quite gruff – or in the case of sharks, they try to eat you. Our royal detective and her trusty steed spend much of this issue trying to escape such a shark while also getting to know their helpful new buddy, Todd, a little puffer fish with some unique quirks

Things inevitably don’t go exactly as planned but at least the shark situation resolves positively after Max’s problem solving. And the solution isn’t magical – it’s technical! I really like that about this book. Magic makes everything more fun but it doesn’t have to be the catch-all, all-encompassing cop out as far as resolutions go and Mega Princess knows this.

The underwater character designs are really great this issue even the ocean scenes themselves are a little plain. I love Todd and he’s super adorable for a puffer fish that, you know, could prove to be fatal. And I love Max’s mermaid tail. It appears to be a lot more fish-looking than you might see in other magical princess tails. It looks like a big ol’ goldfish tail! Basically, this is a great issue in a great series that I wish would last more than just five issues.

Sam Wildman  is a co-founder and co-editor at Nerdophiles. She’s actually super freaked out by fish (mostly dead ones, though). Follow her on twitter @samaside.

Jackson’s Reads

All-New Wolverine #16

Author: Tom Taylor
Artist: Nik Virella
Publisher: Marvel Comics
★★★★★

Like any character who frequently appeared in four separate comics in any given month, Wolverine is a character of complications and contradictions. Simply by virtue of the volume of stories, writers engaging with Logan have to pick and choose what parts of the character to embrace and which to abandon.

That’s probably one of the things that was most compelling to Marvel when the decision was made to kill off the old Canucklehead back in 2014, but it’s interesting to see how they lean into the same imagery, stories, and characters that defined the old character through a new one’s eyes in All-New Wolverine.

All-New Wolverine #16 sees Laura captured by her archenemy and former handler, Kimura, outfitted with a Weapon-X harness, placed in a pool and ordered to kill Tyger Tiger, the once and current ruler of Madripoor.

For those versed on the wild and weird stories of ‘80s Wolverine comics, it’s a veritable checklist of what Logan was up to, both in his first solo run as well as the miniseries and short arcs that occurred around it. Rather than feeling like nostalgia or fan service though, the homage feels at home with Laura’s story and what we know about her time as X-23.

It’s a showcase of the pain that’s at the heart of Laura’s story, illustrated in a cartoonish but grounded style that doesn’t lean away from Kimura’s sadism and the violence Laura is capable of. Nik Virella draws Tom Taylor’s script here and it’s a stunning work in a book that’s regularly showcased some fantastic art from a host of Marvel’s most exciting pencillers.

In an era where Marvel happily is drawing from old stories and rearranging them with new characters in the center, All-New Wolverine #16 offers an ideal template for creators to build off of. It shows what’s memorable and exciting about the classic characters, sands off the rough edges and doesn’t forget about why those new characters matter so much to audiences of all ages.

Jackson Adams is a staff writer at Nerdophiles. Those first issues of Wolverine reveal that Logan’s favorite drink is the Long Island Ice Tea. They’re worth a read. Follow him on Twitter @JacksonInACup.