I know, I know. Listen, I’m trying, okay. I am actually reading through the pile. It’s just taking me a minute, and then the new stuff that I forgot preordered comes in and it’s so shiny…

Maybe those printing delays are actually working in my favor.

Also, the I key keeps falling off my keyboard, and it turns out you use I a lot. I mean, like, basically every third or so word.

Anyway! Manga and comics.

The Way She Feels by Courtney Cook (Tin House)

I had a special feature planned for this one during Mental Health Awareness month, which didn’t happen because… life. But that’s okay because mental illness and mental health are things that we should talk about all the time. The persistent stigma surrounding them are cruel and damaging, and they prevent so many people from getting help – as does the fact that insurance companies, and indeed many providers, view mental health as something apart from “health care.”

The importance of mental health being viewed as a part of one’s total health is one of the things Cook makes very clear in The Way She Feels: My Life on The Borderline in Pictures + Pieces. Not only does she openly discuss the ways borderline personality disorder affect the way she viewed her body, and the things she did to force it to fit a certain ideal, she’s also frank about her cluster of symptoms related to borderline, OCD, and anxiety leading to self-harm and suicidal ideation. The ways in which she would hide herself to fit in and the ways in which she would isolate when that didn’t work. The way borderline personality disorder is misunderstood and how damaging that was not only to her psyche but also to her whole being.

And borderline is a tough diagnosis. It’s difficult for the person who is diagnosed and difficult for the people who care about them. Huge, huge props to Cook for creating this book and sharing her journey because it is no small thing to be honest about it with one person (there’s a bit at the end when she reveals one of her picking behaviors to her boyfriend that had me in actual tears) let alone the whole world. I admire so much her ability to be so frank and honest and to keep her sense of humor, even about the ugly bits.

Look, we don’t want to be the tragic heroines movies love to show you. Mental illness isn’t something you get to walk away from at the end. We just want to live our lives and do what we love and find some joy. Courtney has laid out a blueprint of how to do that – and if you live with mental illness or someone you love does, then you should really take a look at this book.

Cherry Magic!: Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard, Vol. 3 by Yuu Toyota

Yes, I’m lightening it up.

I continue to live for these two chucklekfucks who still can’t get their shit together despite the fact one of them can read minds. I love them, and despite the fact I know what happens because I watched the live-action version on Crunchyroll and assume the ending is at very least similar, I actually shrieked a harpy shriek when I checked the release date for Volume 4 and saw it’s January. Yes, that is how much I stan and need Kurasawa and Adachi’s filthy wholesomeness in my life.

I don’t want to give away too much about this one for those who haven’t watched the show, but know there are many hilarious misunderstandings, Kurasawa literally punching himself mentally, and Adachi cockblocking himself.

Also, Adachi, sweetie, you know he loves you and took care of you when you were sick, why is your response to being asked out on a date, “Handsome guy voices are scary?” I mean, obviously, I know why, and it makes me giggle and if I could read minds, I would be Adachi, which makes it even funnier.

The Way of the Househusband, Vol. 5 by Kousuke Oono

I know I say this every time a new volume comes out, but it’s not my fault it continues to be true: The Way of the Househusband continues to get more delightful with each offering. I mean, the audacity of raising our expectations and then meeting and surpassing them every time, where will it end?

Volume 5 gives us a lot more Miku than we’ve previously gotten, and I have to say, I can see why Tetsu loves her so much. She is a delight clearly the family troublemaker and badass despite the fact her husband used to be a yakuza assassin. I always get some good giggles when I’m reading Househusband, but I was full-on laughing my ass off all the way through this volume to the point where husbando and the kids came to check on me.

Obviously, I am hoping for more of the family dynamic in upcoming volumes.

Trese: Murder on Balete Drive by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo

Manga is great and I continue to eat it up but that doesn’t mean I’m married to comics from Japan. Getting stuff from China in English (legally) is still a bit tricky. However, comics from Korea and the Philippines are gaining a presence and that is to our benefit because there is some really excellent stuff, including Trese. (You may have seen the trailer for the anime, which premieres June 11th on Netflix.)

I’m a sucker for supernatural stories grounded in mythology and folktales, which, much to my happy brain, is what we have here. Alexandra Trese, who comes from a long line of supernatural researchers, works with the Manila police to solve crimes involving beings from Filipino lore with her kambal sidekicks. The book is creepy and haunting and a little bit bloody, and I absolutely adore it for those things.

You should read it and watch it. Do all the things.