Tiny Navajo Reads: My Hero Academia, Vol. 5

My Hero Academia, Vol. 5 by Kohei Horikoshi

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*Published August 2, 2016*

I’m enjoying My Hero Academia so much, and I’m loving seeing the different quirk sets and how much someone can want to prove something, even when they themselves aren’t complete sure what it is they want to prove.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

The final stages of the U.A. High sports festival promise to be explosive as Uraraka takes on Bakugo in a head to head match! Bakugo never gives anyone a break, and the crowd holds its breath as the battle begins. The finals will push the students of Class 1-A to their limits and beyond!

One of the best fights that happened in the sports event happened in this volume. And a lot of people may think that it’s the end of Deku vs. Todoroki, or Bakugo vs. Todoroki, but my absolute favourite fight of all the sports event is Uraraka vs. Bakugo, probably what could have been one of the worst possibilities for a fight. Even Deku and Iida are concerned for Uraraka, and Deku came up with a really quick plan for Uraraka to use against Bakugo, but she said no, she’s got to start relying on herself, and not on Deku as much.

This is what I love about this series, is that there are legitimate concerns and thoughts and feelings that these characters go through. We have see many classmates of Deku proclaim that they’ll take him on throughout the sports event, as they have started to realize that he is the real deal, he is here to become the #1 hero. Even Uraraka has started to realize that she starting to rely on Deku and his plans a little bit too much; should she continue to do so, she won’t be able to become the best hero she can because she won’t be able to think for herself. So she taking on Bakugo without any help is the best thing she could have done. And she held herself fairly well, even though she didn’t beat Bakugo.

Bakugo even took her seriously by not taking it easy on her, even though his power could very easily blow her away. By taking her seriously, Uraraka was able to prove that she could think for herself when it come to battling someone as flashy and fierce as Bakugo, and he acknowledged that she did have the ability to send him flying.

I like seeing teens figure out who they want to be, and how they can get there. I enjoy those few years in a person’s life where they are trying to figure out the rules of the world and where exactly their place may be in the world. A person can change so much in those few years that if you met someone at the beginning of their adolescence, you could find a completely different person by the end of it. And I think that’s what My Hero is trying to do, to help these teens create the best version of themselves to be the heroes they want to be. What time of life do you most enjoy? Why do you enjoy that time? Comment below and let me know!

Tiny Navajo Reads: My Hero Academia, Vol. 4

My Hero Academia, Vol. 4 by Kohei Horikoshi

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*Published May 3, 2016*

Volume 4 is a continuation of the sports festival, with the second trial and the start of the third trial. I love seeing how different everyone’s Quirks are, as well as how adaptable these people are with their Quirks.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

The U.A. High sports festival is a chance for the budding heroes to show their stuff and find a superhero mentor. The students have already struggled through a grueling preliminary round, but now they have to team up to prove they’re capable of moving on to the next stage. The whole country is watching, and so are the shadowy forces that attacked the academy…

Being perfectly honest, I love this series and I love seeing how much everyone is already starting to change and grow. With the second competition, we start to see the ingenuity that Deku has as he picks out the best people to help him in the rider challenge. And he shows us how while his first picks didn’t all agree to compete with him, he is able to recover and continue to work through the challenge to still make it to the next round to compete in the one-on-ones.

We also see the start of the third trial of the sports event, and we see how several of our main characters battle against others, both in Class 1-A and 1-B. I loving the passion and ability that these students have as they strive to do their best in this sports event.

When have you strove to do your best, even if it would mean losing to a better opponent? What do you do when someone encourages you to do your best, when you feel you cannot? Comment below and let me know!

Tiny Navajo Reads: My Hero Academia, Vol. 3

My Hero Academia, Vol. 3 by Kohei Horikoshi

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*Published February 2, 2016*

Volume 3 was read in the same day as volume 2, and in this one, we see the end of the fight with the big bad villain and his League of Villains (yes, he is overdramatic). It’s going to be interesting to see what Deku and his friends will do next.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks”? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

A sinister group of villains has attacked the first-year U.A. students, but their real target is All Might. It’s all that Midoriya and his classmates can do to hold them off until reinforcements arrive. All Might joins the battle to protect the kids, but as his power runs out he may be forced into an extremely dangerous bluff!

Here, we see what happens once All Might joins the fight, because HELL YES!!! We see All Might unleash all of his power upon the Nomu and how much his injury has changed how he can fight crime. As he nears the end of his time of usage, we see what it means to Deku to have All Might’s power and the knowledge that All Might isn’t able to work as he used to as a hero. Thankfully, this does end in some happiness, and we transition into a NSE (normal school event), sort of, which is the U.A. Sports Event where all the students of the U.A. compete in three different events in order to show that they are the best of the best of the heroes-to-be.

Throughout the battle with the League of Villains, and the start of the sports event, we see how quickly Deku thinks and how he’s able to hold his own against those who have better control over their Quirks. Deku’s fanboy quality of analyzing others’ quirks and how he would work against them works in his favour here in the sport events, as he quickly puts together what is needed in order to move forward in the competition.

What are some of your favourite sports competitions to watch? What sports do you wish you could play? Comment below and let me know!

Tiny Navajo Reads: My Hero Academia, Vol. 2

My Hero Academia, Vol. 2 by Kohei Horikoshi

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*Published November 3, 2015*

The second volume of My Hero and here we start to get into the meat of things. Deku has been able to get into U.A. but now he has to figure out how to actually use All Might’s power.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called “Quirks” at age four? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Getting into U.A. High School was difficult enough, but it was only the beginning of Izuku’s long road toward becoming a superhero. The new students all have some amazing powers, and although Izuku has inherited All Might’s abilities, he can barely control them. Then the first-year students are told they will have to compete just to avoid being expelled!

For a lot of these kids who have had Quirks since they were four or five years old, they know how to use their powers. Deku is YEARS behind everyone else, as he only recently received his powers from All Might. He needs to figure out the best way for him to use and get used to these powers, and quickly. But in doing so, he also needs to deal with Bakugo and his complete anger and rage at Deku getting into U.A. as well.

It’s here that we start to see some of the character interactions that we were promised in the first volume, and we start to see how Deku will fit in at this new school where he is on somewhat level playing ground as everyone else. What are some of your memories of your first year of high school? Do you wish to go back and do things over? Comment below and let me know!

Tiny Navajo Reads: Miles Morales

Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis

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*Published August 18, 2015*

I had recently watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and I was so curious about who Miles Morales was, so I borrowed the these three volumes from my library. I’m going to review each one, and today is volume one.

Miles Morales takes up the mantle of the Ultimate Spider-Man! Before Peter Parker died, young Miles was poised to start the next chapter in his life in a new school. Then, a spider’s bite granted the teenager incredible arachnid-like powers. Now, Miles has been thrust into a world he doesn’t understand, with only gut instinct and a little thing called responsibility as his guides. Can he live up to Peter’s legacy as Spider-Man? As Miles grapples with his new life, Miles’ Uncle Aaron – a.k.a. the Prowler – learns his secret! He’s got plans for his nephew, but little does he know that the Scorpion is on his tail! Spider-Man story! COLLECTING Ultimate Fallout 4, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (2011) 1-12, Spider-Men 1-5

Okay, going to be completely honest, I enjoy movie Miles better than comic Miles. But the comics give a view of Miles that the movie did not show, as it’s a movie. All the beats of the movie are in the comics, which makes sense. The biggest change was Uncle Aaron’s full personality. In the movie, once he realizes that Miles is the newest Spider-Man he starts to have second thoughts about going after Spider-Man. In the comics, Uncle Aaron takes this knowledge to try and start his own crime ring.

I will have to say, that I did enjoy these comics. We do see the Avengers and Nick Fury, we see a Spider-Man come in through a wormhole like the ones in the movie, but mostly I like seeing a young mixed teenager take in the mantle of Spider-Man and learn who he is as Spider-Man and what Miles Morales would do as Spider-Man, rather than what Peter Parker would do, or what anyone else do. Miles learns that he will and does make as good a Spider-Man as the original, as long as he acts like himself while doing so. And I do truly enjoy that about the comics, we see more growth from Miles.

What do you do when movies are based on comics/books? Do you read them, or just enjoy them for what they are? Comment below and let me know!

Tiny Navajo Reads: Mystery Girl Vol. 1

Mystery Girl Vol. 1 by Paul Tobin

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The only reason I had this comic is because I was able to get it as a free copy after buying a comic on my Kindle and this was the only one that really sounded interesting. And I’m really glad that I did get it, I truly enjoyed it!

Mystery Girl, or Trine Hampstead as her friends know her, knows everything. You come to her with a question, and she will be able to answer your question without any other information. The only question she cannot answer, the only thing she does not know, is how she came to be able to know everything. She has no idea how she got this impressive power, but that’s a mystery for her to solve another day.

Today’s mystery to solve is how are there wooly mammoths that are perfectly preserved in Siberia? Trine knows immediately how there are perfectly preserved wooly mammoths, but what she does is surprise all of New York friends by insisting she come along the journey to Siberia to find the wooly mammoths. As she leaves New York, Trine is also followed by a vicious killer who is coming after her for reasons she does not know. But she will know soon; as she always does.

I truly enjoyed this comic and it seems to have only the one volume, unfortunately. I would love to read the second volume to find out more about Trine and her life and her power to know everything. And I love Trine and her friends that accept her and her power to know everything, for what it is: almost a blessing, almost a curse.

What single-volume comic have you read has been one of your favorites? Was it meant to be a single volume or did it just end in that way? Comment below and let me know!