According to the Midtown Comics website, only six new titles will be arriving in stores this week: a new volume of Berserk (Dark Horse), a new volume of Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally (Bandai Entertainment), a few NETCOMICS titles. Your best bet is the fourth volume of the beautiful and utterly inscrutable Bride of the Water God (Dark Horse), a manhwa that inspires murmurs of “Oooo, so pretty!” and “Sweet Jesus, that makes no sense!” in equal measure. The best reason to read it is the gorgeous artwork, as I noted in my review of volume one:

What makes Bride of the Water God such a pleasure to read are Mi-Kyung Yun’s opulent illustrations. The… landscape is a delightful mixture of “once upon a time”—haunted forests, lavish palaces—and more contemporary influences—fish-shaped dirigibles, floating castles reminiscent of Miyazake’s Laputa. As one might expect, the gods wear sumtptous robes; Yun offers detailed renderings of the intricate patterns and decorative embroidery characteristic of traditional hanbok. Though these patterns sometimes spill into the backgrounds, taking the place of conventional sun-jeong (shojo) motifs like flower petals, Yun is a disciplined draftsman. She balances her more detailed images with ones of stark simplicity: a few blood spatters on a blank page hint at Habaek’s violent past, a burning candle suggests the passage of time.

If you’re willing to give yourself over to Yun’s ravishingly beautiful illustrations, Bride of the Water God is a treat; if you’re looking for a story that actually, y’know, makes sense, Bride may come across as awfully silly and self-serious. Click here for my full review of volume one.

SHIPPING THIS WEEK

• 100% Perfect Girl, Vol. 9 (NETCOMICS)
• The Adventures of Young Det, Vol. 3 (NETCOMICS)
• Berserk, Vol. 31 (Dark Horse)
• Bride of the Water God, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)
• Code Geass: Nightmare of Nunnally, Vol. 2 (Bandai Entertainment)
• Gunsmith Cats Burst, Vol. 4 (Dark Horse)