Sharpen your katana and rosin your bow — Saya and Hagi are back for more Chiropterean slaying and cello playing in Blood+: Adagio (Dark Horse), the first of a two-volume prequel to the anime/manga/movie franchise. This time, the action has been transported from the battlefields of Vietnam and the air bases of Okinawa to the Hermitage, where the Romanov clan harbors some very bloody secrets (besides the tsarevich’s hemophilia, of course). Expect elaborate period costumes, crazed monks, ferocious vampires, and gratuitous scenes of Hagi playing Bach, as well as plenty of sword-swinging action.

The other big arrival this week is the omnibus edition of Clover, CLAMP’s gorgeously illustrated cyberpunk drama. Out of print for over five years, Dark Horse rescued this beautiful, four-volume series from licensing limbo with a new translation and fresh new packaging. Fans of CLAMP’s early, angsty works (X/1999, Tokyo Babylon, RG Veda) owe it to themselves to add Clover to their libraries, as it’s one of the best examples of their “Baroque” period.

If neither of those titles sound tempting, you’ll find plenty of other great books on the new arrival rack, including Mijeong (NBM/Comics Lit), a one-volume story from the author of Run, Bong-gu, Run!; a ramen-centric volume of Oishinbo: A La Carte (VIZ); the fourth volume of Fumi Yoshinaga’s delightful Flower of Life (DMP); the second volume of Afro-Samurai (Seven Seas Entertainment); and the first volume of Noodle Shop Affair (Aurora/Deux), a goofy comedy that sounds like a mash-up of The Antique Bakery, Tampopo, and Yakuza in Love. (I don’t know if that makes Noodle Shop awesome or awesomely bad, so I’ll reserve judgment until I get my hands on a copy.) And if there’s a youngun’ on your shopping list, you’ll find two new all-ages books at your LCS: a hardcover edition of Let’s Find Pokemon! Crystal (VIZ) and the first volume of The Lapis Lazuli Crown (CMX), a title that earned the Precocious Curmudgeon Seal of Approval:

I’ve belatedly realized that I like comics for ‘tweens and teens for the same reasons I like some actual ‘tweens and teens. A good nature, a sense of humor, a reasonable amount ambition, intelligence – these qualities go a long way towards making me enjoy a comic or a kid… Natsuna Kawase’s The Lapis Lazuli Crown, which debuts Wednesday from CMX, has enough of the good qualities to make it pleasant company. It’s pretty and outgoing but just insecure enough to spare it cheerleader blandness. And it’s only two volumes long, so how wrong can it go?

Couldn’t have said it better myself. The full shipping list is below.

NEW SERIES/ONE-SHOTS

• Awaken Forest (DMP)
• Blood+ Adagio, Vol. 1 (Dark Horse)
• Brilliant Blue, Vol. 1 (DMP)
• Clover Omnibus Edition (Dark Horse)
• Feng Shui Academy (DrMaster)
• The Lapis Lazuli Crown, Vol. 1 (CMX)
• Let’s Find Pokemon Crystal HC (VIZ)
• Living for Tomorrow (DMP)
• Mijeong (NBM/Comic Lit)
• Noodle Shop Affair, Vol. 1 (Aurora Publishing)

CONTINUING SERIES

• 07-Ghost, Vol. 3 (Go! Comi)
• Afro-Samurai, Vol. 2 (Seven Seas Entertainment)
• Case Closed, Vol. 29 (VIZ)
• Dragonball VIZBIG Edition, Vol. 4 (VIZ)
• Fairy Tail, Vol. 6 (Del Rey)
• Flower of Life, Vol. 4 (DMP)
• Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 18 (VIZ)
• Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 3 (DMP)
• Higurashi: When They Cry, Vol. 3 (Yen Press)
• Kekkaishi, Vol. 17 (VIZ)
• Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Vol. 9 (Dark Horse)
• The Name of the Flower, Vol. 2 (CMX)
• Oishinbo: A La Carte, Vol. 3 (VIZ)
• Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 3 (VIZ)
• Vagabond, Vol. 29 (VIZ)