There are two universal truths in today’s rapidly changing comics industry. The first is that Dog Man remains the defining comic of our era. The second is that more people are reading manga and Webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before. Therefore we at Comics Beat are continuing our Beat’s Bizarre Adventure. Every week we’ll have three writers recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea and elsewhere. This week we have everybody’s favorite family of spies, another tricky Alice in Wonderland retelling, and, of course, yuri.

spy x family volume 1 cover. loid, a blonde-haired man wearing a suit and tie, sits in a chair reading the paper.

Spy x Family

Writer/Artist: Tatsuya Endo
Translator: Casey Loe
Touch-Up Art and Lettering: Rina Mapa
Design: Jimmy Presler
Editor: Amy Yu
Publisher: VIZ

The Forgers look like your normal, regular family. Loid Forger is a psychiatrist at the hospital. Yor Forger works at city hall. Their adorable pink-haired daughter Anya, who curiously has horns sprouting from her head, attends the prestigious Eden Academy. Except each of them has a secret. Loid is a highly competent spy named Twilight tasked to preserve the peace between the East and West via Operation Strix. Yor is an assassin named Thorn Princess who possesses an inordinate amount of strength. Anya can read thoughts. Only Anya knows everything.

The first volume of Spy x Family ranked as one of the top manga that fans wanted to see adapted into an anime. And who could blame them? It had the perfect formula: humor, action, mystery, and heart. Loid, Yor, and Anya were all quite lonely before they met.A life as a war orphan hardened Loid into a cold, detached spy. Anya was experimented upon for who-knows-how-long. And while Yor had her very, very loving brother for company, she still found herself questioning her purpose as an assassin. Becoming a family gave the three of them a break from being their other selves. It helped them to see the possibility of happiness in being with other people you care about.

I have some quibbles with the pacing; for instance, when is Loid going to realize that Yor isn’t just freakishly strong and might be hiding something? But I do like the slice-of-life aspect and appreciate that the slice-of-life genre is becoming increasingly popular thanks to Spy x Family. Tatsuya Endo has steadily been weaving in arcs that move the story forward. By interspersing slice-of-life chapters and more plot-driven chapters, it’s hard to predict what will happen next. The most recent chapter of Spy x Family, 109, dropped one of the most random possible reveals about a pivotal character. With the biweekly publishing scheduling, the wait will be excruciating. — Hilary Leung

a is for alice. young woman with short hair and baggy eyes holds a playing card in her fingers.

A is for Alice

Story and Art: PitchBlackKitKat
Platform: WEBTOON

This pick popped up in my head following a conversation I had with a friend about new characters that entered the public domain in 2025. Which brings me to A is for Alice, a WEBTOON CANVAS series created by PitchBlackKitKat. This take on the Alice in Wonderland story begins in the present day as Alice investigates the murder of her parents. Her search leads her to her father’s Looking Glass.

I won’t spoil the story from there, but it blends the murder mystery genre with the fantastical elements one would expect from an Alice in Wonderland story. While not as dark as American McGee’s version of the tale, A is for Alice is just as enticing a read.

PitchBlackKitKat relies on clean line art with a weathered texture to the ink. When paired with the slightly de-saturated colors, the artist paints both the Otherside and Wonderland with a bleak visual tone. Unlike other Alice-inspired media, this series also has some very creative character designs, especially for the humanized counterparts of the animal characters such as the Blue Caterpillar and the obvious Cheshire Cat.

My personal favorite is the Blue Caterpillar’s human design with her segmented and layered dress paired with her long blue hair separated into large round braids to resemble a caterpillar’s segments. It’s subtle but easily reinforces the character from the books. PitchBlackKitKat also has a unique way of lettering dialogue in this series with borderless bubbles and fonts not normally used in comics. It reminds me of how Rachel Smythe letters her dialogue in Lore Olympus, but works well here due to how it pairs with PitchBlackKitKat’s art style.

If this series tickles your fancy, you can give it a read on WEBTOON CANVAS. It updates regularly and has been ongoing since 2022. You can also support PitchBlackKitKat on Patreon if you enjoy the story. Take a step into another Wonderland today. — Justin Guerrero

the moon on a rainy night volume 1. two young women wearing high school uniforms walk together under an umbrella in the rain. both are carrying bags. one has long hair, the other short hair.

The Moon on a Rainy Night

Writer/Artist: Kuzushiro
Translator: Kevin Steinbach
Lettering: Jamil Stewart
Editing: Andres Oliver
Publisher: Kodansha

From the moment Saki encounters her beautiful, mysterious classmate Kanon on the way to piano practice, she wants to learn more about her. But Kanon doesn’t make it easy. She’s brilliant, hard of hearing and justifiably skeptical that anybody outside of her family might bother to understand her. Every day that Saki puts herself out there for Kanon teaches her just how much about her own life that she takes for granted. But she keeps at it, and sooner or later the two of them start to change.

The Moon on a Rainy Night is a slow paced yuri romance with a music theme. It is also a story about living with disability. Crucially, Kuzushiro sets their sights higher than just asking “what is it like to be deaf?” Kanon’s condition is a social inflection point that complicates all of her relationships, from her abled sibling to her middle school classmate that did everything she could for her just to escape her own problems. Navigating those shifting tides can be just as challenging as following a group conversation in a crowded restaurant when none of your peers pick up on the fact you are having a hard time.

Kuzushiro draws attractive characters but otherwise fails to distinguish themselves from the pack as an artist. Their real strength is in nuanced character work. Saki and Kanon grow together over the course of the series in a way that feels believable. Other characters that are initially introduced as villains are given their own specific challenges to grapple with, without taking away from their spiky personalities. There are even adult characters with their own storylines, which you can’t always take for granted in a comic about high schoolers

Six volumes in, I’m curious to see where the series will go next. Saki’s “kindness” hides the pangs of unrequited love, a selfishness that enriches her character. Meanwhile, Kanon herself is beginning to ask just what Saki means to her. Which of them will confess first? Regardless of the outcome, I’d say this comic more than justifies its fan favorite status. — Adam Wescott


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