Super Manga Blast! #43

This hefty 128-page anthology from Dark Horse packs in a remarkable lineup, with the cover spotlighting two striking figures — a dark-haired woman in dramatic red-and-gold attire and a cat-eared blonde in a school uniform — front and center for Seraphic Feather, teasing meta-human heroes caught in a space ambush. Alongside that sci-fi action, the issue promises the feline misadventures of What's Michael?, darkening drama in Shadow Star and Club 9, and mecha-versus-alien mayhem courtesy of hothead Hoichi "Gun" Kano in Cannon God Exaxxion. Five serialized stories for under six dollars made Super Manga Blast! one of the better deals in early 2000s manga publishing, and this issue looks like a fine example of why.