Comitia 109 haul review

It's been pretty much exactly a month since Comitia 109, but I haven't really had the time to comb through my spoils from the show. I got a pretty good amount of stuff this time around, as you can see in my Instagram from just after the event:

There's a handful of these that stood out for me (as I said I haven't really had the time to comb through them yet, so there might be other hidden gems), so I'll take some time today to tell you about them.

1. kraken by Torimura (circle: Daiouika)

This was my major new discovery at this year's Comitia. I discovered it in the catalog, decided to check it out, and wasn't disappointed.
The circle thumbnail:

kraken was actually advertised in the "magazine" section of the catalog too:

Igawa's entire body is covered in bandages, and she is shunned by everyone at school. A mundane encounter leads Higuchi to develop an interest in her, and he discovers her secret. A drive for revenge born out of miscommunication leads to a bitter and tragic end. 
The pain of adolescence, and a giant squid... This strange combination turns out to be really good.

Higuchi, a pretty regular guy with a constant group of friends, notices weird, social outcast Igawa after they try to check out the same book about giant squid from the school library. She is being severely heckled by her peers, including the obligatory "die" and "scum" scribbled on her desk, and having her box lunch "accidentally" knocked out of her hands by a fellow student.
They develop a quiet, friendly bond, and she introduces him to her after-school project: Building a mechanical giant squid to destroy the school, their peers, and everything in its way.

The 72-page story is drawn in a deformed, scribbly style with simplified faces and expressive, big eyes. there's a lot of well-placed spot blacks, and purposefully loosely-cut screentones. The story moves at a fairly leisurely pace, and concludes in a destructive inferno that, while not entirely original, feels just right for the book.

Obviously my main impulse for buying this book was the cover. It's amazingly designed with a great 5-color palette, a matte finish in the compact A5 size. I liked it so much that I asked the artist to sell me the display copy when I heard it was sold out. She sold out of it early in the day, apparently she had completely underestimated the demand (not suprising, since it was only her second show, and likely the first time she was featured this heavily in the catalog).
The story pages are a fairly heavy, matte paper as well, and overall it's a very attractive package. I believe it was 500 Yen.

Artist: Torimura on Twitter Pixiv

2. iromonia by usamimiki (circle: R-Panda)

This was a chance find, I just walked by their booth and there it was. Turns out I had already purchased another one of her books, 恐竜肉食少女時代（lit. "The age of girls who eat dinosaur meat"）at Comiket. I guess her style just instantly clicks with me.
R-Panda's circle thumbnail:

iromonia is about a blind little girl who gets picked up by a robot small-time criminal, who offers to take her back to her home town in exchange for her eyeballs (which he intends to sell on the black market).

When she opens her eyes to allow the robot to take out her eyeballs, he is stunned by their beauty, and changes his mind, attempting to leave her be. In the girl's youthful naivete, however, she tags along with him, and with the help of a friend, they set course for her hometown. It's the tried-and-true formula of no-good adult and innocent child sidekick on a roadtrip, and true to form it's not long before things go awry.

I bought this mostly for the art, which is beautiful with lots of detail and parallel hatching, as well as great character designs, especially for the robots. It's about 80 pages for I think? 500 yen. The cover is beautiful with stark contrast of the white-faced girl against black background, and a logo embossed in silver foil. At one point in the story, the book actually goes full color for two pages to illustrate the girl's emotions, and it just blew me away. It even came with a separate little booklet featuring design sketches and comments. I'm amazed at how well this book is put together.

But the art is not the only beautiful thing about iromonia. The story of a 2-bit street thug getting more and more enthralled by the sincerely innocent little girl, and trying to make things right for her, only to realize he has no place in her life, is heartwarming and ultimately heartbreaking. It had me very, very close to tears by the end.

If you can find anything by this artist, I highly recommend checking it out.

Artist: Usamimiki on web and Pixiv

And that's it - my two favorite picks from this year's summer Comitia! Hope you liked them.