My Hero Academia: Smash Volume 2 manga review

My Hero Academia Smash Graphic Novel Volume 2 cover image

My Hero Academia: Smash!! is the second spin-off of the My Hero Academia manga.  Created by Kohei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia is set in a world where eighty percent of the human population has a “Quirk,” a term used to refer to superpowers.  My Hero Academia: Smash!! is a parody series that collects the four-panel humor comics written and drawn by Horikoshi's assistant, Hirofumi Neda.

In the world of My Hero Academia, if someone wants to be a superhero, he or she must enroll in the Hero Academy in order to be trained and licensed.  Middle school student Izuku Midoriya is one of the 20% of the population born without “Quirks.”  He has no chance of ever getting into the prestigious U.A. High School for budding heroes... until the greatest hero of them all, All Might, gives him a chance to change his destiny… and get parodied.

As My Hero Academia: Smash!!, Vol. 2 (Chapters 21 to 37) opens, All Might decides that the day's training session will involve the students planning a picnic for a cherry blossom viewing party.  But what will the students do when someone tries to turn this fun event into a formal event?  And what happens when the school sports festival devolves into an outrageous and crazy game of baseball?

[This manga includes “Bonus Stuff.”]

THE LOWDOWN:  The My Hero Academia: Smash!! manga exists because popular manga have to have four-panel comics.  Humorous in nature, four-panel comics, printed vertically, two per page in manga and graphic novel collections, are a fan favorite.  Many manga artists, regardless of the popularity of their series, create four-panel comics as comic relief for their readers.  Dear readers, I have come across even violent and adult-oriented manga that have four-panel comics.

My Hero Academia: Smash!! Graphic Novel Volume 2, like Vol. 1, offers over 200 four-panel comics set in the world of My Hero Academia.  I find the humor and overall execution of the manga to be a bit more solid than the comics in Vol. 1.  It seems that practice and repetition have made Hirofumi Neda more assured in his comedy skills  So, if you like My Hero Academia and four-panel comics, dear readers, you will  like My Hero Academia: Smash!!

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of My Hero Academia and superhero comedy will want the Shonen Jump title, My Hero Academia: Smash!!

B+
7 out of 10