Supergirl (2025) Comic Review

A new Supergirl ongoing series has arrived via DC Comics, this time written and illustrated by Sophie Campbell, with Tamra Bonvillain as a colorist and Becca Carey as a letterer. It began to be published on May 14 2025. 

This story takes place in the summer of 2025, after the fall of the Kryptonite asteroid from Superman Unlimited #1.

Supergirl returns to her hometown, Midvale, to visit her parents but finds out that another Supergirl has taken her place, taking Kara's place as a saviour of the locals. The impostor turns out to be a girl she saved previously at Kandor, Lesla-Lar (a genius inventor), who envies Kara's life and powers, so she uses her technological skills to travel to Midvale after becoming obsessed with Supergirl. She then weaponizes her knowledge of the girl of tomorrow to supplant her faithfully, earth's sunlight also gives her powers as well. Kara must now prove to the people that she is the real Supergirl and fight the impostor.

A good mix of giggles, emotion and action, this new Supergirl ongoing series starts out quite great. We are very adequately introduced to the world and the continuity is established organically as we are never truly lost even if we have never read the comics it's picking up from. 

Now, Kara has to deal with issues such as defining herself as a person, revisiting her old home and trying to get away from Superman's shadow. Some of these conflicts are dealt with by becoming a sort of guide to other characters like Lena Luthor and the antagonist of the story. While a lot of this is done through dialogue and internal speech it's all very effective and we are also given very well written and inventive set pieces with monster fights (we even see Titano) and battles between the superwomen.

At one point, we also see the effects of black kryptonite on Kara, turning her into Satan Girl. She doesn't do anything truly violent or disturbing, it boils down to mild edgy phrases, throwing trash, pulling people's pants down, ruining birthdays and writing on walls with her laser-vision. It's all hilarious and fun, keeping things lighthearted and playful.

A very enjoyable beginning to a highly referential and entertaining series with heart and emotional resonance. A good start so far. 

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Vampirella Helliday Special (2024) Comic Review

This new Vampirella Christmas Special was written by Frank Tieri (several Deadpool comics, Red Sonja comics, Vampironica New Blood) and illustrated by Mariano Benitez Chapo (Savage Tales 2022) and Pasquale Qualano (Hell Sonja, Samurai Sonja, Gargoyles Quest, Harley Quinn Road Trip Special).

First we see Vampirella arrive at a house just in time to save some kids from an evil, bloodthirsty Santa Claus with fangs. We are introduced to the narrator: Snowman Steve, who tells the story of how this came to be. Elves and workers at Santa's workshop have been dying recently, a vampire is the prime suspect. However, Ms. Claus doesn't believe it. Vampirella is then called in to stop the newly vampiric Santa Claus once and for all.

It's a hilarious and irreverent Christmas satire, it hits all the expected bits (Santa's workshop being exploitive, Santa being sleazy with a bad marriage) but executes the jokes with such good writing that it makes them refreshing once more. Some quick and witty humor, sometimes with references but never to an annoying degree.It's short but charismatic, Vampirella is her usual cheeky self and causes a lot of carnage. 

It's a clever and well done alternative Christmas special that its audience can appreciate. If you like Vampirella, you can get this one and have a good time. 

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Red Sonja: Holiday Special (2018) Comic Review

Here we have a very peculiar comic book Holiday Special featuring one of the toughest redheads in fantasy: Red Sonja. A one-off special from 2018 featuring two stories. Illustrated by Ricardo Jaime (Crackdown, Godslap), written by Erik Burnham (Lady Hel, several works with the TMNT, Ghostbusters and Red Sonja) and Amy Chu (Ana and the Cosmic Race and several Red Sonja issues).

Sonja travels through a snowstorm and finds an unknown cloaked woman who reminds her of a place she visited previously. She tells her the story of her time in our modern civilization, traveling throughout New York City with Max and getting a taste of Christmas, the most human celebration.

Then they find a man in a Santa costume running from mobsters, Sonja predictably takes them out without much effort, but the trio flees when the goons take out their guns. The guy in the Santa costume is finally safe and the goons lose them among the crowd at a Christmas celebration.

It's a funny story that plays with the usual "fish out of water" gags and dynamic whenever Sonja is taken out of her realm and inserted in New York City or something. Not a horrible one-off but it's also far from a highly memorable one. The resolution was done a bit too quickly and too easily but you can forgive it because of the time and space constraints. I think it's perfectly fine for Sonja fans, as it is short and sweet.

The second story isn't christmas related but it's drawn in a very retro style and looks quite wonderful, so I don't recommend you skip it, we might look at it some other time.

Gatchaman: Jun - Apex Heart (2024) Comic Review

You might have heard of Gatchaman, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was an anime TV series from 1972 about a group of young superheroes fighting against an evil villain who wants to destroy the world. The characters had a bird theme and used their superpowers to battle bad guys (both with martial arts and weapons). The “girl character” of the group was Jun the swan, who you might remember from the english version of the anime known as Battle of the Planets, or from the videogame Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. The show was popular but now it might be seen as more of a cult thing than anything else.

This specific comic iteration is a tribute/revival of the show and focuses exclusively on the only main female character of the group. The overall concept of this multi-part series by Mad Cave Studios is to follow each member of the group during a solo mission. The only other issue so far has focused on Ken, the leader and main lead of the original show.

The evil Galactor has been sending his Death Bikers to steal high tech from the I.S.O (International Secret Organization). Jun investigates these bikers after they steal classified military plans, she then uses her skills to uncover what's behind criminals.

This one-shot is a very fun and engaging little story, well illustrated by Giada Marchisio and Nuno Plati, with concise and economical but effective writing by Tommy Lee Edwards. I enjoyed that it was a faithful characterization for Jun but managed to present her life in more than one facet. The comic showcases her combat and driving abilities, her casual interactions with her adoptive brother as well as her devotion to her hobby.

A good actualization of the character, even then, I honestly think it could probably use a few more issues because the concept was intriguing enough and could have been extended further.

Recommended if you are familiar with the franchise and wanna see something new from it or if you just want an entertaining adventure without requiring to know the backstory of the series before reading. This one works on both accounts.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead (2024) Comic review

Negasonic Teenage Warhead has a very strange history as a character, being almost always underutilized. She first appeared in New X-Men #115 in 2001, but her popularity and modern personality wasn't truly established until the highly successful Deadpool movie from 2016 was released and introduced the character to a mainstream audience. 

This particular one-shot comic comes from the modern day interpretation of the character as a punk-like angsty teen with superpowers like psychic and precognitive abilities and it's a compilation from several issues of Marvel's Voices Infinity Comics, particularly from issues 44 to 49 featuring this specific storyline but with a new story added to it. 

We open with Negasonic helping Deadpool during average and banal missions, sequences that are among the best scenes of Deadpool since the movies but don't add much overall, only for her to receive a threatening vision of the end of the world, the only way to stop it is by kissing her future girlfriend. The problem is that she doesn't know who this woman is as she has yet to meet her.

Negasonic then reaches out to Emma Frost for help, who recruits a team of women with the most brilliant minds to help: Invisible Woman, Princess Shuri, Dr. Toni Ho, Scarlet Witch, Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, Jean Grey and Boom-Boom.

What follows is a race against time itself, and the Time Variance Authority, in order to stop the universe from ending by having Negasonic meet with the woman she is supposed to date in less than an hour. Not an easy task.

A very engaging story about how no matter what destiny has in store for us we are all able to forge and change our paths in life with a strong enough will and determination. It avoids any potential pessimism pitfalls when it comes to visions of future doom and offers us a very clever version of this type of premise by fleshing out Negasonic and creating a very personal and intimate story that gives us more sides of her, every obstacle and conflict that's introduced serves to push her limits as a character and that's where the inventiveness of this comic begins, delving deeper into a seemingly only secondary character that was used mostly for gags. 

At first it seems like a very typical outing with the mismatched yet highly amusing duo of Negasonic and Deadpool, only to go further with the premise and reach slightly more serious topics. In fact, Deadpool and the strictly comedic portions of the book are sidelined fairly early. It's never too heavy and it's swift and concise enough to hold your attention all the way. The fact that it unites a lot of Negasonic's issues regarding agency and independence with other Marvel women, like Scarlet Witch, is also very telling of its place in culture and the troubles the target audience faces. 

At the same time, it's very skillfully done in the visual sense by artists Carola Borelli (Spider Woman 2023), Eleonora Carlini (Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hellmouth) and colorists Brittany Peer (Drawing Blood) and Ruth Redmond (Alien, Aliens, Marvel's Voices Infinity, Sensational She-Hulk 2023). Also well written by Andrew Wheeler (Another Castle, Love and War). While you can sometimes notice that the format was originally different and while the added story may feel irrelevant, the entire compilation is well worth your time if you are interested in the premise and the character. If you ever hoped to see more of Negasonic Teenage Warhead other than the brief appearances in the movies, this has you covered.

I found it very heartwarming and humorous, a quick and enjoyable read.

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