Titans: Starfire by Kami Garcia. Illustrated by Gabriel Picolo.

After the less than steller preceding books, Garcia gets the plot momentum moving with a good dose of character development. Much like the others, Kori thinks she is a normal teenage, albeit a bit more introverted due to her Ehlers-danlos syndrome making socialization a literal pain sometimes. I hadn’t heard it before, but it’s a bit like arthritis for younger people, and it’s a very tricky, dehibilating thing that fluctuates by the day. Not that her co-workers believe her. They think it’s convenient how it flares up and is all better the next day.

So yeah, she doesn’t have a barrel of friends or boyfriends like her older sister, Kira who is annoyingly obsessed with her jerk of a new BF. But he is offering to take them to H.I.V.E. to get Kori into a new clinical trial for her ED. Things are not as they seem and Kori starts to realize those painful twitches and pains in her joint may not be ED but alien growing pains.

Just like the cartoon, Kori sees the best in her sister weighing the times Kira sticks up for her to all the other times she belittles her, and bosses her around. Readers can see that for Kira’s good moments don’t outweigh that she wants her sister to remain the little one that can’t compeate with her in looks, popularity and now powers.

That sisterly love gets tested when Kira doubles down on her verbal bashing when Kori develops her powers. She is just so self-involved, she sees Kori’s concern for her as jealousy because let’s face it if the situations were in reverse Kira wouldn’t be caring. So while this Kori’s origin story, Garcia paints a parallel picture of this being Kira’s villain origin story with her feeling betrayed/disrespected by her inferior little sister and falling deeper with Slade and the H.I.V.E.

The rest of the Titans (Beast Boy, Raven, the Robins etc) take a backseat in this graphic novel, appearing near the end for the final battle. Instead it is Victor Stone aka Cyborg who rconfides his hunch about the H.I.V.E.’s real deal and alleviate her concern when she starts shooting neon green blasts. They make a nice friendship while providing organic exposition for both their backgrounds. Garcia even manages to add a sweet meeting between Dick Grayson and Kori, planting the seed for their famous romance.

I just wish that the ending did not feel so rushed to getting the grand finale. Yet the next book is the final one in the series, and I’m sorry but does anyone else think it’s a bad look for the series to skip a limelight book for Cyborg? Especially how absolutely nothing happened in Beast Boy Loves Raven, and Robin. I would have fixed it up by having the action of BBLR put in with R so it solves how mushy the former was and how the latter felt like nothing happened. Then they could have eased the pacing with Starfire and give Cyborg his own book before the finale.

Nonetheless, Picolo’s art remains solid and it’ll be exciting to see them come together and defeat H.I.V.E. once and for all.

The Squad by Christina Soontornvat. Illustrated by Joanna Cacao.

After the public humiliation of having your peers vote whether or not you should get on the cheerleading squad, it’s understandable if Christina never tried it again. But the lure of the cheerleaders are still strong and with a revised system, she actually gets on the team!

However, getting on the team doesn’t make her life perfect and popular as she hoped. Instead, crumbling friendships, newfound “friends” and her parents getting divorce make Christina feel anything but part of the time. She feels hopelessly alone. 

While the first two are standard fare, it is the last point that I thought most interesting. At school she’s too Thai, at church, she’s too white but at home she feels perfectly whole. The dissolution of what she had thought was a happy marriage makes her feel like an outsider. If her parents were incompatible, what does that make her? It’s a familiar question for many who are mixed and Soontornvat’s autobiographical touches and TCM-based imagine spots make it feel more relatable as she navigates this new part of her life. 

Hercules (2024) by Elliot Kahn. Illustrated by George Kambadais.

Kahn returns to show a brighter side of the Hercules universe. I admired Khan’s writing on the Hades miniseries as he had perfectly encapsulates Hades’ humor and the film’s pop culture Greekized references. Here, the humor is on the down low as Khan embraces what makes Hercules the Superman of the Ancient World. Honestly, it’s the best description for him as he does have that wholesomeness that is Clark Kent-like and is willing to take a tougher road in order to make everyone happy. 

That’s what makes him so different from the rest of his immortal family that are content to dismiss mortals as ants and Hercules as an errand boy. Something they’re sure to regret when they start to go missing in the running mystery of the narrative. 

I enjoy how Kahn wreastles with the cranky and disrespectful side of the gods that treat the world as a chess board with no regard for the people inhibitatinb as Megaera points out. They don’t care like Hercules does. But they’re necessary as Hercules finds out as more and more go missing. 

The person behind it is a real twist. I almost thought it was Nemesis in a clever reference to the animated series but no. It’s an actual surprise so that’s cool. 

My one nitpick is that Kahn seems a bit enamored with his new sidekick character, Galatea. Yes, that Galatea, a girl full of love with no idea of her strength. I get that she’s needed as Meg is a mortal and would be more of a hinderance in a fight, but still I was expecting more of a chance to see her and Herc sleuthing it out as a Greek noir couple. The other gods are portrayed accurately in my summation though. 

The only other nitpick I have is the art. I know not all comics can just copy the film style or else what’s the point of artistic license but I felt that the illustrations were too rounded. It makes everyone looking softer and the landscape looks blurred int the background. Plus the eye pupils sometimes freak me out 

Thundercats (2024): Vol 2 by Declan Shelvey. Illustrated by Drew Moss. Cheetara mini series by Soo Lee. Illustrated by Domenico Carbone.

Thundercats vol 2 takes a break from Lion-O’s POV to deliver individual issues on Panthro, Tygra, the Kits, and Cheetara that slowly build up the new menacing threat on Third Earth and the secrets King Claudus kept from all of them. This is a double-edged sword as it allows more depth to each of the team members and how they’re dealing with Lion-O becoming a leader and how it affects them. 

This is especially well done in Panthro and the Kits issues. Tygra also gets a spotlight but his had less depth about him than moving the plot along. I guess I must accept that Tygra is a naturally happy guy with not much insecurities to mine, fine, they need one stable person. 

On the other hand, it leaves Lion-O on the sidelines and the expectation that they’re keeping to protect him and not add to his stress will lead to disaster when the Mu’tant assault comes. 

Not so much. They overcome the battle and theres no angsty blowback from the secret keeping. So that felt a bit anticlimactic and the lead up to the battle felt like little hints suddenly exploding than a natural ticking time bomb.

The Cheetara mini-series was nice, giving insight to what Thundera was like and Cheetara’s bond with Lion-O, and Tygra. Plus giving readers knowledge of Cheetara’s powers but it was . . . . It was fine. I don’t know I was expecting something more about her past as an orphan or deeper insecurities. It all felt light. Peaceful as a floating lotus but aside from bittersweetness of seeing Thunderra in its prime, it was forgettable. The art echoed this with a dreamy gloss contrasted with textured rock and sand of the background.

My Adventures with Superman mini series by Josie Campbell. Illustrated by Pablo M. Collar.

It’s Christmas time and Lois and Jimmy are planning the best first Christmas away from the farm for Clark. 

And what better distraction than an Amazo suit on the loose? What? 

No that was not part of the plan but when Clark is called to help a seemingly alien creature being used as a weapon by Waller and her flunkies, he can’t turn away. 

This was an enjoyable adventure with great illustrations by that echo the show’s anime style. 

The biggest draw was seeing Clark at his best in encouraging the best in Amazo. I can’t believe he got me invested in a wayward AI in less than four issues but I was moved by Amazo’s redemptive turn and how earnest they all were in the power of Christmas and family. 

Huda F. Cares? by Huda Fuhmay 

Huda F. returns on a vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth. Disneyland! 

Less fun, being stuck in the backseat of the car with her three sisters on a 24 hour road trip. 

So they can bond. 

Huda is not interested in bonding nor is she too thrilled to be so visibly herself with the daily prayers among non-Muslims. She’s still a teen who wants to fit in after all, and it feels contradictory to be obligated to be a good Muslim teen when she’s surrounded by so many that won’t understand their observances. 

Her sisters get it though. As one can guess, despite how they drive her crazy she finds out that her mom is right after all that sisters have your back when no one else does. It’s in that forced bonding that she learns different sides to them as well as how she’s perceived is not so bad as she makes out to her head. Not as long as she’s proud of herself. Very cute.

Berrybrook Middle School by Svetlana Chmakova

This cute grpahic novel series by Chmakova deals with the tumultous, confusing adolescence that is middle school. There’s toxic friends, bullies, new crushes and the ever-present technology that adds chaos. Whether it’s the war between science club vs art club, trying to find your voice with adult authority figures or asking out your crush, it’s never boring.

Chmakova’s characters are delightful reletable and just a bit geeky to make you root for the underdog. There’s an ernestness about them that makes you want to read more to see how they navigate their issues. It’s also refreshing that there are some good and even dare I say, cool, teachers that aid the kids instead of being a constant obstacle.

I admire Chmakova’s casual diversity while also dealing with relevant, controversial issues like cyberbullying/hacking into texts, the double standards of dress code and censorship. There’s 4 books, Awkward, Brave, Crush and Enemies, making it a fast read as the cast expands and new challenges are met. It’s a good representation of what middle school life is like in the 21st century.

Lost Soul, Be at Peace by Maggie Thrash 

I remember when Honor Girl was winning all those awards and apparently she released this one year later. Absolute crickets. Maybe because it wasn’t a continuation of her coming out. Which she did in her conservative, ultra wealth private school. 

The reaction? Everyone ignored it. It was like she said nothing at all. 

That’s a common state in her household where her father ignores her,  and her mom is in a perky, oblivious world. And Maggie is utterly alone and depressed, moreso when she loses her cat in the mansion’s walls. 

This was a more introspective memoir as the presence of a mysterious ghost forces Maggie to contemplate the state of her life, and confront the fact that not every mystery can be solved. In fact, growing up is a bit like death. The death of innocence and that something’s you can never get back.