Santos Sisters #4, from American Nature’s creative team, is an amazing tour-de-farce. It’s a blast of fresh air amidst the airborne puffy fare that we sometimes take for granted on the comic book shelves.
Written by Greg & Fake, Graham Smith, Dave Landsberger and Marc Koprinarov, the fourth issue of Santos Sisters takes us on madcap adventures involving dastardly villains and reluctant super-heroines. It’s Ambar and Alana, flying through the air at top speed, their long hair and ’today’ dialogue flowing freely. They endure the return of evil long-haired Bridget Spinner and Fondu, they interact with high ranking government officials and they debate the meaning of life. As a bonus, there are sly asides, sly ‘comic nut’ inside jokes, some swearing and loads of ants and magic antics.
The artwork, (line art and colouring by Greg & Fake) a clear homage to the Archie stylings of the amazing late Dan DeCarlo (and others), sets up the humour and drama in a fun way; the poses are reminiscent, the jokes are fresh, the twists are a combination of lemon and zest.
Colouring is bright and cheerful, the better to entertain us with.
While I describe Santos Sisters as a semi-parody, it’s not to take away from the brilliant balance that the creative team achieves on this title. It rides the fine line between ‘real story reading’ and riffing on our beloved comic archetypes. Yet Santos Sisteres maintains that ‘day fresh’ feel, that wily inventiveness that we admire. Incidentally, this title is in Comic Journal’s ‘editor’s top comics of 2022’!
You need to check out an issue of Santos Sisters today. If you´re lucky, your local comic shop already carries the title. Or just order from Floating World Comics, at the link below: https://floatingworldcomics.com/shop/comic-books/santos-sisters-4
American Nature, Santos Sisters #4, $5.00 for 26 pages of content. Ages 13+
Newsdesk