Santos Sisters, Vol. 1
Creators: Greg & Fake
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Publication Date: March 2025
Remember when there were funny superhero comics? Not superhero comics where the jokes are thrown into the book. Superhero comics that were comedies from the get go. When Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen told folks “Bang! Pow! Comics aren’t for kids!”, you had books like The Flaming Carrot and The Tick skewering the genre with surreal glee. Once again, with Marvel’s Ultimate and DC’s Absolute lines, we’re in a period of superhero stories wanting to be “serious” and/or “adult”. Thankfully, there’s Santos Sisters by Greg & Fake, a comic that dares to make superheroes wonderfully silly stuff once again.
Drawn with clean lines of an Archie comics but written if every character was hilariously vapid, Santos Sisters asks the question “What if someone gifted the cattiest girls you know with super powers and giant laser guns?” The answer is they remain the cattiest girls you know…but also they have super powers and giant laser guns. They don’t really go looking for bad guys or have a nemesis, unless you count Bridget Spinner (yes, she flies around in a giant fidget spinner).
These two sisters mostly have adventures dropped in their lap. Occasionally we meet them in the middle of fights with fish men who talk like Beavis and Butthead. Most of the time though they’re doing mundane things and the weird just crosses their paths. They go to the movies and suddenly there’s zombies created by a bickering pair of mercenaries. They help Don Quixote find Sancho Panza. There’s disastrous trips to places like Oliver Garden, parties where ghosts show up, or having to get their dumb male friends out of trouble (alas, poor Todd).
That’s what’s so brilliant about Santos Sisters. Clearly creators Greg & Fake love the superhero genre and it shows in every panel. But also they understand how these characters fit into in this world. Ambar remains perpetually horny even when she’s flirting with supervillains. still Todd takes every terrible job that comes his way no matter how many times he gets kidnapped or attacked by villains. Madame Sosostris might be the ladies mentor but also she’s a wine gal. And of course, Ambar’s boyfriend Dirk seems oblivious to the many times he’s been in danger. Being a superhero in Santos Sisters isn’t a burden or a power fantasy. It’s just something that sort of happens by accident.
And all of this just so funny. It’s rare that a story in this collection doesn’t elicit laughter. The dialogue gets as much comedy both from Ambar and Alana arguing who is and isn’t their boyfriends while fighting bad guys and their reactions to their situations. From Don Quixote contemplating language learned from a sex worker to evil cinnamon buns brought to life by mall goths, the two creators revel in the absurdity of it all. Making this all work is Fake’s art which brings these people to life in hilarious ways. From the expressions when characters deliver lines, the brilliant character designs, and the expert comic timing in how jokes are delivered, every panel of Santos Sisters is drawn with maximum laughter and fun in mind.
Santos Sisters is a comedy superhero book in a time where that’s very much needed. When so many stories in that genre are eating their own tail, here’s a comic that reminds us superheroes are silly and fun. There’s inside jokes (Rob Liefeldteeth y’all) but Santos Sisters isn’t a book obsessed with itself or defending 80+ years of superhero history. Only its heroines are obsessed with themselves (okay maybe just Ambar). It is a book that knows great comedy comes from putting well defined characters into absurd situations, something superheroes are great at. It’s hard to say if Alana and Ambar are decent people who really should be flying around with giant laser or swords fighting. But it sure is fun to read about them doing so.
Santos Sisters, Vol. 1 is available now via Fantagraphics Books
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