Petre, Greg & Fake – Santos Sisters #8

March 25, 2025

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Santos Sisters #8

Look at that cover! Sorry, “don’t judge a book by” and all that, but come on, that’s a thing of beauty. I also couldn’t help but notice that this is their first (I think) time also offering a variant cover, so that’s an option if you think this one is too “busy”. As for the comic itself, if you thought that them getting a book published by Fantagraphics meant that they were going to coast a bit, you were completely wrong. That book came out in March 2025 (very recently, unless you’re reading this in the future), and they’ve already put out three issues after that collection. Is it odd that they’ve also stopped putting their names on the comics? Am I using outdated information when I’m including “Petre”? Eh, who cares when there’s a comic to talk about! Things start off with a story involving Todd joining a militia, kind of, which also has the introduction of a few new characters that probably won’t be back. But who knows! There’s always room for big burly dudes that make Dirk look tiny. It also has the return of 8-Ball and her obsession with Todd, and would you believe that she didn’t even make the cover? Anyway, it’s a solid addition to their ongoing story, which could still go in any number of directions. Next up is the conclusion of the three part story “What Time Is It?”, as we meet some new characters and finally learn what happens to that mysterious briefcase. Sort of. Then there’s a pile of ads, where once again I kinda want to throw all of them a few bucks to dig into the current state of small press comics, then I forget all about it until the next issue. Don’t be like me! I was also a bit surprised to see that Dave Sim is offering a download of the entirety of Cerebus for $99, which is a ridiculously cheap deal for 6000 pages of comic, but I’m getting distracted again. Note: never diagnosed with ADHD, but my reviews would probably make a compelling case for it. Finally there’s a story involving the sisters and their tia and tio (aunt and uncle, for anybody who’s taken zero Spanish classes in their lives) and the problem of an infestation of ludes ruining the lives of several people in their retirement community. A fairly straightforward tale compared to the others in this issue, but there’s still some great stuff in it. Greg and Fake are also going on a l’il tour of California comic shops, if you’re reading when I’m writing it, so maybe check out their website for details if you’re in the area? Overall they’re still getting better and better. And they started off strong, so just imagine the level they’re working at now! $5

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Posted by Kevin

Petre, Greg & Fake – Santos Sisters #7

December 13, 2024

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Santos Sisters #7

I don’t know where I should mention this, so I’ll just do it up front: Fantagraphics is putting out a nice looking hardcover edition of the first five issues of this series in March, which you can and absolutely should pre-order here. Haven’t I been singing the praises of this book since #1? Don’t you trust me? Also you should check out the first six months worth of books coming out from Fantagraphics in 2025 because sweet Christmas are there ever some amazing looking books on their way. But this is not the place to talk about such things! This time around we get the second part of “What Time Is It?”, which if I was ruler of the world would be put out in larger installments, but I’m not so I’ll shut up about it. We have the sisters attend a chess tournament (mostly because Ambar is into one of the players), see a lot more of the plot gong on behind the scenes (what the heck is Quibble?) and get a good indication of how Todd is going to get mixed up in all of this. Next up is the cover story, and if you don’t get a laugh out of at least one line from that sample image, I don’t know what to tell you. Todd is once again front and center, as he’s kidnapped by Blue Agua for mating purposes. Which may just involve him fertilizing eggs, but thankfully it doesn’t go quite that far. Poor Todd is just trying to keep his job, and I’d call this story a good indication of Alana’s interest level in Todd. Then there’s a brief intermission of ads, which might be annoying in another comic, but here it’s just a pile of comics/people/other items that look, at a minimum, intriguing. Which, hey, is a good reason to buy a few comics before the big collection comes out, especially since that only covers #1-5 and 6 and 7 are out too. And #8, according to their website, but one thing at a time. Back to the comic! We get another wordless tale of the drunk bees, but it’s a shortie so I’ll leave it to you readers, and finally there’s “Trojan Horsing Around,” and if you guess that that might involve enemies of the sisters sneaking into their house using a literal horse disguise, do I have good news for you! Ridiculousness and hilarity abound, as we’re given one more example of why it’s a bad idea to have a fight against a villain in your home. As always, I’m barely scratching the surface of the one-liners and generally funny bits, and my talking about it doesn’t do justice to the utterly unique line it rides of innocent sincerity and mild cynicism. It’s a mix you won’t find anywhere else, and I’m thrilled that they’re getting recognition from a big publisher. $5

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Posted by Kevin

Petre, Greg and Fake – Santos Sisters #6

July 10, 2024

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Santos Sisters #6

You know, I don’t think Greg or Fake put their names anywhere in this sucker. Every comic is somebody’s first issue of your series, always put your name in their somewhere. Don’t make me turn this website around! OK, scolding over. This is another really solid issue of the series, and one thing that stands out immediately is their wild success in finding all kinds of comics people willing to put little ads in their book. Good lord, I really could make it a full time job just following/reading/reviewing all of those people. If, you know, it paid anything at all. Stupid rent and food requirements. Anyway, there are several stories again this time around. First up is a dastardly plot to shut the power down for the entire town, but unfortunately for Captain Drake and Dr. Steel, they try this plan out on a Friday night when the Santos Sisters are just trying to settle in and watch a movie at home. This also leads directly into an ad about a retro website dedicated to keeping old characters like those two alive, which I assumed was part of the joke, but I just looked it up and it’s a legit website so??? Now I wonder where those two villains originally came from. Next up is a story with a title that’s so descriptive that I can’t even include it here, but let’s just say that a cleaning lady for a couple (who’s appreciated but more than a little taken for granted) gets bitten by a scorpion. Their actions next are the perfect villain origin story, although it turns out to be a bit more civil than that. Well, outside of what happens to our poor heroines, that is. Next we see whether or not it’s a good idea to chase after somebody who’s stealing copper from your construction site, followed by gaggles of those ads I was talking about. I recognized maybe a third of them, and there’s some solid stuff in there, so you could do a whole lot worse than actually checking up on some of those ads. Finally there’s the start to a longer story, in which we get a long and convoluted explanation of the wisdom of keeping secrets from a man with a metal jar and copious face tattoos. Where’s it going? Who knows! That’s what future issues are for. So yeah, you should keep reading this, and if you haven’t tried it yet, this seems like a solid place to start, what with the beginning of a new story and nothing connecting directly to past issues. And $5 is pretty damned cheap for comics these days.

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Posted by Kevin

Petre, Greg & Fake – Santos Sisters #5

September 19, 2023

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Santos Sisters #5

These two have come up with a pretty solid metric for how well you should know the characters by the fifth issue of a comic, although that might not have been their intention. When I saw that sticker with free LSD on it after Ambar noticed it, sure, the better story idea would be to have her lick it and see what happens. But since they’ve spent the time to establish these characters, well OF COURSE Ambar would lick that dot, and that same personality carried through the rest of the stories in this comic. Job well done, you two! So she has a wonderful adventure in that story, with a perfect final panel to wrap things up. No details, because what kind of dummy tries to describe an acid trip depicted in a comic? From there we go the conclusion of the “Dude! Where Is My Car?!” story from last issue, in which the thugs corner Todd in his car as Ambar and Dirk spend their time not worrying about Todd at all, to put it mildly. Do we get a car chase after that? You’d better believe it, including an explosion on the highway. From there we get the classifieds, which I don’t usually mention because they’re not part of the comic, but it’s a really solid collection of people making comics and/or podcasts that you should check out, along with another reminder that I should really listen to at least a few comics podcasts. Anybody have any recommendations? There are just so damned many of them. The other story in here involving the Santos Sisters also includes a spell gone wrong in a mall Cinnabun, er, Cinnaloaf. When a revenge spell is cast the energy has to go somewhere, so why not into a delicious cinnamon roll? Todd even gets to do something heroic to help make up for his rough time in the previous story. Finally there’s a brief story about Boozy Beez being a creep at a baseball game. I’d swear that these comics are getting funnier, and they were funny to begin with. They also have a 48 page Halloween special coming out right around the corner, and the cover alone tells one heck of a story. So yeah, obviously I’m still recommending these comics, and at the pace they’re putting these books out you’re going to get left behind in a hurry if you don’t hop on this ride soon. $5

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Posted by Kevin

Petre, Fake and Greg – Santos Sisters #2

February 24, 2023

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Santos Sisters #2

Huzzah, the “#1” on the first issue not being a cruel trick! #3 is also here waiting for review, and #4 is coming out in June. They’re unstoppable! If you didn’t read my review for the first issue, get to it; that’ll clue you in on the basic concept here. Now that you’re all caught up, there’s just so damned much to like about this series that I hardly know where to start. It’s all printed on newsprint, and it’s the size of “regular” comic books, which really contributes to the feel of the book. This issue also has more than a few ads, and while it would fit right in with the aesthetic to have fake funny ads throughout, that wasn’t the deal here. All of the ads are legit (unless they snuck a few in on the page full of tiny ads), and they’re all for other small press comics, publishers, shops or other things that might actually be useful to the type of person reading this. Just excellent work on the overall look of this comic. Oh, and they were also nice enough to send me a small poster of the centerfold, featuring all of the characters and a few that haven’t been introduced yet. Yep, I am easily bribed! So the comic looks great, which is nice I guess, but what about the stories? Oh no, it’s more excellent work! The first story deals with Weird A.I. Ankhovic (congrats to the people who get it) sending a couple of his minions (Spit and Shine, and I am very curious to see their origin story) out to infect as many people as possible. This will enable him to take over the town, and the people are infected by being shot by the villains and turned into what are basically purple zombies. No munching on brains in this one, just steadily increasing infections. An excellent touch is that Spit and Shine used to date but have since broken up, so they’re both being very mature in their interactions with each other. Their dynamic gradually falling apart was one of the highlights of the book, as was the use of poor Todd by our heroes. The other story deals with a baby dragon suddenly appearing in front of an old lady, which eventually terrorizes an anthropomorphic duck (think Howard, basically) and his pal. Our heroes have to fly to the rescue while being very drunk, which is the type of thing that should happen in more comics. I’m completely sold on this series (this is one of those reviews where I’m barely scratching the surface on all the small details that make it great) and might even review the next issue next week, even though they’re designed to be stand-alone issues. We’ll see! $4.20, but it seems to be selling out fast, so don’t dawdle!

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Posted by Kevin