New Comics Reviews 7/23: Green Lantern, Thundercats/Powerpuff Girls, The Voice Said Kill & TexArcanum!
New Comics Reviews for Wednesday 7/23!
Hello! Here are our new comics reviews for the week of 7/23/25! Featuring Green Lantern, Thundercats/Powerpuff Girls, The Voice Said Kill & TexArcanum!
Be sure to check back every week for New Comic Book reviews and check out the New Comics Review Show if you want to hear our full discussions!
Joe’s Reviews:
Cover by Miguel Martos
TexArcanum #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Christopher Monfette
Art by Miguel Martos
Colors by Patricio Delpeche
Letters by Michael Heisler
32 pages for $4.99
Solicit: America is a melting pot for the supernatural. Ghosts and gods, angels and demons, horror stories and tall-tales, they’ve traveled from across the globe to collide in the rural Heartland… and cowboy arcanist Avery Belle has spent a very long lifetime amongst them. Horror noir meets Elmore Leonard in the mystic Mid-West.
Review: The elevator pitch for TexArcanum is genius: the United States is a melting pot for supernatural creatures from all over the world, just as it is for humans. This is where our protagonist Avery Belle comes in. He’s basically a gun-for-hire if that gun was actually bag of holding full of so many dangerous magical artifacts that he’s forgotten some of their names and where they came from. Christopher Monfette’s script has a LOT of words, but it’s all really compelling. There’s a fantastic page turn as the Nineteenth Century prologue transitions to the Modern Day. The comparison to Elmore Leonard is an apt one, as this gritty world is full of equally gritty characters just trying to make it in a world where the otherworldly is commonplace.
The art by Miguel Martos is gritesquely nightmarish, but in a good way! His figure work on the human characters is a little on the dull side, but then his pages explode with monstrous violence and gore. The creatures on display are incredible and the battle between Avery and a unique take on a familiar monster is very cool.
The solicit for TexArcanum #1 drew me in with the Elmore Leonard bit and kept me hooked with a fully realized alternate take on the westward expansion of America as well as some great art. I’m definitely on board for this one.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Paulina Ganucheau
Thundercats/Powerpuff Girls #1
Dynamite Entertainment
Written by Paulina Ganucheau
Art by Coleman Engle
Colors by Kendall Goode
Letters by Jeff Eckleberry
32 pages for $4.99
Solicit: SWORD OF OMENS, GIVE US CUTENESS BEYOND CUTE! In the greatest crossover since peanut butter met jelly, The Powerpuff Girls travel from Townsville to Third Earth and discover the world of the ThunderCats! After being trapped in a runaway rocket by Mojo Jojo, the titanic trio find themselves on a strange planet where their super-powers don’t work. Luckily, someone named Snarf is there to provide a situation report — and wouldn’t you know it, there’s evil that needs defeating! But without their Chemical X-enhanced abilities, what can Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup do against a foe like Mumm-Ra? Find out as writer PAULINA GANUCHEAU and artist COLEMAN ENGLE open up the Treasures of Thundera in the first issue of ThunderCats/The Powerpuff Girls — featuring instantly iconic covers from GANUCHEAU and ENGLE as well as CORAN KIZER STONE, SAOWEE, and NICOLETTA BALDARI!
Review: The first thing you need to know about this issue is that it continues directly from the Free Comic Book Day special of the same name. That said, the premise is very simply handwaved away by a great opening sequence narrated after the fact by the Powerpuff Girls. The only other thing you really need to know is that the Girls don’t have their powers, but they DO have magic weapons, because…Thundercats.
My cold, dead heart was already starting to thaw when Pauline Ganucheau and Engle delivered a sequence featuring Jaga (the Thundercats ghostly mentor) just straight up dunking on Tygra for like five pages. Now I’ve always liked Tygra, but recasting him as some kind of hapless try-hard is hilarious. The rest of the issue strikes a nice balance between comedy and cuteness, as the unlikely team deals with infected Berbils, giant birds, and a two-headed creature (no relation) hiding a surprising secret.
Coleman Engle’s art is really fun, in the vein of Erica Henderson of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl fame, and he delivers a lot of very inventive – and very funny – sequences. His take on the Thundercats is done in a style similar to other adaptations of animated shows, with a comedic emphasis, rather than the square-jawed, inverted-triangle-torsoed superheroes of the DCAU. Kendall Goode’s colors pop off the page, which really helps reinforc that cartoony look.
I wasn’t sure how Dynamite was going to pull off a crossover between these two completely different properties. Turns out embracing the ridiculous was exactly the right move. Thunderbolts/Powerpuff Girls #1 is an unexpected delight and, while it helps a little, you don’t really need to be a huge fan of either show to enjoy it.
Rating: BUY IT
Matt’s Reviews:
Cover by Xermanico
Green Lantern #25
DC Comics
Written by Jeremy Adams
Art by Xermanico
Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letters by Dave Sharpe
40 pages for $4.99
Solicit: The Green Lantern Corps makes a mad dash to Gemworld, hoping to find a particular gem that will light the new Central Power Batteries! But it has to beat Starbreaker and his minions to do it, all while Ellie uncovers a secret buried inside Keli’s mind and an old friend returns to Oa! LEGACY #592.
Review: I’m not here to tell you how to enjoy a Green Lantern comic—but if you’re not looking for a sprawling space opera tied into the monthly Green Lantern Corps book (co-written by Jeremy Adams), then you’re in the wrong place. Adams is telling a massive story that builds on the foundations of the emotional color spectrum introduced in Geoff Johns’ run, and as a fan who just wants to see Green Lanterns acting as an effective force for good in the DCU, I’m loving it. Even Kyle Rayner is wearing a familiar uniform!
While the narrative is vast, Adams knows when to slow down and let the characters we know and love shine—Guy Gardner brings the humor, and Star Sapphire finally gets to do more than just make people fall in love. That said, it’s fair to criticize the book if you came strictly for a Hal Jordan story. It is his book, and yet Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (did you know she’s 14?) has just as much dialogue. Adams clearly knows this too, and I’m betting we’ll be back to the Hal Show in no time.
The art, however, is not up for debate. Xermánico delivers massive, detailed panels filled with action and a huge cast. His backgrounds make Gemworld look like something out of a Bob Ross painting, and Romulo Fajardo Jr.’s vibrant color palette brings it all to life. The spread pages—especially the scenes featuring the dragon—create a scale that perfectly matches Adams’ huge storytelling.
I couldn’t be happier to see both Hal and the Corps back in their space-cop status quo. This creative team has the Green Lantern corner of the DCU in excellent hands. Your boy Hal will be back in the spotlight soon—but for now, if you’re not enjoying this ride, you might just be riding it wrong.
Rating: BUY IT
Cover by Vanesa Del Ray
The Voice Said Kill #1
Image Comics
Written by Si Spurrier
Art by Vanesa Del Ray
Colors by John Star
Design by Emma Price
Letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
40 pages for $4.99
Solicit: Fargo meets Deliverance in a sweaty swamp-thriller from VANESA DEL REY (Black Widow, The Creeping Below) and SI SPURRIER (Coda, X-Men). The wet heat of the Louisiana bayou. Alligator poachers prowl the mudbug mire. A park ranger, heavily pregnant, raises a hateful mug of moonshine with a criminal matriarch. And one deadly sonuvabitch, out of his mind on shrooms and retribution, loads his rifle for the Human Hunt and screams down the stars. Presenting 4 extra-length issues of fever-dream cajun crime.
Review: The Voice Said Kill is a title with layered meaning—one that becomes clear by the end—and it sets the stage for a tense, compelling crime story. It follows an unlikely but capable protagonist: a pregnant park ranger thrust into a law enforcement role in a community she knows all too well. It’s a “right person in the wrong place at the right time” setup, and from the way Simon Spurrier structures this first issue, the stakes are only going to rise.
Vanesa Del Rey’s chaotic, scribbled art style lends a surreal, almost supernatural energy to the swamp setting. It evokes madness and mystery, yet somehow, colorist John Starr pulls it all together with a palette that brings clarity and emotional depth to every panel. Together, they create breathtaking visuals—moments of swirling, mushroom-induced madness seamlessly grounded by quiet scenes in RVs and humid police stations. Del Rey’s hectic art, which I admired in The Creeping Below, feels even more refined here, heightening the tension Spurrier builds with his “everything-that-can-go-wrong-will” narrative.
The Voice Said Kill is a gripping debut, hinting at a tragedy fueled by good intentions—and one that may never have happened if the park ranger hadn’t shown up for work that day. Stay for the incredible art, but don’t expect a happy ending.
Rating: BUY IT
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