Mini Reviews: Monster High: Pride 2025, Metamorpho: The Element Man #6, Absolute Martian Manhunter #3, Detective Kaiju #1, Mommy Blog
Sometimes, the staff at Graphic Policy read more comics than we’re able to get reviewed. When that happens you’ll see a weekly feature compiling reviews of the comics, or graphic novels, we just didn’t get a chance to write a full one for.
These are Graphic Policy’s Mini Reviews and Recommendations.
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Monster High: Pride 2025 (IDW) – Monster High kicks off Pride Month a week early with a couple cute, yet spooky stories. First up is a “fiends” to lovers called “Math Camp” by Jacque Aye, Siobhan Keenan, and Bex Glendining, which was also relatable to me as someone with lifelong math anxiety. I love the chemistry that Aye and Keenan craft between Clawdeen Wolf and Toralei, and how Clawdeen uses her knowledge of fashion to get through math equations. The plotting, puns, and bright colors are like an old school Saturday morning cartoon, but fierce and more queer-inclusive. The second story by Megan Brown, Bowen McCurdy, and Katherine Shuda deals with the ramifications of an emotional vampire using the “L” word. (Love, not lesbian.) McCurdy orchestrates a dangerous situation set up in a haunted fairgrounds to bring them together and even throws in some chibi style art to make the action/chase sequences even more adorable. I feel like being queer and being into monsters goes hand in hand, and Monster High: Pride 2025 pulls this off in a really fun way. I’ve always thought their characters have had the best aesthetics, and it’s nice to learn about their actual personalities in this comic. Overall: 8.0 Verdict: Buy
Metamorpho: The Element Man #6 (DC) – One of the most underrated DC books of the past few years concludes in freakish fashion as Al Ewing, Steve Lieber, and Lee Loughridge put Metamorpho through his final paces in a fight against Solaris, the Tyrant Sun. There’s still a Silver Age energy to Ewing’s dialogue and captions (So much alliteration!), a touch of early Bronze Age in some of the deep cut references and winking nods at the book’s cancellation, and Lieber even turns in some Golden Age art in a unique two page seqeuence. But Metamorpho #6 also feels like the eccentric cousin of Grant Morrison’s DC One Million and All-Star Superman, especially in the climax of the battle between Metamorpho and Solaris. The final issue ends up being a love letter to the different eras of superhero comics and reminding us that they’re at their finest when they’re at their weirdest. Of course, there’s plenty of heart and heroic sacrifice too with Sapphire Stagg and Metamorpho rekindling their romance. I would love a lot more adventures with this style of writing and art, but six near perfect issues is a damn good run. Overall: 9.6 Verdict: Buy
Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 (DC) – Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez‘s Absolute Martian Manhunter continues to be one of the most immersive and impactful comic of 2025. This is a book that can be read on a variety of levels: Rodriguez’s trippy imagery and more traditional art, Camp’s narrative captions for John Jones, and Martian vision, which letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou conveys in (At times literal) cloudy script. The plot of the issue deals with Jones investigating a series of homicide/arsons done against unhoused folks as the White Martian threat ramps up, and it turns into a beautiful, occasionally violent meditation on home, shelter, and being. Javier Rodriguez’s art makes the familiar alien in scenes like Jones interacting with his two distant kids. Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 is walking in someone else’s shoes, but with extra visual flair. Overall: 9.6 Verdict: Buy
Detective Kaiju #1 (Massive) – Despite its super cool title, Michael Calero and Kit Wallis‘ Detective Kaiju #1 is a fragmented first chapter. (Disclaimer: I haven’t read Quested, the series’ parent book.) The main thing that took me out of the book was figuring what the protagonist’s size was at any given time ; sometimes, he has the physical proportions of, say, Hellboy and sometimes he’s Godzilla-size. It left me wondering if the sequences Detective Kaiju is a private eye are dream sequences, and the ones where he’s facing the military and tanks are reality and vice versa. Even this quibble aside, overall, Detective Kaiju #1 feels like a collection of loose incidents instead of a coherent chapter in a narrative although I appreciate Calero’s lettering and some of Wallis’ design choices. Overall: 5.8 Verdict: Pass
Mommy Blog (Image/Ninth Circle) – Mommy Blog is an incredibly frightening, yet darkly hilarious one-shot from Marguerite Bennett, Eleonora Carlini, and Hoyt Silva that holds up a mirror to mom/influencer culture and laughs at it with a bloodstained mouth and visually cartoonish glee. Bennett’s script is wordy, but absolutely dripping in wit quickly introducing the main character, her world, and off-base opinions. Capitalism and white supremacy are Bennett and Carlini’s main targets, but they make the medicine go down with blood, gore, and suburban drama. This is a horror story for our always on/always live streaming culture where public and private life blurs together unrecognizably and relationships are just stepping stones. Overall: 9.4 Verdict: Buy
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