Comics Guide for August 5, 2026, Part 2

CHACHU #1 (OF 5)

(W) Iman Vellani (A) Marianna Ignazzi, Jordie Bellaire (CA) Marianna Ignazzi

SERIES PREMIERE 1979. Leila, a 19-year-old Pakistani-Canadian girl, stands on the cusp of adulthood, eager to experience the “real world” for the first time. With a head full of Hollywood dreams and a penchant for pulp novels, she ventures to California to connect with her estranged uncle — her “Chachu” — a middle-aged, semi-retired private eye who gained brief fame after marrying the starlet he was initially hired to find. But when Chachu’s wife goes missing once again, the two are forced on an impromptu road trip to track her down — with Leila navigating young adulthood and Chachu confronting his own mortality and regrets. Inspired by her own coming-of-age experiences in the entertainment industry, CHACHU is the solo writing debut of superstar IMAN VELLANI (Ms. Marvel), a reinterpretation of the classic neo-noir private investigator story brilliantly illustrated by MARIANNA IGNAZZI (EXQUISITE CORPSES) and colored by JORDIE BELLAIRE (Absolute Wonder Woman).

This is written by Iman Vellani, the star of Ms. Marvel. I'm normally a bit leery of actors dropping into the comic book space with "neat ideas" that need actual comic book pros to develop. Usually those neat ideas star a character who looks very much like the actor, and would be a perfect vehicle for the actor should the comic book be picked up for movie or TV adaptation.

But I have to say, Velanni is a great writer for an actor, and at least a very good writer in general.

Yes, the lead character (Leila) looks very much like Vellani, and is very much in line with her public persona: Cute, perky, fearless, smart and a little sassy. Both Leila and Vellani are from Pakistani-Canadian families. Both Vellanit and Ms. Marvel sprinkle Pakistani words in their conversation and reference Pakistani culture in their behavior. But even given that familiar ground, Vellani writes Leila really well, almost endearingly so. Leila's on a quest, and I like her enough to want to know how it goes.

The quest is to meet her uncle ("Chachu" in Pakistani), who disappeared from a tight-knit family about the time Leila was born, which is also when her father (her uncle's brother) died. And she does so immediately, so there's no suspense there. Instead, her mysterious uncle is married to a movie star, and is up to his neck in trouble with some sort of mob. Leila and Chacnu are both held at gunpoint by the end of the issue, so it's no small thing.

Which sounds like a lot happens, and superficially, it does. But we have a lot more questions than we have answers, which I suppose is what will drive the series. I'm not as fond of that approach as some; I like to have enough plot in the first issue to determine if I want to continue. Chachu #1 doesn't really do me that favor.

It does give me enough character development, at least vis-a-vis Leila, that I'm interested in returning.

And I have to rave about the art, which is not only pitch-perfect for the tone and plot, but is outstanding in general.

RED SONJA: SHE-DEVIL WITH A SWORD #4

A bold new series, continuing the Dynamite Debut of writer Rory (King Spawn) McConville and artist Pablo de Bonis! In this issue: Khorshemish is gripped with chaos as the royal army battles against Rising Sun’s members as they riot inside the city! Against this backdrop of violence, Red Sonja stands ready to face the dread demon — Demoroq! At the center of it all stands Aretha, preparing to face her destiny, or, perish with all those around her in fire and demon-flame! Cover artists include Stuart Sayger, Lucio Parillo, Joseph Michael Linsner, Mike Rooth and a stunning piece of Cosplay by Ashlynne Dae!

I caught up on all four issues of this new series so far, and haven't been disappointed.

Conan's heart is in the right place, but he accepts the heirarchy of the world and the injustices imbedded within it, until it affects him directly. Sonja is a bit more of proactive; she's a bit of a progressive do-gooder at her core. She's as likely to overthrow a king as work for him. And she takes innocents under her wing and extends her protection to larger groups rather routinely. On the other hand, she's keenly aware that when overthrowing an evil regime, "it can always get worse." She's sympathetic to the commonfolk, but not naive about what can come next if a revolution succeeds.

McConville gets this right. When Sonja gets embroiled in a literal revolution in Koth, she doesn't pick a side, even though she knows King Zafos is "running the country into the ground." Instead, her instinct is to help a single commoner girl, Aretha, who is being pursued by both sides for having blood tainted by the magic of an ancestor, who was a sorcerer. This blood can call up a demon, which the revolutionaries want to do and the royals want to prevent. While the girl protests (probably insincerely) that she doesn't know anything about this, and her family has been cobblers for generations, we see some suspiciously magic-y things happen around her.

We've seen some good bits in issues #1-3, including the introduction of a nasty palace guardsman with a grudge against Sonja, a prince who has turned against his royal family, and Sonja pulling a fast one on King Zafos. We've had our heartstrings tugged a couple of times, and our sympathies are naturally drawn to Aretha. (Let's hope she's not pulling a fast one, too.)

At the start of issue #4, the story is hurtling toward its climax. The revolutionaries are inside the walls of the castle, while the army has been drawn away by a trick. The king rallies his inner guard for a battle to the death. Sonja is trying to save Aretha. All three groups come together in, I guess, the palace courtyard. The issue ends with a baleful turn, as the gun on the mantelpiece finally goes off.

The art is practical and clear, if not always the height of sophistication. Sonja's eyes are occasionally depicted in a super-dramatic way, which I think is a lift from John Byrne, but I won't swear to it, and would welcome second opinions.

All in all, I'd give it about a 3 out of 4. It's not going to make a "best of," but it's entertaining, and works hard to earn your money.

THE SMART DIVISION #1

Following the success of Kill All Immortals, Masterminds, The Midnight Shadows and Break Out, hit-maker Zack Kaplan and Dark Horse Comics are continuing their partnership to offer a thrilling slate of new 2026 comic series throughout the Dark Horse 40th anniversary year. Starting with Only The Savage Are Left in June, Kaplan teams up with creator superstar artist Stefano Raffaele (Alien Vs. Captain America, Detective Comics, Star Wars), followed by The Smart Division with Eisner-winning artist John J Pearson (In Bloom, Infernals, Mindset, Department of Truth) in late summer, before finishing out the year’s lineup with Marvel superstar artist Francesco Manna (Imperial Wars Exiles, Ultraman, Carnage, Predator), for a finale to the story of Frey Asvald in Kill All Immortals III in the fall. The slate includes the work of Thiago Rocha (Sister Imperator, Kill All Immortals), and Eisner-winning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Masterminds, The Witcher: The Bear and the Butterfly) alongside Eisner-winning designer Tom Muller.

“My experience with Dark Horse over the past several years has been a testament to their commitment to creators, and I’m thrilled to partner with them to raise the bar in 2026. I’m joined by three amazing artists at the top of their game, Stefano, John and Francesco, we’re gonna focus on dynamic and dramatic stories, and we’re going all in to give readers something special.” - Zack Kaplan

The Smart Division

Kaplan and Pearson, with letterer Otsmane-Elhaou, follow up their series Mindset with a dark and modern sci-fi detective series about the first AI app that helps us commit the perfect crimes, and the two disparate FBI agents who must hunt it down and stop it.

“John Pearson and I have been planning our second series for years,” confides Kaplan. “Looking for the right story and right time. The Smart Division takes everything you loved about our first series Mindset, the playing with form, the thoughtful commentary on technology, and the tense character drama, and raises the bar, with more danger and dread. Artificial Intelligence is the hot topic of our time, but we’re exploring it like you’ve never seen - what happens when it helps us commit the perfect crimes. You’re gonna be blown away.”

"The Smart Division is a stone-cold crime thriller that takes you on an exploration of humanity and technology, which is exactly why I’m pushing my artwork into a more traditional approach and exploring the juxtaposition of the digital and the traditional,” says Pearson. “Embracing human errors and accidents as part of the creative process is integral to making art that speaks to people in a meaningful way, so with The Smart Division that clear indication of it being made by a human hand is central to showing you the division, decay and evolution in this broken world of technological abundance.”

It's not bad.

The story begins with the narrator, FBI agent Will Bailey, describing a slowly collapsing world which sounds an awful lot like the one we live in. This may be set a few years in the future ... or not. Bailey is having trouble relating to his teen or twentysomething daughter, as we see in a short scene. Bailey is actually telling the story in flashback, as he is interrogated/debriefed, the implication being that it is by his superiors, but we don't know that for a fact. He is a jaded older agent, likely Millennial, who might be an alcoholic.

Mysterious interrogator: "You were drinking often?"

Bailey: "As needed to wash down partisan gaslighting, judicial impotence and ethical perversion."

We are told most of the FBI has resigned.

In the flashback, Bailey is paired by his superior with idealistic Gen-Z computer whiz and loose cannon Stevie Larcque. (She's the one with the '80s punk hairstyle I made fun of earlier this week.) When an FBI contractor is killed, they are put on the case. It turns out the dead woman, Mae Santos, in an effort to create a crime-investigation tool, had developed an app capable of creating perfect crimes. She was a "white hat," Larcque says, and withheld it from the company she was working with, Fusion. Obviouly, somebody is after the app.

A mysterious symbol, sort of a cross between the infinity symbol and a hashtag, is painted at the scene of the crime. When the duo question the CEO of Fusion, he is killed, too. (We don't have many characters with names in this book, and now we have one less.)

I confess I'm interested in the crime investigation, because who doesn't like police procedurals? But there's a lot I'm not interested in. Like the non-linear storytelling, which is so commonplace now that it's lost its edge, and often is just an unnecessary complication. And the art is a sort of sketchy pen & Ink/watercolor affair that used to be really popular — it reminds me of Denys Cowan on The Question —but has largely disappeared. Like the non-linear storytelling, it had its moment in the sun but now feels overused and dated. Even the main characters, the mismatched cops, feel a bit cliched. Maybe it's the girl's hair, but this feels like a book that would have been a huge hit ... 40 years ago.

Still, I am curious about the central mystery. I'll give The Smart Division one more issue to hook me. If history is any judge, it probably will.

VAMPIRELLA VERSUS RED SONJA: RED CITY #1

Writer: Chuck Brown
Artist: Paulo H. Mel
Covers: Sebastían Píriz (A), Diego Yapur (B), Cosplay – Ivy / Vampirella (C), Cosplay – Ivy / Red Sonja (D) Cosplay – Ivy / Red Sonja and Vampirella
FC | All Cardstock Covers | 40 pages | Horror / Sword and sorcery | $5.99 | Teen+

Return to the universe of VAMPIRELLA VS. RED SONJA! Vampirella and Red Sonja are trapped in a melting pot of magic, vampires, and barbarians called the Red City. With the help of the heroic Dyna Might, Vampirella and Red Sonja must work together to escape the city of nightmares and return home. Written by multi-Ringo and multi-Eisner Award winning writer Chuck Brown and Illustrated by Paulo H. Mel Written by multi-Ringo and multi-Eisner Award winning writer Chuck Brown and Illustrated by Paulo H. Mel (Transformers: Song of Jupiter, We Wicked Ones).

I was less impressed with this one, probably because I didn't read Vampirella vs. Red Sonja. If I had, I might have felt less like I was coming into the middle of a movie. Who is Dyna Mite, and what can she do aside from flying? What's Faith's story? (She's a "fairy" but I don't know what fairies are in this world.) What is their relationship with V and RS?

I was also not impressed with a homonym (boarders instead of borders) and some questionable grammar. Yes, I'm a copy editor, so I'm overreacting. But maybe not by much. There's also a little more cheesecake than I like, including an upskirt shot of the fairy.

Not cool by me, so this is obviously not aimed at me. That being said, once I got my bearings, I was able to root for my regular heroines, Vampirella and Red Sonja. There were some nice twists, although none of them got enough time to breathe. That's always going to be an issue with a one-shot, but it doesn't mean I like it.

I'd give this one a 2/4 and recommend it those who are following the Red City saga. Not so much if you're a newcomer, like me.

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Comics Guide for August 5, 2026, Part 2

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