Archie Andrews never developed a gambling addiction at a gas-station casino. Betty and Veronica never throttled undersea assassins, then complained about “girl shampoo” costs. Jughead never got abducted by a former hookup for procreation purposes. Santos Sisters does all of this, plus so much more. Yet it somehow still looks and feels like a fresh-faced, 2026 version of the four-colour comic book comfort food that parents of yesterday and today couldn’t get enough of as kids.
Created by artist Greg Petre and writer Fake Petre, Santos Sisters deservedly won the 2025 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series. This second Fantagraphics collection, which gathers issues #6–10 plus the Halloween Special, shows exactly why. Set in the fictional Southern California beach town of Las Brisas, the series follows beautiful and ultra-confident sisters Ambar and Alana, whose magical amulets (powered by the mysterious Madame Sosostris) transform them into gun-toting superheroes, complete with capes, skirts, and masks.
If you missed Volume 1, don’t worry: these stories, which range in length from just two pages up to ten, absorb you instantly. You won’t be lost, you won’t be able to stop reading “just one more” … and the first collection will be waiting when you want more backstory on the rest of the cast and the delightfully unhinged rogues’ gallery.
Bigger and bolder than Riverdale
Greg’s art looks like classic Archie — cartoony, bright, and inviting — but everything in Santos Sisters is bigger. More expressive. More curvaceous. The “D” on Ambar’s boyfriend Dirk’s shirt echoes Jughead’s signature look … but Dirk is leading a militia, or doing a home reno, or training for a pancake-eating contest, while Ambar watches and declares, “That’s kinda lame, but also kinda hot. I’ll be there.” Clearly, this isn’t Riverdale.
Ambar and Alana are confident, smart, sexually active young women who love to shop, socialize, muse on the ills of the world … and throttle bad guys. There are lots of story-driven bikini shots of the sisters, but it’s never smutty or pornographic. Think of Santos Sisters as a fresh, frank, fascinating comic for the TikTok crowd: it’s simple-looking on the surface, but brilliantly layered, and skilfully crafted into easily digestible bite-size chunks
Fake’s writing displays the same kind of genre flexibility that made Archie so durable: in this collection, you’ll find Santos Sister-centric superhero adventures, slice-of-life silliness, horror, spy stories, funny animal tales, and more. But where an Archie story resolves everything with a wink and a milkshake, Santos Sisters deliciously refuses the easy out. “Gas Station Sixts” opens with Alana’s hilariously over-the-top complaint about having to “pay inside” for gas: “This is another example of how society is falling apart!” (a moment that perfectly captures the kind of overreaction I’ve known myself to have when in a rush at the pumps.) From there, the story spirals into her developing a full-blown gambling addiction at the station’s slot machines. The story features on-the-nose gambling commentary and characters, and ends with Alana, who is clearly hooked on the gas station slots, insisting she can quit anytime. There’s no lesson, no gag, and no moral to reassure us that everything’s fine.
Likewise, when Alana discovers that Jake, Ambar’s sometimes flame, has a wife and kids, she is outraged. Ambar’s reaction — “Saint Alana. It’s not my problem what he does in his personal life” — is hilarious and utterly unbothered. As is typical, this story does not end how it would in an Archie comic. And if an ending is Archie-esque, as with the punning final words of “Trojan Horsing Around”, Greg and Fake lean — hard — into the ridiculousness of it all.
Masterclasses in the swerve
This refusal of moralism runs through the collection — or rather, morality refracts strangely through Alana and Ambar’s interests, which are sometimes trivial and sometimes socially progressive. A cleaning lady transforms into a scorpion-woman … but instead of becoming a marauding supervillain the sisters must battle, she simply gains the confidence to quit a job where she’s been undervalued. A slender but densely layered three-page story about Dirk’s house renovation becomes a superhero story nestled on breezy but substantive commentary on gentrification, insurance-company usury, and copper theft. All that in just three pages! And following is an Archie-style Public Service Announcement (“Copper theft is on the rise!”) that’s both sincere and slyly ridiculous.
The Halloween Special stories are masterclasses in the swerve. “Frankendirk” reimagines Dirk as Frankenstein’s monster, following the classic beats until Ambar ends it with pepper spray and a dating mantra. A spooky haunting turns out to be just a lonely ghost needing an actual ride. And a ravenous-seeming spirit turns out to be “a flasher, not a slasher.” Pretty much every story zigs … right when genre norms and comic book tropes suggest it will zag.
And then there’s Todd, Alana’s sort-of boyfriend. He is perpetually employed in yet another lousy job, ensnared in yet another questionable scheme, or abducted by a supervillainess. Ambar calls him “a lightning rod for weird trouble,” and she’s right. When the villainess Blue Agua kidnaps him for procreation, Alana objects: “He’s not some science experiment. Besides, have you considered his feelings?” Ambar’s response—”Can we just get Todd back and get out of this conversation?”—contains delicious, unspoken multitudes.
The perfect gift
Santos Sisters stories are like candy: sweet, quick and tasty. So you reach for one more, then another … and suddenly you’ve blown through the entire volume. This thoroughly modern, fresh-feeling mashup of Archie comics uses every trick possible — all at the same time — to surprise, delight, and compel your attention. Betty and Veronica would never. Archie and Jughead couldn’t. Santos Sisters does — and makes it look effortless.
With the holiday season approaching, you may be looking for the perfect gift for the teen (or adult) in your life who loves comics – or who you wish would read a little more. Santos Sisters Vol. 2 is it. They’ll devour it cover to cover, and then they won’t be able to help themselves. They’ll keep coming back, again and again … for another quick, smart, sexy laugh.
Santos Sisters Vol. 2 is available from Fantagraphics ($24.99 US $33.99 CAD hardcover). Find it at Fantagraphics.com, Amazon, Indigo, or your local comic shop.
© Scott Sneddon, Sesaya Arts Magazine 2026
