Soma - Fernando Llor - ★★

AUTHOR: Fernando Llor

ILLUSTRATOR: Carles Dalmau

GENRE: Graphic Novel

PUBLICATION DATE: February 25, 2025

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A scifi action graphic novel about a comic artist fighting an alien invasion. Wacky characters and wildly adventurous storytelling. Works in bits and pieces, but doesn’t come together in a cohesive whole. This is partly because the story went in a direction I don’t prefer reading.

Plot Preview:

Maya is a comic book artist frustrated about deadlines and about not doing the kind of comics she loves. Her best friend Juu is also frustrated, but with his lacklustre love life.

One day, when Maya has just returned home after doling out dating advice to Juu, she receives an unexpected visitor: a tiny alien named Soma who has crashlanded in her living room to warn her that his people are planning an invasion against Earth However, as his spacesuit is destroyed, he needs Maya’s help to stop the attack. (He has his reasons for helping humankind.)

This graphic novel was originally published in 2023 under the same title in Spanish (Castilian). This English translation is due to be published in February 2025.

If I have to use one word to describe this entire reading experience, it would probably be “quirky.” From the characters to the plotline, there’s nothing ordinary about this story. But this isn't necessarily a good thing. The quirkiness is as much a strength as a weakness of the book.

Maya is an interesting character. It was fun to see her channelize her frustration with her work into anger against the invading aliens. Soma is a great extra-terrestrial addition to the plot. (Note that his name is revealed only after the 80% mark, which is quite strange considering the book is named after him. Even the blurb mentions his name clearly.) Juu is quite weird at first, and it is good to see him gain courage as the story progresses. However, if we strictly think about it, his arc isn’t vital to the main story at all, so he feels like a page filler at times. In addition to these three characters, there are also a few secondary characters who shine in their limited roles. That said, I couldn’t really get a clear idea of why most of the characters behaved the way they did.

The storyline of the book is good, not great. The alien invasion trope is fairly common in comics. The only differentiating factor here is the type of attack and the counterattack. I like the imaginativeness of the “weapon” that worked against the invaders. There are also some comic scenes to lighten the proceedings.

However, I am not that big a reader of action-adventure kind of storylines, so the moment this book diverged into that kind of narrative, I lost my interest. I might not have opted for this graphic novel had I known that at least a third of the book would involve action sequences. The English cover simply doesn’t indicate that this would go into an actual Hollywood-style alien attack. ☹ The Spanish cover is more accurate in that respect, but I didn’t see it before getting the book.

          Cover of Spanish edition

The plot is fairly fast-paced. It is divided into three distinct parts – before, during, and after the invasion. The Before section is quite interesting, but there’s a sudden segue into the actual invasion, during which things feel somewhat repetitive and chaotic. The invasion scenes could have benefited with some more detailing. The attack feels too rushed: nothing in one scene and total destruction in the next. The After section is decent, but again, it feels abrupt and too quiet after all the noise of the invasion pages.

The whole book reads like a children’s novel with an overly straightforward plot. But it is actually meant for adults, which leaves me slightly conflicted about how well it will work with the actual target audience.

The illustrations are decent but somewhat cluttered. There’s a lot happening on some pages, which ends up bombarding the eyes with an illustrative overload. Plus, the “invasion” pages are red-dominant, which saturates the eyes sooner. The scenes in the alien spaceships aren’t so clear in plot. The “snot dripping from the nose” expression is a bit too repetitive. That said, I love that the speech bubbles have coloured backgrounds to denote which character is speaking – a great idea.

All in all, not a bad story, but perhaps not a great option for adult graphic novel readers. The storyline is way too simplistic and rushed for adults. However, it might work better for teens and young adults. It might also click with those who enjoy action-adventure comics. Not my cuppa tea, though.

My thanks to Oni Press for providing the DRC of “Soma” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.