Thank you Netgalley and Oni Press for an advance copy of this title for review!

This was possibly my favorite read of the month. It follows a full-time comic artist named Maya who is going through the motions at her job and reaching an artistic block. She rarely leaves the house except to check in on her best friend Juu and his constant romantic woes. One day a strange little creature crashes through her living room window and thus begins a journey between Maya and the little intruder, Soma, who team up together to save the world from alien invasion. The perspective shots, the colors, the animated expressions and fluid motion between the panels, every part of this comic is so well illustrated and was genuinely inspiring to read. The message itself was also a sweet one by the end. I would highly recommend it to fans of choose your own adventure stories, or general fantasy fans.

My thanks to NetGalley and Oni Press for an advance copy of this charming graphic novel about a child hating cartoon artist, who wants to work on her dream project, but has to settle for drawing mundane projects, oh and help an alien stop the destruction of the Earth.

The problem with following our dreams sometimes means that we have to do a lot of things that are kind of dull to get there. Say if one wanted to be a world-famous comic artist. One might have to do a lot of jobs to get there, to build a reputation, to make the dream come true. Deal with deadlines that never stay dead, not see friends or family, sometimes for obvious reasons. Get stuck on projects that sap enthusiasm, and make that pile of cigarette butts get bigger. Even get drafted to fight in an alien war. Soma is a graphic novel by written Fernando Llor and illustrated by Carles Dalmau, about a young artist, her life, her new alien friend, and the possible end of the world.

Maya is a comic book illustrator living the dream. Maya has a lot of deadlines that are getting close, a big pile of cigarette butts and is currently working on a project that is boring to her in many ways. The story, the characters and the way things seem to be going. Everything to Maya seems blah, blah, blah. A call from her friend Juu draws her away from her art. Juu has a date with a young woman, but she is changing the plan, moving a dinner date to a lunch date and freaking him out. Maya knows she hasn't many friends, and is losing them fast with all the work she is doing. This is pointed out by her Mom whose call Maya answers and proceeds to point out everything wrong in Maya's life. Returning home Maya tries to continue, but is startled by a crash. Something has crashed through her window. Something not of this Earth. And this creature, Soma is not alone. Soma needs help from Maya. Soma's people plan to invade and destroy Earth, and only Maya can help Soma stop it.

A big fun story, told well. A bright tale with a funny lead in Maya, who is living the dream, even if the dream is kind of dull right now. Juu will remind many of the kind of guy who can't say no, actually can't say yes either for that matter. The story moves well, with a lot of humor, a lot of touching moments, and a real nice style. Unlike many graphic novels which move at a snail's pace and just seem tired, this has a wonderful feel to it, and doesn't bog down. The art is good. Very clean, clear and bright. Everything is visible, the characters are rendered well, and the art really helps make the story interesting and fun. Also the afterwords are very informative, detailing the stories creation, where ideas came from, and how things work.

A really fun story, and one that I think a lot of comic readers would enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This comic was absolutely adorable and a joy to read! It follows Soma, a struggling and burned-out artist, on her journey to save the world from an alien invasion after one crashes through her window.

The story is neither overly complicated nor too serious, making it a perfect lighthearted read. The art style is vibrant and stunning, with each “chapter” featuring its own unique color palette that’s thoughtfully chosen and beautifully executed.

Soma was a fun and engaging protagonist. As a bit of a loner and introvert, she’s highly relatable (maybe a little too relatable for me, haha). I also loved her unapologetic dislike of kids—because, honestly… same.

The alien she teams up with was both adorable and hilarious. I appreciated the glimpse into his backstory, which added some emotional depth to the story. While I didn’t cry, I can see how this comic has the potential to tug at the heartstrings, depending on your sensitivity.

The only aspect I didn’t enjoy as much was the few chapters focusing on Soma’s best friend as he tries to survive the invasion. While his POV was cute and added some variety, I didn’t feel it was necessary to the overall story.

I enjoyed this. It was entertaining and fun. This was a very quick read. I also liked the art style a lot

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free comic book.*

Maya is a comic book artist whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of Soma, an extraterrestrial life form. I loved the aesthetics even though the story was a bit meh. Cute, thank you for letting me read this Netgalley!

3.5 stars

rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

my first graphic novel review!

The main thing that stood out to me is the art style. I love the use of colour and the Carles Dalmau (Illustrator) has such a fun way of portraying character emotion that the panels felt fluid and unique.

I'm a sucker for loveable characters and I can say that the best friend, Juu was my absolute favourite. He's a little dramatic but sweet and thoughtful! Juu overthinking his love life was so relatable 😂 I also like Maya as a character,she's not your typical up-beat go getter fmc. From the mid-life crises to the creative block to the inability to run for like 5 mins, i swear maya and I could be friends IRL.

Story-wise, the pacing was really quick which made the plot seem shallow. But I do think that for the amount of detail in the art and the underlying morals of the story, it did a pretty good job. At the same time though, I wish we got more of the story, more of the world, more time fleshing out vital moments, just ... more of the characters. Hence why it wasn't a perfect 5-star read for me.

Also despite the world being invaded by aliens, there was comedy sprinkled throughout the story and it was also one of my favourite things about the story.

It was an entertaining read and I'm excited to explore more stories in this genre! To more adventures! 💖

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for letting me read this story in advance. All opinions are my own.

p.s i think the illustrator currently works on the Cult Of The Lamb - and I LOVE the art and the overall vibes of the game!!

I absolutely enjoyed this graphic novel.
Great characters and plot, brilliant colours and design.
Would totally recommend it!

Really fun, fast-paced graphic novel. Loved the characters, loved the art style. It's a great take on the classic alien invasion story, with a focus on artists and creators -- specifically, a graphic novelist. As a result, it feels very personal to the author.

Me encantó! Lo leí en una sentada. Los colores son súper vividos y la trama explota de acción, es un libro que compraría en físico cuando salga !

Really enjoyed this comic, think it would be nicely aimed at teens/ young adults, if it didn’t have a few swears in it would have been suitable for pre-teens too. Great graphics, likeable characters and great colours. Would recommend for sci-if lovers

3.75 Stars

A fast-paced and action packed graphic novel!

This graphic novel immediately drew me in, and I read it all in one sitting. It’s about Maya, who is a struggling comic book artist who is currently uninspired and doesn’t know what to draw.

One day, as she’s working, she hears a crash in her living room. Which turns out to be this big eyeball with tentacles. Maya tries to communicate with this eyeball and helps it get into a container that is safe for it. As she’s doing so, her city is suddenly under an alien invasion.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel, I loved the art and the colors and how fast paced it was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for this E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

"Soma" is a graphic novel written by Fernando Llor and illustrated by Carles Dalmau. The story follows Maya, a graphic novel artist who feels stuck and burned out, with little time to do anything other than illustrating. When an alien crashes into her apartment, she must help them stop an alien invasion and the potential destruction of the Earth. I enjoyed the interactions between, Soma (the alien), and Maya as they face danger to get to the alien ship and stop the destruction. The story is dark at times, but Llor uses humor to lighten up the mood. A suggested purchase for graphic novel collections for adults/new adults.

A really inventive, playful story of a burnt-out illustrator and the friendly alien that crash lands in her apartment. The art is great, and I love the sense of humor. It gets pretty chaotic toward the end and easy to lose the thread, but still an enjoyable read overall.

Soma is a fun and meta graphic novel about a comic artist suffering from burnout when aliens invade. Maya and Soma, the alien who wound up in her apartment, begrudgingly team up to save the world. I had a blast reading this and enjoyed seeing the characters grow throughout the story. Thanks to Oni Press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the illustrations and the conclusion to the story. I also liked that the speech bubbles were different colors for different characters. I haven’t seen that before and it was really helpful in understanding who was speaking.

All that said, this story wasn’t really for me. It was a little hard to follow, as scenes that seemed random would interject into the story. I’m not entirely sure all of these interruptive scenes were relevant to the overall story, either. It was sometimes quite difficult to understand what was going on.

There was also an extraordinary amount of snot in this graphic novel. I don’t know if it was meant to be humorous, but it wasn’t really for me.

All told, it wasn’t a bad story, it just wasn’t really for me.

This was such an interesting read, the art was stunning, the plot was fun, and it had an original feel on a typically overdone story line.

The cover of this really drew me in! Maya and I both smoke and don’t like kids so we can hang. The plot wasn’t original it was your typical alien invasion story. I read this in one sitting while doing my hair at the salon. I received this book from the publisher Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

4.5 ☆

Soma is a story about Maya, a comic book artist, who hits a creative block. She's struggling for inspiration and is fighting against timelines, when an extraterrestrial crashlands into her living room. Soma comes with a warning that an alien invasion is coming and he needs her help to stop it.

Let's start by saying, I loved it! The art-style was just beautiful, filled with vivid colours and full of energy. There were several pages throughout that were so visually stunning that I stopped reading and just took everything in.

The protagonist (Maya) was very relateable and I loved the subtle humour her character brought throughout. The pacing was good; it was fast-paced and tense in parts, but the story was long enough to handle everything happening without it feeling rushed. I enjoyed the addition of the comic books Maya was working on at the beginning of the novel, although there was a little bit of jumping between stories which could be confusing, but I enjoyed the extra 'mini stories' within the main one.

I really enjoyed reading this, and I've already recommended it to my Daughter (she's 15). Although it's a familiar theme (an alien invasion), the story and the perspective felt fresh and new and different and the whole book was visually beautiful.

Review to come to my blog/other places in February 2025.

I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I loved this one for the cover and then I saw the blurb and I was totally sold!

In this one we meet Maya a girl who is a comic book artist but not having the most fun life. She is constantly working, but so not satisfied with what she has to make. She struggles a lot, but I wonder if she was ready for what comes next! Because things go from 0 to 100 when Maya meets Soma, a small alien which looks like a blob with an eye and tentacles. Soma has big news, bad news even. His planet consists of warriors and they are in the need for water... and guess what? They are coming for Earth. I thought maybe we would have a bit more time to get to know Soma, but other than a few moments the invasion is HERE. And WOW, I have to say I was 100% in! From that point on there is no boring moments, everything is high tension and it was fantastic, though also shocking, given that I had expected (based on the cover/illustrations) that this invasion would be full of action but maybe not as much death. I will warn you, people will get shot, a car with people is volleyed into a building by two aliens playing tennis, and there is much more. There are a lot of desperate moments in which you wonder if maybe the city/the world is doomed.

I loved how Maya and Soma worked hard together to fix things and to make it better again. Soma cannot do much alone (again blob with tentacles) but with the help of Maya he may just reach the mothership and may just get things right. He has some deets on his kind (who he isn't a fan of) and well, remember snails? You can also use that for these aliens. Soma wasn't too entirely happy to share that nugget and we see that he was horrified when Maya, without any care which is logical as her world is being destroyed, used that against one of his own kind. But their teamwork is strong and I loved seeing their bond grow.

We also got a backstory on how Soma has arrived on Earth and how he was able to find help. This backstory broke my heart in two ways, that is all I will say.

Next to Maya we also follow her friend Juu/Juju whose design I wasn't entirely a fan off (the eyes). He is stuck in the midst of the invasion as well and makes quick friends (and maybe more) with a girl and her sibling. I loved following them and seeing what they experience. Because with Maya/Soma you follow them on their mission to save the world, whereas with Juju you see him try to survive and get to safety.

I am delighted that we got to have an epilogue and see how the city/world is doing now. That last page though was ominous.

The art was just FANTASTIC. Seriously, I love the style. It was so colourful, so cool, so energetic.

I would highly recommend this kick-ass graphic novel to all.

What if a burnt out comic artist was put in charge of saving humanity from an alien apocalypse? This book enchanted me immediately upon opening it. The manga-inspired art style, the vibrant colors and backgrounds, the charming characters- everything about Soma has made it a new favorite for me. I’m typically not much of a sci-fi reader, but I was HOOKED by the story and the incredibly relatable protagonist, not to mention all of the silly folks we meet throughout the journey! I loved every part of this book and genuinely cannot wait to recommend it to everyone who will listen.