Vixen NYC Volume One

Vixen NYC #1

by Jasmine Walls, Manou Azumi (Illustrator)

Turns out that the 'magical powers' are actually a thing, and Mari is next up to wield them. Freshman year is gonna be a doozy.

Before starting college, Mari Jiwe's relatives gift her an ancestral totem, once fabled to give its wearer the powers of the animal kingdom. Mari just chalks its 'magical powers' up to superstition.

After arriving in New York City, though, she definitely notices something strange about her new home. Especially the animals. While Mari battles staying awake in class and feral subway rats, dark plans emerge from the corners of the vast metropolis. Girls who look just like her start going missing and Mari can't shake the feeling that she's next.

As for the totem? Turns out that the 'magical powers' are actually a thing, and Mari is next up to wield them. Freshman year is gonna be a doozy.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult, Webcomic

208 pages, Paperback

Published August 8, 2023

About the author

Jasmine Walls is an award-winning writer, editor, and artist. She's worked on several graphic novels along with writing Vixen: NYC, and can otherwise be found drinking hot chocolate or befriending all the neighborhood dogs.

Reviews

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is my first dip into the collected editions of the Webtoon DC Comics stories, and it was a great introduction. I'm certainly not the prime target for this series, nor should I be. But I really enjoyed it and it's great seeing my beloved DC characters get adapted in different, exciting ways. This would make an excellent introduction to not only Vixen, but DC Comics overall, as the supporting cast are peppered with awesome other DC characters as well. I love how the series lives and breathes in the DC Universe, but without any of the cameos or appearances feeling forced. It was really great, and this is the kind of story I would hand my non-comic reading friends as an excellent example of what the medium can be. The storytelling was very well done, and easy to read. It's my first look at these Webtoon comics, but it definitely won't be my last.

Special thanks to DC Entertainment and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Mohan Vemulapalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Vixen NYC Volume One" is a strong addition to DC's growing collection of YA focused graphic novels. Many of these books have focused on young woman meeting challenges and defining their way in the world. In this case the featured character Mari Jiwe is a Ghanaian -American college student who has recently been bequeathed a family heirloom with magical powers.

The subsequent origin story told by this book is a fast paced tale that should be appropriate for YA audiences and some older elementary students. However, the book does not pull many punches and it touches on complex and unsettling topics that many books aimed at this audience simply ignore.
Most importantly, this book is a lot of fun as it portrays Mari's initial steps on the hero's journey as she navigates the challenges of her freshman year at college and unknowingly engages in her first superhero adventure.

Four and a half stars rounded to four.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, DC Entertainment, which provided me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this volume we get to see the origin story of Mari/Vixen who wears a necklace that gives her animal powers. This necklace is a family heirloom that was given to her when she visited her grandmother in Ghana. She doesn't realize that the necklace contains magic powers until her life is in jeopardy while getting mugged and she uses the necklace without thinking about it. A few other things happen, no spoilers here, and Mari is forced to use her powers to save people.

Like other reviewers have said, the Batman random pop-up was weird. It just seemed like he was shoehorned in because this is a DC book so therefore he should show up at some point. Other than that, I liked the story and the art style. I read a lot of manga so maybe that's why the art style didn't bother me. I like it when characters have actual expressions on their face instead of just being stoic all the time *cough cough* Batman. If you are a fan of Black Panther or Beast Boy then I would recommend this series to you.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great comic! I loved the art style and the character designs. Everything was so pretty and the story was very enticing. I also loved that it was free on Webtoon! 😁

[Larakaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fun

[Ria Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lot of fun, and really captured some of the charm (and...less charming bits) of moving to NYC for college. I enjoyed the ride for sure!

[Ronald Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased this book because I have been itching for more stories focusing on Vixen and we haven't had a mainline story focusing on her since the Anthology series Truth & Justice in 2021 and before that her own limited run series in 2008-2009, I say that to say I have been starved of content that places her as the central focus and this story did not disappoint me in the least bit. This is my third purchase from the Webtoons line (first being Wayne family adventures and Zatanna & The Ripper).

This story follows Vixen's journey into her own exploring NYC, hence the title, and also her family heirloom that gives her powers. She finds herself at the forefront of a string of kidnappings that are happening to black girls in her city and must not only find them but figure everything she has going on out.

The story was absolutely cute and darling, the art was gorgeous and very pretty. I enjoyed this blending of comics with heavy manga influences and the just cuteness that happens in that space. I read book one in such a short time because I just couldn't put it down even though I had other things I had to do. I can't stop calling it cute and darling because it truly is cute and darling just a good time and I am happy that it was all about Vixen even with the really fun guest stars such as Beast Boy, Black Lightning and Thunder and Grace, we even got Grace and Thunder so fun. Vixen presents as your typical slice of life easy go lucky lead character with things sort of thrusted upon her and finding herself trying to adjust to the normalized things of living in NYC. I think they do a great job of teasing things to come in the next volume, which I plan on getting asap, and again presenting such a cute and fun story.

Please, if you enjoy cute stories and characters and want more of Vixen, pick up Vixen NYC as soon as you are able to.

Thanks

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an introductory to the DC Comics character Vixen, who obtains animalistic powers from a family totem.

As someone with moderate superhero knowledge, I’ve always been interested in Vixen. This is a very light introduction and as Vixen is just coming into her powers, you don’t learn a lot about them right off. It reads like a pilot of a show, just enough to pique your interest and introduce characters, but I’ll really need to continue the series to get into the story.

Along with Vixen, you are introduced to Grace and her girlfriend, Anissa. There was enough of Grace that I had to look her up on the internet to learn more about her without being too confused. This likely isn’t a problem for avid DC fans who likely know who she is, and it was more for my own curiosity than for necessity of the story that I looked her up. But she is an awesome and diverse character!

I enjoyed the illustrations, especially the change in styles when the girls were “fangirling” somewhat at the end. I would continue to read this comic series!

Thank you NetGalley and DC Entertainment for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Shazza Maddog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vixen: NYC - I spotted the title and being a fan of foxes, I snagged the book off the library shelf. The cover reminded me of a storyline I remember reading in the past (like the 80s? 90s?) but definitely different so the book came home with me.

Mari is a young woman with family in Ghana. She was visiting them before embarking on her next big adventure - college in NYC. Grandmother gives Mari a necklace that's been a family heirloom - a chunky thing with a fox head (or pointy-canid-head) as a centerpiece. Mari thinks it's cool and wears it pretty much ever after (which, I can imagine if I gave my great nieces something like that, it would wind up in a drawer somewhere. If the necklace was lucky).

Mari gets to NYC and is assigned a roomie named Karen and runs into a green-skinned boy who's interested in her immediately (is he a relation to Beast Boy, I wonder? Is he Beast Boy?) and asks her if she's an animal fan. Mari and Karen get to be friends. And then girls start going missing from around the college.

Mari gets attacked in an alleyway and thinks, "If I was a rat, I'd be able to do something" and doesn't know why but the two guys - well, one's unconscious and Batman takes care of the other (Oooo, Batman! Watch Mari fangirl and that's just adorable) and tells Mari that "You probably didn't need me the way you were going" and Mari's like, "Aw shucks, wait, what?" but Batman is already on his way, warning her not to stick around for the cops unless she likes answering questions.

And there are other weird things happening because the city animals seem to be fascinated with Mari (not just Green Skin Guy, who keeps popping up here and there). The rats, the pigeons, the squirrels - all of them are hyper focused on Mari.

Mari decides, as Karen's in chemistry, she wants to know what her necklace is made of (as one does, I guess) and Karen takes it to run some tests. Well, there's a kid who's very very very interested in the necklace, so much so that Karen tells him if he takes her to lunch, she'll tell him the test results but he cannot have the necklace. Karen tells Mari the address of the restaurant and Mari decides to come looking into the guy - and the restaurant address is an abandoned building and Mari sees Karen being loaded into the back of a truck.

Enter Grace Choi, who helps Mari escape the guys kidnapping Karen - but they get away except for one boy, the one whom Karen was to meet for lunch. Grace scares him (it doesn't take much) into giving up the info - the kid is trying to protect his homeland from someone (I'm thinking Kraven? Is he DC or is he Marvel? It's been way too many years really) so he's willing to give up all the intel.

Grace and Mari take off - Mari realizing with Grace's help that, hey, this necklace grants animal abilities! and while Grace would rather handle this alone, Mari's bumbling along behind her anyway.

The pair of them - along with Grace's girlfriend, Anissa Pierce, daughter of Black Lightning - manage to get all the girls out and take down the little ring of bad guys. And Mari (and Anissa) talk/force Grace into teaching Mari how to use her powers.

The End. Of this book at least. And it's fun enough to make me want more. And ooo, there is more. So I'll be looking for more at the library.

Also, how did I not know about the Wayne Family Adventures? Oh, wait, I did - but I didn't realize it was a real thing and now I need to look it up as well.

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a slightly interesting start to a superhero origin story, but for some reason, it just didn't grab me. Mari Jiwe falls into that "naive and adorkable small-town girl in the big city for the first time" trope and it's so incredibly tired. The back story of the totem she has been given the task of protecting is honestly far more interesting than her herself. This first volume moves incredibly fast and gives you no space to breathe. You don't really get to see Mari do normal college student things, except when she's accidentally making a fool of herself. The end of the volume starts to get a little interesting but that's only when Mari teams up with other characters, who are honestly all far more interesting than her. The art style is fine, but it is nothing like the cover art. The cover art was part of what got me interested in reading this, so I was sorely disappointed to see that the styles didn't match.

I really hate just HOW MUCH Mari feels like a bland stereotype. The "adorkable" character trope is so annoying because it's so overdone that it's boring. Mari has a magical pendant that allows her to take on the abilities of any animal, yet Mari herself as a character is so boring. Maybe it's because we know next to nothing about Mari as a person, but as the story presents her, she's as bland as uncooked rice. The villain is also very stereotypical. Also, the mystery villain we see at the end, like...that's a Black Panther story beat straight out of the Marvel movie. There are so many design elements of this that feel vaguely like a Black Panther rip-off as well. The totem Mari wears looks remarkably like the Black Panther necklace, just with a lion face pendant smacked in the middle. The villain literally looks like a discount Killmonger. I don't know if it's just the hair, but the second I saw him, my brain just went "That's an uglier Killmonger". Also, this may sound rude, but there are several things I disliked about the art style. The way expressions are drawn is way too goofy at times and it's so obvious the artist is used to drawing in an old-school manga style. Is this series a comedy or is it serious? Pick one. I also found myself hating how ears are drawn. For some reason, the ears of every character are drawn sticking straight out of their heads like airplane wings. That's not how ears look, at least for the vast majority of people. The only thing I liked about the art style was the character designs for the women characters. It was pretty diverse and no one was suffering from same face syndrome. The only one whose design I didn't care for was Choi but that's mostly cause she felt like a weird mash of design stereotypes from the 1980s.

Also...WHY WAS BATMAN THERE RANDOMLY??? Even the main character points out that he shouldn't be in NYC! Isn't Gotham down in NJ? Like I thought Gotham was basically like Newark or Jersey City. Also, why did Batman look like...that? I don't even care about Batman, and I was like "He looks really weird".

[Krishana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis: Vixen NYC follows the story of Mari Jiwe, a Black teen who was gifted a magical necklace from her grandmother before she heads off to New York for her undergraduate studies. Mari believes all the stories about the necklace are just family folklore until girls begin going missing from her college - including her roommate. Mari stumbles into animal shifting powers working alongside a street fighter to save her roommate and the other missing women.

Review: First and foremost I love that this was a Black character and not a character who happens to be Black. I didn’t know anything about the character Vixen ahead of reading this comic, but I was familiar with the writer Jasmine Walls - I read another of her comics earlier this year. Manou Azumi and Omar Antonio Vallejos did a great job on the art. I loved the frame within frame scattered look of the layout and the art. The storyline was fast paced and compelling. It’s definitely a one sitting comic. I’m looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks to Netgalley and DC Entertainment for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was originally on Webtoon and it sometimes shows in the paneling. Webtoon comics are out of continuity. In this Vixen comes to NYC to attend college. She has just inherited the totem from her grandmother and has no idea that it actually has powers. In fact, she barely uses any powers in this so that cover is a misnomer.

As Mari settles into college, someone is kidnapping girls in New York. It somehow has to do with her totem. Thankfully for Mari, she comes across some other women of the DC universe that help her out (and are probably the true heroes of this book.) It is left open-ended as there are plenty more Webtoon stories out there. The art is fine. It's very manga influenced.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume closes out the origin story part, and starts to move on to Mari as a new hero. Vixen's origin isn't nearly as overplayed as somebody like Batman. I'm actually not sure if I've ever read more than a brief recap, instead of Vixen just appearing as a fully formed hero. She's likable enough, but she doesn't really stand out from a ton of other plucky young heroines. It was also kind of weird that she meets Beast Boy almost right away but doesn't actually team up with him until about halfway through this volume. Things that I liked, but overall I'm not sure I'll remember much about this volume.

[DollarBin ComicWin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vixen NYC is a fresh, stylish reinvention of Mari Jiwe McCabe for a new audience. Set against the energy of New York City, it captures her strength, vulnerability, and the weight of carrying a legacy. The art is vibrant, the pacing quick, and the story finds a balance between superhero action and personal drama. A strong introduction that makes me want more of Vixen’s world. If you’re into Ms. Marvel, Black Panther, or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you’ll vibe with Vixen NYC — stylish art, heartfelt storytelling, and a heroine carving her place in a city that never slows down.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love how DC comics has let several types of creative teams give origin stories to some of their longtime characters in a new reader friendly format. This volume introduces readers to Mari as she begins her new life as a freshman at a New York college. She also has a family heirloom that allows her to access the power of any animal and she barely has a chance to learn how to use it before shadowy figures are trying to take it from her.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice introduction to a new hero. The college student in NY works well for a setting and although the book's tone makes it feel like it's aimed at a very youthful audience, the story worked well enough to be entertaining. I like that they didn't spell out all of her powers and we are discovering them along with her. And the befuddled Beast Boy cameos were hilarious too.

**Thanks to the author, artist, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.**

[April Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast-paced story, and a good introduction to Vixen. I did have questions still at the end, but that's due to my unfamiliarity with the DC universe, not the story - I mean, yes, there were story-related questions, but I can tell a cliffhanger from empty spaces in my knowledge. Anyway, it's a fun story with a dark underbelly, good character growth, and some really lovely art. Looking forward to the next volume!

#VixenNYC #NetGalley

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute! I didn't know anything going into this one, so Mari's powers (and those of a few of the side characters) are as much of a mystery to me as they are to her. It's a nice intro, but really doesn't go much deeper into anything--characters, powers, explanations for any and all of the above, etc--than that.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars / B-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great graphic novel. Mari takes a trip to visit her relatives before she starts her freshman year of college. While on the trip, she is gifted an ancestral totem with magical powers. While initially dismissed as superstitions, she eventually accepted that her life would be different than expected. It's also a beautiful celebration of culture and ancestry.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm also caught up with the other DC Webtoon series and have loved "Vixen: NYC" too. I think the Webtoon is almost over and I loved Mari and all the other characters in this. Very happy we'll be able to have print versions of these stories.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks NetGallery for this ARC.

The story (I give the story Four stars) was good. The artwork, Four stars. The lettering Four stars. I enjoyed reading this graphic novel. Four stars across the board.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC!

I had no clue who Vixen was, so for me, this story was a great introduction to a new character! The art work was great and vibrant. I enjoyed the Easter Eggs about other supers. I'd pick up vol 2.

[Olivia Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has the problem of all the other DC/Webtoon books, in that it feels very juvenile to me. I enjoyed it a lot, but I wish the tone matched the story better. I loved Anissa so much
A small gripe I have as a native NYCer is the way NYC was drawn. It doesn't look like that!

[ketall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool story and a good introduction to Vixen to younger and/or new readers. Highly recommend also giving the ongoing webtoon a read.

[Markus Seaberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice reimagining of the Vixen character.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this take on Mari. She's such a fun character. The story is intriguing, fun and exciting can't wait for volume 2!

[Marissa Mascaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a cute story. I love DC and their WEBTOONs are really giving what the people want… badass heroes, fun characters, and dynamic relationships.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very fun read! The art is fantastic and story is really good. I love the diversity and the LGBTQIA that’s in it. Will definitely read the rest of this series!

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s cute! I like the other supers running around, and the NYC stuff is funny (if not always very accurate).

[Lissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as it came out on Webtoon.

Contains episodes 1-9