Super Indian, Vol. 1

by Arigon Starr

From Native American award-winning musician, writer and actress Arigon Starr comes the first comic based on the popular radio series "Super Indian." Hubert Logan was an ordinary Reservation boy until he ate tainted commodity cheese infused with "Rezium," a secret government food enrichment additive. Known as "Super Indian," Hubert fights evil forces who would overtake the Reservation's resources and population. Assisted by his trusty sidekicks Mega Bear and Diogi, they fight crime the way they know how -- with strength, smarts and humor.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Native American, Fantasy, Indigenous, Fiction, Young Adult, Humor

64 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 9, 2012

Reviews

[Skye Kilaen · Rating 4 out of 5]

#ownvoices comics about Native folks? Yes please. Arigon Starr is an actor, musician, playwright, and a member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. She initially created Super Indian as a radio drama performed with a live audience. She then turned it into a comic book, writing and drawing it herself, because she is unstoppably multi-talented. It's incredibly funny. Starr isn't afraid to play with superhero conventions, reference pop culture, and comment on racism, oppression, and cultural appropriation in a way that makes you laugh, even while you're shaking your head because it's so sadly true.

Here's the setup: Hubert Logan gained superpowers as a child due to a government research project that laced commodity cheese with "Rezium." He keeps his alter ego, Super Indian, a secret while working as a janitor in the reservation bingo hall. His two personas have very different lives. We first meet Super Indian as he's battling an evil anthropologist! We first meet Hubert as he's being turned down for a date. :( Things just get more ridiculous and funny from there. A librarian suggests that Hubert start a blog , but unfortunately Hubert doesn't blog responsibly in his third persona as "Rez Boy." His blog stirs up all kinds of trouble, some of it involving a Brazilian rodeo cowboy, and there's also a headlock incident due to an unfortunate comment about Revenge of the Sith. I know that as a non-Native, I didn't even get all of the jokes, and I still laughed until I almost cried.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A campy, corny, and mildly humorous send-up of old superhero comics with Native American Hubert Logan being the Clark Kent/Peter Parker milquetoast alter ego of the title character. It's also an Archie Comics mash-up, with more time spent on the crushes of the young people of the Leaning Oaks Reservation than on actual superheroics.

I have the second volume on hand, but I'm a little worried if it can build on the momentum or will succumb to a sophomore slump.

FOR REFERENCE:
A collection of material originally published digitally at www.superindiancomics.com as issues #2-4.

Contents:
Super Indian #2: Who Will Stop . . . the Anthro? -- Super Indian #3: Hubert's Blog -- Real Super Indians: Maria Tallchief -- Super Indian #4: Technoskin -- Real Super Indians: Jim Thorpe -- A Guide to Rez Speak -- Super Indian History

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew of Arigon Starr as a musician/singer, but hadn't realized that she is also a writer and illustrator. And more, and excellent at all of those things. This comic book is a takeoff on Superman with a nerdy-ish Native guy and his superpowered alter-ego Super Indian. There's a gallery of all the characters at the beginning of the book, and that helped me follow the stories. The good characters are likable, the bad ones are nicely evil (and include several white cultural appropriators), and everything is tongue-in-cheek hilarious. Loved it!

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what to think of this. I love the concept, and I want to support the creator, and I know I'm not the target audience here because there are so many things specific to reservation culture. But viewed strictly as a comic book, this is poorly executed. The art is inconsistent, with bad anatomy and way too much text per panel. The story is confusing even with a lot of introductory material. It improves between issues 1 & 2, with the addition of an editor, but then becomes far longer and less interesting. This all has the feel of beginner work that should have been workshopped and polished for a long time before seeing print.

[Cole Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super Indian is a web comic that had its first two issues compiled in this volume. It does tend to use simplistic story lines that wrap up "perfectly" after each episode. Also, I found at least one editing error in the text. That said, the story lines and artwork of Super Indian are amazing and it uses superhero tropes to undermine appropriations of Native American culture. For example, the self-proclaimed "bad guys" in the comic book include an actor with a "dubious indigenous pedigree" and an anthropologist who steals sacred items from the Nation.

[Jewlsbookblog · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story lines aren’t the strongest, but they did give me a good chuckle!

[Mercedes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and campy series. My favorite part is that there are sections of real life Native American heroes.

[Andrew Dittmar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super Indian by Arigon Starr


Reading history:
Normally I keep this in my private notes section, but I'm moving it. Yay!

Reading history was not added on Goodreads, but was instead kept on a piece of paper kept with the physical book.


Started February 18th, 2026.
Finished February 18th, 2026.


February 18th, 2026: read entire book in physical copy.

[Miz Lizzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the Heard Museum's excellent Super Heroes: Art! Action! Adventure! exhibition, I discovered an array of fascinating Native American comic books and artists. Super Indian is the one that caught my interest first. Written and illustrated by a woman, Super Indian follows the Superman model of an unassuming bespectacled young reservation bingo hall janitor who becomes Super Indian when he puts on tights and a cape. Thanks to tainted commodity cheese he ate as a child, Super Indian has super powers that he uses to protect his community and those he loves. Of course, it was his sidekick Diogi, a super intelligent dog (who also ate that tainted cheese), the only library-card carrying canine on the reservation, who won my heart. A wonderful series that addresses Indian issues while providing a fun positive role model. I have never been much of a comics reader (other than the "funny pages" in the newspaper and Peanuts while growing up) but books like this one are gradually giving me a true appreciation for the genre.

[Sean DeLauder · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is just... silly, so I imagine it's more about the deliberate caricatures, the absurdity, the stereotype of hero/alter-ego, the sidekick, etc. than the story. It's a fascinating job of pasting reservation dynamics onto the big-city superhero stereotype.

This series is so absurdly tongue-in-cheek, it's difficult at first to determine if some of the writing is bad or deliberately absurd. No, bad is too strong a term. Ridiculous is better. It's a ridiculous story. Keep in mind that I very much appreciate the ridiculous. You rarely see them in written form, but they seem to be gaining a lot of traction in entertainment. I get the feeling that there are a bevy of inside jokes that I didn't parse on my own (I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't figure the dog's name Dee-Oh-Gee (D.O.G.) was a verbal joke).

For a far, far better review, see Skye Kilaen's review.

[Laurla2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

-3 stars. a somewhat childish version of superman, except he's a superpowered indian. and his alter ego is a nerdy glasses wearing indian.

i mistakenly thought it was a female superhero and was disappointed it was male.

the artwork was good. but its definitely written for teens, not adults.

the first story is only 3 pages, where super indian takes away the crystal the bad guy is using for power.

the second story is the childish one. the alter ego, Hubert creates a blog and says negative things about others on the rez, and finds out he's hurting people. in the last few pages super indian saves people from an overzealous janitor who sets off fireworks inside a building.

the third story has the bad guy building a robot to destroy the rez. its powered by gems, and super indian manages to learn to fly and uses his super strength to crush the giant robot into a paperweight.

[Araceli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Text to Text - This text reminded of classic super hero graphic novels. The creator tried very hard to give it a classic feel while being educational and with the twist of social commentary.
Text to self- The issues in the comic were very interesting but not unknown to me. At my old university old school I was heavily involved in the SCINS (Student Council of Intertribal nations) which focused on native Americans and native American issues.
Text to World - The issues Native American and reservations face are ones that is are but going to be settled by just residents and bringing awareness to these issues to children is very important.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The graphic novels (if you will; that's what the Library calls them) in this series, if you can find them, are pure fun. The author, Arigon Starr, is a recording artist musician as well, and a member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Oklahoma. The "Super Indian" series is hilarious, a plain romp. She has a wicked sense of humor. Maybe it helps to have been raised in Indian country, but she had me laughing till I was in tears half the time. A lot of inside jokes though.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goofy, hilarious view of Rez life with a Native superhero. Having grown up on a reservation and eaten commodity cheese, I can relate (I am not a tribal member). We needed more books by Indigenous authors when I was growing up, and I hope more kids today have access to this. I especially love the non-fiction one page biographies of Real Super Indians throughout the book: Maria Tallchief and Jim Thorpe.

[Velia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny. Unique story concept...Indian superhero. Illustrations are beautiful. I love how bios of real super Indians are included; I get a chance to learn something.

I'd never heard of this before...the comic or radio show. I just happened to stumble upon it while searching for new comics to read.

I hope more issues are released for Kindle because I'm definitely a fan now.

[Kaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

While parts of this graphic novel are great and other parts... a nod to the ridiculousness of Twilight and its impact on native culture and perception that really became more than a nod and a full on seizure. The art is good, the story line is weak, and all the pop culture references take it over and make it less than its potential.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully cheesy. (Literally. It was cheese tainted with "Rezium" that gave Super Indian his powers.) I need to buy Volume 2.

These don't seem to be available to order through Barnes & Noble, which is a shame.

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just couldn't get into it.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5; really enjoyed the pages with historical info.

[Timothy11805 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was a bit racist but that doesn’t matter it has a few memorable moments and its a great read and so i give it a 10/10

[Mr Osowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I laughed several times. I fully realize I'm not the target audience, but this is a little unfocused for a comic. Art is kind of inconsistent. But overall, a good effort. Glad I bought it.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and funny superhero adventures on the Rez! The art is pretty amateurish, but this was still an enjoyable read.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, loved the community and characters the author created. Plot could have flowed better. The interspersed biographies are fantastic! Recommended for ages 11+.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite comic I've ever read, but honestly, I'm a white person. It's not written specifically for me. I'd be interested to see if the webcomic continued beyond this.

[Reeve Klatt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the concept! The plot and characters were confusing and overwhelming and it often felt like I'd been dropped in a new world without explanation. Too hard to read, sadly.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arigon Starr wrote a decent comic. Two villains cause trouble around the Rez for Super Indian to take care of. It’s not the most exciting plot but the characters make it worth a read.