Santa

by Kayden Phoenix, Eva Cabrera (Artist)

From the back cover:

Santa, SJW Latina Superhero is the 2nd book in A LA BRAVA, a Latina Superhero universe by Kayden Phoenix

Santa lives in Wexo, a made-up bordertown in Texas. With elections coming up, the tension rises as the conservative frontrunner, Illena Chavez-Estevez, AKA ICE, wants to start a race war in the town. On the domino side, we have La Politica running. Coadre, the mentor and veteran, ends up recruiting Santa for La Politica's campaign and as the racial tensions rise in the town, Santa learns what it means to be patriotic while harnessing her Mom's military past. When civilians start getting stolen, Santa finds her voice and strength to raid the detention camps and take down ICE.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Young Adult

90 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Kayden Phoenix is a trailblazing lesbian Chicana writer and director hailing from Boyle Heights, California. With a fearless approach to storytelling, her films have made a powerful impact on the festival circuit, with her latest work earning accolades at Cinequest and Outfest, and being acquired by Gunpowder & Sky’s horror platform, Alter, which boasts over 3 million subscribers.

Kayden's journey is marked by groundbreaking achievements and recognition in the industry. She is a proud recipient of Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program, a semi-finalist in the prestigious Universal Animation Writer's Program, a Film Fatales Fellowship Finalist for Stowe Story Lab, a 2024 Stowe Narrative Lab Alumni, and a quarter-finalist for Final Draft's Big Break Screenwriting Contest.

In 2024, Kayden made history by creating the first-ever Latina superhero team in comic book history with her graphic novels, A LA BRAVA, now under the McMeel Publishing banner. Not stopping there, she launched Princess Academia, a modern-day princess series that redefines the genre, and partnered with Ghezal Omar through Artillery Network to bring action-packed stories to life. Her latest comic, Lipstick Cliqa, a gripping three-part series about a Chicana vampire gang, was snapped up by Sony Music Entertainment.

Beyond her creative projects, Kayden is deeply committed to empowering Latina voices in the film industry. She founded the Chicana Directors Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and elevating Latina directors and cinematographers, ensuring that diverse perspectives are not just included but celebrated in the industry.

"My mission is to amplify stories that reflect the complexity, vibrancy, and diversity of the real world," Kayden says. Her work is not just about breaking barriers—it's about setting new standards for what’s possible in independent cinema and graphic novels. As a visionary storyteller, Kayden Phoenix is reshaping the landscape of entertainment, one groundbreaking project at a time.

Reviews

[Tyler McPhail · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG YES! Unbelievable book! Full of emotions, awesome action, and gorgeous art! So excited for this shared universe and more from Kayden Phoenix!

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second book from Kayden Phoenix and I absolutely loved this one! It made me laugh out loud twice. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this collection. Also I love the dedications at the beginning of every comic.

[Rosalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm really disappointed. I'm being generous with two stars. The story was hard to follow. It felt like the story kept jumping from one thing to another. I wanted to give up so many times. It's a miracle I finished it.

[Erin Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute delight. The characters are unique, the setting is amazing, the message is important, and the art is beautiful. My only critique is that the pacing is a little weird; it feels like there’s supposed to be more but scenes were cut for length, without adjusting the story. Wish it was longer, I want more Santa!

[Brad Rushing · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, fresh take on a graphic novel incorporating interesting and distinct cultural elements with a complex, well developed female protagonist, along with the traditional excitement and action any superhero fan will hope for and expect.

I am a long time comics reader. I have loved books like Marvel's Fantastic Four (my entry to comics as a child), sci fi comics like "Magnus Robot Fighter," the old "Twilight Zone" and "Tales From The Crypt" style horror anthologies for many years.

One of the things I enjoy most about the comics scene in 2021 is the diversity of voices reinvigorating the market with new and interesting characters and original dynamics. "Santa" brings these qualities in spades and I am very excited that she is the vanguard for a whole new universe with more characters and books planned.

Some very clever film executive will snap up this IP quickly!

[dovesnook · Rating 5 out of 5]

VIVA LA RAZA! 💃

[Lyndsey L.]

The art in this one is really good. And I liked the characters.

A few things confused me. I think it might be because the main character has precognition and the author makes use of flashbacks (the boxes of the flashbacks are outlined in purple/pink) so I get mixed up on the timelines. I was also a little bit unclear on some of the powers and the relationships between characters, but that might have been because I was trying to keep track of the timelines. Another thing that confused me a little bit was how casually masks were accepted in this town. I know it's a fictional town but I was a little unclear if this was specific to the town or if it was common in the world.

I will be rereading and hopefully things will become clearer the second time around. I really like this author and will be getting the next book. I think that the flow of this one just gives me trouble because of layout elements due to the main character's powers.

Something I really did like was the use of the mayor and the mayoral race. It addresses something that has always bugged me a bit about superhero stories. Which is that superheroes don't/can't fix the problems that created them long term. So this story has made the political activism that can make lasting changes heroic.

[Hoarding Books Herding Cats (Anya) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to love this so much because the message behind it means a lot to me. Immigrants vs ICE? Girl power? Sign me up!

Unfortunately, the idea was much better than the execution.

I found it incredibly hard to follow the story because it included flashbacks, dreams/premonitions, and the present timeline without proper distinction between panels. The writing and dialogue is also disjointed and the story doesn’t make a lot of sense. It would’ve helped a lot if there was more text that set the background and explained what was going on.

That said, the artwork and colors are stunning, and they’re the reason I’m giving the book three stars instead of two.

Overall, a beautiful-to-look-at but frustrating-to-read graphic novel.

[Hallie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite of these comics, I think. The worldbuilding is simultaneously really obvious (the villain's name is ICE and it's about tensions along the Texas/Mexico border) and really confused (instead of just white people, the racists are "luchas" complete with luchador masks?). There's also some weird coding of things, like the villain's henchman wearing a KKK mask that literally said KKK on it, who then got hanged? As seems to be standard for these books, there's not much explanation, but there is a depressing death, an unexplained magical villain, and magic power transferred from a mother who dies?

[Severind Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, I think the artwork in this book is stunning, and I feel like the further I got into the book, the lovelier each of the images became. Unfortunately, similarly to the last book in the A La Brava books, I got a little lost at times. I would have liked for this to be longer, so that we could have gotten more detail and background on what is going on. I think that detail would have helped it be a bit less confusing. Apart from that, however, I enjoyed the story and I really liked Santa as a character. I've noticed a theme of self-advocacy in these books, and I love that. It's hard to use our voices, especially when other people are trying to stop us and erase our words. I think the message was important as well. I also loved seeing Ruca make a cameo here. For whatever reason, I really enjoy her character, despite not knowing much about her. It makes me excited to read her own story.

[Miss Ryoko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this graphic a 3 star rating based solely on the importance of the content. This graphic was published in 2021 but reads like exactly what is happening in the US right now in 2025. The artwork is beautiful but unfortunately the storytelling was really confusing. I wasn't really sure what was actually going on through most of the book, it didn't seem to have a very coherent storyline. Things were happening with little to no explanation. I really wish this could have been fleshed out just a bit more because it had a powerful message in it.

[Aimee Dansereau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this graphic novel! It was full of compelling characters, and the story was engaging. The graphics were stunning. I enjoyed seeing how Santa, the main character, evolved as the story progressed, and came into her own. The political themes explored are topical, and very important, and tie in to such important matters in our world today. It's great to read something that gives a voice to such significant issues, as well as the people most impacted.

[Carolina Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was full of emotions, action, and beautiful art concepts. I’m so glad I got to read it. 😊 This comic really gives you the feels that you just want to keep reading the story so you can find out what happens next.

The story really captures the political battles for immigrant rights and the struggles to preserve culture.

Santa is definitely one of my favorite heroine’s ever❤️ She’s so strong and beautiful that if I was in the book, we could’ve been good friends.

[Barbara O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at a free library for my niece and thought I would give it a read myself. It is the second volume and have not read the first so missing a bit of the back story - some of the character threads were a little tricky to follow - particularly with the illustrations of the characters bit namely (albeit lovely artwork). Good topical issue on immigrant and ICE and great to see this represented in YA books.

[Leonora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santa is a beautifully illustrated and timely story that’s an allegory for current events in the U.S.-Mexico border region. It’s a refreshing and inspiring coming of age story for the young hero, Santa, who mourns the loss of her powerful mother and honors her memory by fighting injustice and systemic persecution.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad crop on the pages, literally no recap or context at all at the beginning so it feels incoherent. Not numbered, so no idea this was #2. Gorgeous art.

[Shawna Baca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santa is a brave and exhilarating ride into the political corruption in a small bordertown in Texas that is seen and experienced through young Santa, who gets tangled up in a web that questions moral values and doing the right thing, which quite frankly seems very relevant to the political atmosphere we are experiencing. ‘Santa’ is author Kayden Phoenix’s sophomore graphic novel, after releasing ‘Jalisco.’ The author writes powerful stories with strong Latina female protagonists which is a refreshing voice to the genre.

[Jonathon Freeman-Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Santa is a game changer for graphic novels! Written, drawn, and inspired by women for women. Santa is the next evolution in quality. From here, every door should have already flung open for Kayden Phoenix to express herself and her art without limit. My niece loves Santa and wants more stories and heroes that speak to her. As a man, I encourage other men to embrace stories like this and share with their friends, family, and younger relatives what it means to be cool and kickass like Santa and every other crime fighter she works with... perhaps, Jalisco?

[Julia Pika · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art is nice but the writing and formatting is all over the place.