The Massiveverse has delivered some truly unique superhero tales for Image Comics in the past few years, but one of the most underrated might be Inferno Girl Red. Its story, which features high schooler Cassia Costa inheriting the powers of the titular superheroine, centered around belief. Inferno Girl Red’s powers are fueled by belief in one’s self, and giving it to a skeptic like Cassia was the kind of duality I love in my superhero fare. Three years later, Inferno Girl Red: Book Two #1 asks the question, “how do you keep believing when the world keeps tearing you down?”
Inferno Girl Red: Book Two #1 takes place roughly two weeks after the first Inferno Girl Red miniseries, with Cassia’s home of Apex City being trapped by the previous villain, the Griffin, in a seemingly unbreakable shield outside of space and time. Cassia continues to combat the shadowy Entropy monsters that threaten Apex City’s citizens, drawing on the help of her Inferno Girl Red predecessor Dr. Janine Caro (who is also the principal at her school) and her friends Hariette and Lillian. Yet she still struggles with guilt over her battle with the Griffin, which cost him his life and sent her mother out into the multiverse.
If that wasn’t wild enough, Cassia also has to deal with the return of the Griffin – who like herself, has inherited a different kind of legacy – and the fact that the shield protecting Apex City is only fueled by its people’s hope, which is in desperately short supply. Add on the fact that a mysterious figure is hellbent on breaking that shield, and her schoolwork, and it’s a full plate for any superhero.
Inferno Girl Red: Book Two #1 fully reunites its creative team of Mat Groom, Erica D’Urso, Igor Monti and Becca Carey. In the three years between IGR installments, they’ve all been busy: not only have they contributed to Immortal Legend Batman, but Groom also co-wrote the surprisingly excellent Spiderverse vs. Venomverse and Ultraman x Avengers. Elements from those series run parallel to Inferno Girl Red: Book Two #1, particularly the anime-style elements within D’Urso’s artwork and the idea of alternate earths that Groom’s been playing with in his other comics.
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What separates Inferno Girl Red: Book Two #1 from Groom’s other work (other than it being creator-owned) is how it’s given time to breathe and let Cassia sit with her feelings. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that this is a double-sized issue, but it also makes Cassia feel like much more relatable. One of my favorite scenes in the issue isn’t Inferno Girl Red fighting monsters or the introduction of two new villains (given their own Immortal Legend Batman-style introduction thanks to Carey’s excellent letter work), but when Cassia confesses the pressures she’s feeling to Hariette or Lillian being understandably overwhelmed by the fact that her friend’s a superhero.
That doesn’t mean the fights in this comic are boring. Far from it – D’Urso literally opens with Inferno Girl Red in pursuit of an Entropy monster, leading to her using her signature Dragon Blast which fills the page with blazing red energy, courtesy of Monti. It only get more intense from there, especially when it comes to the battle between IGR and the new Griffin. In one panel, things literally flash from bright red to black and white, allowing D’Urso and Monti to hammer home Cassia’s shock.
Inferno Girl Red: Book Two #1 makes a return to one of the Massiveverse’s most underrated heroes, while delivering plenty of action and emotional moments. More importantly, it hasn’t lost what made the first series such an excellent read.
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