By The Hernandez Brothers (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-168-8
Like clockwork the second volume collecting the latest creations of Los Bros Hernandez appeared and proved well worth the wait, once more leading with the cleanly classical visual sophistication of Jaime’s ‘Ti-Girls Adventures Number 34.
This enchanting super-heroine homage bookends the volume beginning with ‘Part Three: Daughters of Doom’ and concluding with the delightful ‘Part Four: Mothers of Mercy’ which finds time and space for poignancy and (rather surreal) family relationships amidst a joyous, vicarious avalanche of costumed mayhem of the type we loved as kids in the 1960s. Not since Scott McCloud’s delicious tribute ‘Destroy!’ has the poetry of gauntleted fisticuffs been so memorably celebrated…
The central portion features Gilberto who contributed two longer pieces this time: the challenging ‘Sad Girl’ wherein young and pneumatic Killer takes an unorthodox and oblique revenge reminiscent of the heady days of Palomar whilst the boldly experimental graphic mime ‘Hypnotwist’ follows a lost and vulnerable young woman on an astonishingly bizarre voyage of discovery…
As with Love and Rockets: New Stories No. 1 these tales form part of an unfolding work-in-progress, and I’m praying that just as with the original series thirty years ago, some unseen connections will reveal themselves to my hungry eyes in the months to come. And even if they don’t, these are still some of the best drawn and intriguing comics tales of the last few years.
A mature fan’s secret delight, don’t miss these books…
© 2009 Gilberto, Jaime and Mario Hernandez. This edition © 2009 Fantagraphics Books.  All Rights Reserved.