cover image Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 2

Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 2

Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, . . Fantagraphics, $14.99 (100pp) ISBN 978-1-60699-168-8

These latest tales from the art comics trailblazers are sure to draw readers in with their melancholic tone and the adventurous comic art that has enthralled readers for decades. The volume is bookended with Jaime's Ti-Girls stories. In the first, titled “Daughters of Doom,” we see Jaime's superheroes going wild, both narratively and visually. The caped and powerful Ti-Girls fight, fly and reflect on the changes taking place in their universe. Gilbert's stories stand at the center of the volume. “Sad Girl” is the story of a busty teenager nicknamed Killer. The story follows her as she tries to get back at her ex for dumping her by acting in a movie that everyone is wrongly convinced is porn. This is classic character-driven storytelling from Gilbert and will be welcomed by all the Luba fans out there. His second story, “Hypnotwist,” is the cherry on top of this volume, with its wordless narrative of a beautiful young woman who travels the streets of a dark city, seeing strange, lovely and horrifying sights along the way. The narrative's dreamlike quality and its rich and mesmerizing imagery make it a surreal tour de force. (Oct.)