By: Gilbert Hernandez (writer/artist)
The Story: We witness the fall of society and see Fatima end up in a pretty bad situation.
Quick Review: The main attraction here is simply watching Gilbert Hernandez do his thing. If you’ve ever heard the name “Gilbert Hernandez” and knew you should read Love and Rockets, but were scared off by the pile of material…..this is your chance to dip a toe into the water and see what kind of creator he is. Even if this work is different thematically than L&R, it’s you can still tell the type of storyteller and artist that Gilbert is from this work.
The “story” is pretty straight-up, fall-of-society stuff. There’s a new drug called Spin that turns addicts into zombie-like creatures. Our heroine, Fatima, is basically a cop who is trying to keep law and order, but failing in the face of huge number of Spin addicts and possible corruption in the police force. There’s intrigue and inter-personal relationships and all the stuff that you’d expect in a Hernandez story.
But if you asked me, “Why did you enjoy this? Why keep buying the series? Why should I buy the series?”….it would come down to a few things:
1). Hernandez’ unique art. – I’m not sure if this qualifies as “pop art” (I’m not enough of an art critic to know all the differences), but it wholly different than what you get in 99% of major comics today. As a reader/fan, I find it amazing how something as simple as a pretty lady can be depicted so differently by an artist like Hernandez compared to a guy like Jim Lee. There’s no insane crosshatching, no fussy shading…it’s just a simple and confident line that says “pretty lady”. In a way, it’s almost like Hernandez is searching for the most simple line to communicate that concept, where the reader will see that line and think “pretty lady”.
2). Weirdness. – There’s just something kinda “off” about these police. Last issue they raided a drug kingpin’s house in body armor that had a codpiece with a thong back. They have an “invisible UFO” that they fly on missions. And in their underground bunker, all the agents/cops wander around in matching, unisex overall/underwear. It looks kinda like the type of swimsuits that men used to wear 100 years ago. It’s a weird look. It should be kinda sexual since these characters are all attractive and half of them seem to have crushes on each other…..but it doesn’t quite come across as sexual. But it doesn’t quite strike a utilitarian note either. It’s just weird–in a good way.
Conclusion: Very different from the usual fare. This is not only a major change of pace from superhero comics, it’s also quite different than most material published by other “major indie” publishers like Image and Vertigo.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
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