Love and Rockets Volume II #17 gives us five delightful short tales.   First, Gilbert Hernandez and his B-movie queen, Fritz (sister of Hernandez’s signature character, Luba), tackle her father over the issue of child sexual abuse.   Then, Jaime Hernandez concludes his Hopey serial “Day by Day with Hopey” in the first of two tales, “Monday is Attila the Hun Day,” which finds Hopey dealing with her first day as a schoolteacher and also takes her back to her time as a schoolyard brat.

Then, it’s back to Gilbert (who had a hardcover graphic novel, Sloth, recently published by DC/Vertigo) with “Julio’s Day,” which finds Julio trying to fit in at his new home.   In “Tuesday is… One More Tuesday,” Jaime allows Hopey and Maggie a heart to heart to conclude the current Hopey tale.   The issue concludes with Gilbert’s “Dumb Solitaire,” wherein Fritz’s motivational speaker ex-husband Mark Herrera sees his career rebounding, and he gets an invitation to join the Elusive Exclusive Club.

Under a gorgeous Gilbert cover – a sort of jagged screen montage of some of the many personas of Fritz, this issue of L&R is a showcase for Gilbert, emphasizing his ability to use a succession of small tales to weave a measureless tapestry of the life of Luba and the lives of the people connected to her.   Normally, I’d fawn over Jaime’s contributions, but this issue is a wonderful sample of Gilbert the (graphic) novelist and of why he is the best writer in American comics – period.

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