The Love Bunglers [Hardcover]

Skillfully merging tragedy and serendipity, Hernandez brings [Maggie and Ray's] intertwining stories to a satisfying, if hard-won, culmination. The simplicity of Hernandezs page designs and the elegant economy of his drawing style belie the thoughtful sophistication of his storytelling, exemplified by a two-page spread that brilliantly encapsulates two entire lifetimes in just 18 panels. ...[A] heartbreakingly satisfying achievement that leaves the door wide open for further chapters in this most rewarding and accomplished of serialized comics. (&[A]s irresistible as ever, peeling back the years to reveal a lifetime of powerful relationships, rejections, infidelities, and adventures.Jaime Hernandez keeps hitting home runs. Its almost like he doesnt know how to stop. & You dont have to have ever read a Hernandez Bros. story before to appreciate the achievement, but for those who have, its impossible to reach the end without shedding serious tears. Its that good, heartbreaking, and breathtaking in even measure. Its just about perfect, and you can put that on the book flap.The culmination of an achingly long will-they/wont-they relationship between Hernandezs signature characters, Hopey and Ray, this is a perfectly drawn, decades-spanning masterpiece by comics most unblinking and clear-eyed romantic.[Hernandez's] writing is as funny and candid as ever. His drawing is -- always has been -- just a dream. It seamlessly combines conventional representation and cartoony exaggeration -- often in the same panel. But it's the depth that you drown in, the sense that we are swimming in the deep waters of the heart here.Hernandez's understated dialogue and sparse, bold lines make every panel of his recent work sing and sting, and midway he drops the floor out from beneath his readers' feet. The narrative strands of his characters' histories converge, as the grand story he's been drawing for 30 years glides to its conclusion  the most heartbreaking ending posslcÈ