Troublemakers, The [HC] - Tapa dura

It's an exquisite story. With the characters locked in a tussle of greed and deceit, Hernandez makes his writing craft look effortless. The script is low-key and natural, the characters three-dimensional and interesting.

Each [panel] almost vibrates with the frenetic, desperate energy of the characters... That energy explodes in the final pages, as the story comes to a dramatic but ambiguous conclusion. In the end, the work offers an homage to B-movies while standing out as a graphic novel.

[A] noirish tale of crosses double and triple, in which the same small cast keeps tripping over each other, making and breaking promises and plans and alliances. ... the plot is suitably twisty and energetic.--Andrew Wheeler

The outlandish plot piles double-crosses upon double-crosses, leading up to an over-the-top, apocalyptic denouement. It's pulpy fun that, appropriately, has the dashed-off, anything-goes spirit of a straight-to-video caper flick.--Gordon Flagg

[A] sweet little book in which a bunch of grifters try to trick each other out of money. It seems to be about love and trust and whether anybody is dependable or if they're all trying to survive. It's pretty great.--Nick Gazin

[The] Troublemakers... features amazing cartooning. ...[T]he storytelling relies on Hernandez's masterful use of staging and talent with composition. His ability to spot blacks, place textures, and overall cartooning/drawing skills made this crime story a delight to read.--Jim Rugg

Low-life drug dealer Dewey Booth has $200,000 that even-lower-lifes want. Wes is a rock and roll loser that only wants to buy a club where nobody can tell him he can't sing or perform. He's known Dewey for years, but that isn't enough to get his dough. Wes needs help.
Nala is an über-stacked bombshell whose pleasure in life is to seduce and then humiliate men dumb enough to fall for her. For half the dough, she agrees to help Wes get Dewey's ill-gotten goods. Things don't go so well when a wily grifter from Wes's past shows up to complicate things.
Vincenze is another troublemaker who enjoys wrecking people's plans and wants the Dewey dough, too. In the end, deadly fires ignite, heads literally roll, eyes are shot out and—all Wes wants to do is sing in a rock and roll club.
The Troublemakers is Gilbert Hernandez's second, original graphic novel for Fantagraphics, following 2007's Chance In Hell. This hard-boiled, pulp graphic novel will delight longtime Hernandez fans as well as provide a perfect introduction to newcomers to Hernandez's work.