Never was a comic book creator more worthy of artistic appraisal - and reappraisal - than Jaime Hernandez. And this handsomely designed coffee-table hardback, with its generous selection of beautifully reproduced artwork and extensive and incisive text by comics scholar Todd Hignite, certainly does its legendary subject proud..

If you're into comics, and your interest in the medium goes beyond the mainstream, then you should fully appreciate Hernandez's groundbreaking contribution to it. If you're not into comics chances are you won't be aware of how this Mexican-American cartoonist bridged the gap between the innovative underground comix of the 1960s and 70s and the now widely valued graphic novel form and, in doing so, advanced the medium in a very great way during the 29-year - and counting - run of his comic book series Love and Rockets, the original 'alternative comic' co-produced with his brothers Gilbert and Mario under the name Los Bros. Hernandez. It's hard to overstate Jaime Hernandez and his brothers' contribution to comics, and accordingly it's difficult to explain exactly how and to what degree they all, but primarily Jaime, altered the course of comics, for, it hardly need be said, the better.

Which is one reason why it's great news that this book, long-anticipated by many, is finally with us. Hignite, who is the founder of the excellent and award-wining publication Comic Art, has done a fine job of evaluating Hernandez's work and career. He sketches in the artist's background – growing up in a Hispanic community in Southern California in the 1960s and coming of age during the punk rock era, details his early aesthetic inspirations (TV, movie and comic book trash culture), takes an in-depth look at the revolution and evolution of three decades of Love and Rockets and provides a perceptive critique of the work itself. All of the above is extensively illustrated with examples of Hernandez's art, from his most recent work for the New York Times right back to the first Love and Rockets stories and beyond to Jaime's pre-professional teenage scribblings. And there's a good deal of interview material with the man himself incorporated into the text.

Hernandez's illustrative style alone is to die for; his draftsmanship and technique are really second to none in his chosen field. That alone makes this book a joy to behold. But it's also fascinating to see the world created by Hernandez, his magic realist fictional Hispanic California with its smart and sexy female protagonists, examined in great detail. This Art of... is a book that serves as both a celebration of Hernandez and his work for those familiar with him and it and equally as a splendid introduction for those who have yet to discover the sheer joy of Jaime Hernandez and Love and Rockets.
Miles Fielder