Image Comics releases a dynamic duo of superheroes which turned out to be stepsisters of justice in Blackhand and Ironhead the graphic novel.

I’ve did not expect anything like this coming from this comic about two sisters with different blood which would be more like seeing Beifong’s battle in Zhao Fu, but this story is like the continuation of the fight between two different sisters. So this comic would turn out to be crazy, to begin with, then the plot itself will be messed up from the start, however, their father just got murdered. The story is written and illustrated by David Lopez, and no I don’t mean that YouTuber or the musician. He’s a comic book artist from Spain who started going to the American comic book market in 2002. He is best known for illustrating a graphic novel called Fallen Angel, which was co-created by writer Peter David, published by DC Comics. Right until it was canceled in 2005 and moved on to IDW Publishing as a cover artist. However, in 2017, he created this whole series, published by Panel Syndicate just to make up with the series that was meant for the fans.

The front cover shows an intimidating session of two girls challenging each other to a staring contest, and the author chooses to make the whole book in a rectangular form. However, this cover art is more like going over to the newspaper comics where Garfield and Oddie are staring at each other, angry and bubbly. The two main characters a facing each other which it makes it so scary, the people in the background seemed that they’re working on themselves while the other 3 people on the left side are scared and surprised as shit while the other one on the middle right thinks that it’s none of his business. I do like the hairdo with the other main character and decided to shave in letters saying “No.” Anyway, unlike every other comic that has no speech bubbles or thinking it’s like a webcomic, well to tell you the truth, the story is more like making it into a comic that is right out of a Calvin and Hobbes comic book which is promising, but it almost looks like a webcomic, in a nutshell, if you know about comics like this which is similar to the other comics, let’s continue.

So, what’s their story anyway? The story starts when the redheaded girl is training in secret to be a fighter because she doesn’t want to suspect her father that she wants to fight as a superhero like her father. And on the starting few pages, the author decided to have the title logo that is blocking from the train and the billboards. She rushed into the train with a lot of people coming out which makes you think that she’s Gwenpool already, and then fought with some bad guys who are harassing an Arabic young woman on the train. Later on when she arrived at the industry where her father runs the company, and her father is an ass for ignoring her feelings because he doesn’t want it to happen when her mother fought for justice and died. However, over that foolish argument, he died in a heart attack. Later, at a funeral, a young woman just barged in the church, identified herself as the Black Hand, and revealed the truth that Iron Head’s father was an abuser who stole her mother’s stuff and exhibit them at a museum as a joke to him. That is coming from the person who speaks the truth, either way, Ironhead’s family was hiding from her to know that he had a daughter which made her mother a joke. Describing the whole thing that their father died in a heart attack was a joke too because someone had caused him to died in natural death. So, the enemy itself is a witch that looked like one of Hindu’s deities. Another fact to be told, but the witch and her father worked together just to give her protection, all they wanted was money and power. So, the whole reason is that Ironhead’s family has been betrayed and worked with the enemy for protection which would make all the other heroes vulnerable.

The story has a lot of plot twists on every moment whenever the scenery changes. I doubt that this was all a trick because Ironhead betrayed his family and the other heroes just to have the witch’s protection for money and power. His daughters happened to have a misunderstanding, but Black Head wanted revenge. His mysterious death was all jack and shit just to know how to make an exit telling her daughter not to fight. The art is more cartoony than the others, but this one shows reflections of what superhero comics can be done, meaning that every other drawing of the characters is all but DC Comic like. I don’t know his story but how did he end up illustrating the cover arts after his series ended in 2005. However, his art style is more similar to Gurihiru’s art because the facial expressions of the characters are similar to her. At the end of the comic, we see some series of concept art and sketches behind this comic. And to be honest, this is a development of what characters he’s making, however, the character design of the female Hindu deity looking, looks flawless as hell, because she looks exactly like them. Also, her beads have a lot of similar cameos that you’ve recognized, so how does the artist comes up with the cameos from the other series, is the whole Indian culture actually inspired him to design that character? I don’t know and I don’t care, but Black Hand and Iron Head is actually a great story to be read to see the two stepsisters working together.

By Kevin Bermeo

I'm a New Yorker Artist, and I traveled a lot. I enjoy making comics, illustrations, paintings, and digital art. Besides drawing, I'm also a writer, I used to be a Gamer, and I love adventures, food, and dragons.

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