Blood Brothers #1 Review

Blood Brothers #1 from Dynamite -

     Who you gonna call when supernatural baddies come to ruin your day? You call the best, and Diego and Gabriel Soliz are the best. The Soliz brothers are always up to solve a supernatural mystery. Diego is an ex-soldier and an expert detective who gained the ability to see and communicate the dead through a near-death experience on the battlefield. Gabe is a super-powered luchador (Mexican pro-wrestler) with a heart of gold. They've been assigned to solve a robbery-homicide and recover an artifact that is rumored to be cursed. But there's more to this case than meets the eye - more danger, more mystery, and more personal pain. Why? Because this mystery might just involve the disappearance of their beloved, long-lost father. Can the Soliz brothers close the case, or will this case close them down...Permanently?

    Created by Fabian Rangel, Jr., and Javier Gaba, Blood Brothers #1 is a throwback to the halcyon days of Mexican comics and cinema when the masked luchador was king of the hill, and justice was always on the menu. A descendant in the illustrious lineage of luchador comics like Santo, El Enmascarado de Plata (The Saint, The Man In The Silver Mask), El Increíble Blue Demon (The Incredible Blue Demon), and Huracán Ramírez (Hurricane Ramírez), Blood Brothers gives us all the bad guy bashing, mystery and supernatural menace we've come to expect from this genre of comics and films. Diego and Gabe are fun protagonists - they have a wonderful energy between them, they depend on each other's strengths and guard against each other's weaknesses, and they are all about putting bad guys down for the count. It doesn't get any more straightforward and uncomplicated than that, and uncomplicated is one of the hallmarks of any good masked luchador adventure. Good is good, bad is bad, and the hero brings the pain. Cool. Rangel and Gaba have placed their protagonists in a world where the supernatural, and supernatural beings like werewolves, are just part of the normal scenery, a part that can get dangerous very quickly. And that's where Diego and Gabe come in. Toss in the mutual tender spot that their dad left when he vanished, and you've got a solid superhero mystery mash-up that really has legs. The co-creator, Javier Caba, provides pencils that are perfect for the story; Caba's pencils are quirky, a little cartoony, and very urban-inspired. Again, cool. Blood Brothers #1 is probably a sleeper hit waiting to happen, and a great trip down memory lane for a guy like me who is a NUT for Mexican luchador comics and films. I LOVE this book!

RATING: 10 out of 10 for masked luchador mayhem!

PS - If you love luchador comics, you've got to check out La Mano del Destino, from Castle & Key Publications. It's created, written and rendered by the extremely talented J. Gonzo, one of comics' best-kept secrets. Click here to read issue #1 for free!!

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