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Fatima: The Blood Spinners
Comics luminary Gilbert Hernandez envisions his strangest, most thrilling future yet! A drug called "spin" offers the wildest trip imaginable, followed by its users' inevitable, rapid deterioration into undead flesh-eaters. Despite the side effect, the drug is so popular that the human population is dying out! With no cure to be found, the beautiful, lovesick Fatima may be the only thing standing between the survivors and the apocalypse! Get ready for zombies, mutants, drug lords, and gorgeous women!
96 pages, Hardcover
First published April 22, 2014
51 people want to read
About the author
Gilbert Hernández
431 books420 followersGilbert and his brother Jaime Hernández mostly publish their separate storylines together in Love And Rockets and are often referred to as 'Los Bros Hernandez'.
Gilbert Hernandez is an American cartoonist best known for the Palomar and Heartbreak Soup stories in Love and Rockets, the groundbreaking alternative comic series he created with his brothers Jaime and Mario. Raised in Oxnard, California in a lively household shaped by comics, rock music and a strong creative streak, he developed an early fascination with graphic storytelling. His influences ranged from Marvel legends Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to the humor and clarity of Hank Ketcham and the Archie line, as well as the raw energy of the underground comix that entered his life through his brother Mario.
In 1981 the brothers self-published the first issue of Love and Rockets, which quickly drew the attention of Fantagraphics Books. The series became a defining work of the independent comics movement, notable for its punk spirit, emotional depth and multiracial cast. Gilbert's Palomar stories, centered on the residents of a fictional Latin American village, combined magic realism with soap-opera intimacy and grew into an ambitious narrative cycle admired for its complex characters and bold storytelling. Works like Human Diastrophism helped solidify his reputation as one of the medium's most inventive voices.
Across periods when Love and Rockets was on hiatus, Hernandez built out a parallel body of work, creating titles such as New Love, Luba, and Luba's Comics and Stories, as well as later graphic novels including Sloth and The Troublemakers. He also collaborated with Peter Bagge on the short-lived series Yeah! and continued to explore new directions in Love and Rockets: New Stories.
Celebrated for his portrayal of independent women and for his distinctive blend of realism and myth, Hernandez remains a major figure in contemporary comics and a lasting influence on generations of artists.
Gilbert Hernandez is an American cartoonist best known for the Palomar and Heartbreak Soup stories in Love and Rockets, the groundbreaking alternative comic series he created with his brothers Jaime and Mario. Raised in Oxnard, California in a lively household shaped by comics, rock music and a strong creative streak, he developed an early fascination with graphic storytelling. His influences ranged from Marvel legends Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to the humor and clarity of Hank Ketcham and the Archie line, as well as the raw energy of the underground comix that entered his life through his brother Mario.
In 1981 the brothers self-published the first issue of Love and Rockets, which quickly drew the attention of Fantagraphics Books. The series became a defining work of the independent comics movement, notable for its punk spirit, emotional depth and multiracial cast. Gilbert's Palomar stories, centered on the residents of a fictional Latin American village, combined magic realism with soap-opera intimacy and grew into an ambitious narrative cycle admired for its complex characters and bold storytelling. Works like Human Diastrophism helped solidify his reputation as one of the medium's most inventive voices.
Across periods when Love and Rockets was on hiatus, Hernandez built out a parallel body of work, creating titles such as New Love, Luba, and Luba's Comics and Stories, as well as later graphic novels including Sloth and The Troublemakers. He also collaborated with Peter Bagge on the short-lived series Yeah! and continued to explore new directions in Love and Rockets: New Stories.
Celebrated for his portrayal of independent women and for his distinctive blend of realism and myth, Hernandez remains a major figure in contemporary comics and a lasting influence on generations of artists.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
April 10, 2019
It's the post-postapocalypse. Everyone is fugly, deteriorating, rotting (whether human or non-). Except, of course, for our intrepid action heroes who are impossibly attractive action heroes. In tight clothes and bulging pecs, they kill the shit outta the living dead. A playful mash of retro and endatheworld chic, "Fatima: The Blood Spinners" is my favorite G. Hernandez work thus far! (To me, they all seem to keep getting better & better!)
I really REALLY hate to say this folks, but it would ideally be directed for the silver screen by someone like, if not THE (for it makes little difference:) Mr. Robert Rodriguez.
I really REALLY hate to say this folks, but it would ideally be directed for the silver screen by someone like, if not THE (for it makes little difference:) Mr. Robert Rodriguez.
November 30, 2015
I am a huge Beto fan, though my fave stuff is Palomar and those magical realism tales. Everyone who is a fan of Beto also knows he is a life long sci fi comics fan, growing up with and still a fan of sci fi/horror comics. And almost no Beto fan thinks when he does this stuff himself that he is really any good at integrating sci fi/horror with his very likeable characters. In New Love and Rockets' stories he writes about B movies lovingly. So this one is hard to assess, because it is SO out there, so crazy, that I wonder if he is actually making a parody of zombie comics. I mean, it is so bad, so ridiculous. The Comics Journal may get the tone right, in a blurb quote: "If you like comics about people getting shot in the head, it's literally impossible to find a better one."
What's not to like? Zombies, beautiful women, some kind of bizarre drug called "spin" that is initially fun but inevitably causes users to get some flesh-eating disease and be killed (and become zombies), AND a strong (beautiful) girl main character that shoots dozens of zombies in the forehead in order to "put them to rest".
So I think this belongs to the genre of films and comics that is about being so-bad-it's good, outrageous parodies. Meant to be funny. Though most readers (skimming other reviews) do not laugh, and I never did. But then again, I have long ago reached saturation point with the whole zombie genre. But I think this is meant for laughs, a B movie comic. If you see it that way, you might just love the one.
What's not to like? Zombies, beautiful women, some kind of bizarre drug called "spin" that is initially fun but inevitably causes users to get some flesh-eating disease and be killed (and become zombies), AND a strong (beautiful) girl main character that shoots dozens of zombies in the forehead in order to "put them to rest".
So I think this belongs to the genre of films and comics that is about being so-bad-it's good, outrageous parodies. Meant to be funny. Though most readers (skimming other reviews) do not laugh, and I never did. But then again, I have long ago reached saturation point with the whole zombie genre. But I think this is meant for laughs, a B movie comic. If you see it that way, you might just love the one.
August 14, 2014
What if... Ed Wood Jr. drew a gory zombie comic? Fatima: The Blood Spinners is the answer.
Gilbert Hernandez brings a retro z-movie slant to the story of a busty heroine popping headshots into zombies. Fatima is purposely amateurish and tone-deaf. It belongs with horror movies like Troll 2, Birdemic and Sharknado. Such movies accomplish the meagre goal of inspiring ironic commentary from smug midnight-movie goers. While admittedly this isn't my taste, it seems like Hernandez gave up on the comic in the last few pages. He may have reached a certain page count and knew the comic would not continue.
Gilbert Hernandez brings a retro z-movie slant to the story of a busty heroine popping headshots into zombies. Fatima is purposely amateurish and tone-deaf. It belongs with horror movies like Troll 2, Birdemic and Sharknado. Such movies accomplish the meagre goal of inspiring ironic commentary from smug midnight-movie goers. While admittedly this isn't my taste, it seems like Hernandez gave up on the comic in the last few pages. He may have reached a certain page count and knew the comic would not continue.
December 5, 2023
A very wild ride. This is a sci-fi zombie apocalypse with lots of zombie killing! It becomes pretty interesting with some betrayals and backstabbing as we follow a dwindling group of healthy humans trying to find a cure.
May 27, 2019
In Gilbert Hernandez’s pulpy “Fatima: The Blood Spinners” a busty (I mean, it’s a Beto comic, what else would you expect?) special ops agent roams a post-apocalyptic world where a super-addictive drug called “spin” turns its users into decaying, blood-thirsty zombies. The experience of reading “Fatima: The Blood Spinners” is actually pretty similar. Collecting the series into a single volume, the graphic novel starts as a somewhat straightforward sci-fi comic but, with each passing chapter, it deteriorates into something altogether weirder and more surreal. It’s as if the book itself is a bit like those spin users, coherent and thrilling at the beginning but steadily rotting, transforming into something more manic and confusing.
“Fatima: The Blood Spinners” has all the hallmarks of the “Love And Rockets” comics that made Los Hernandez Bros. titans of the medium: clean black-and-white art, curvy women, a dash of magical realism, and a tale of unrequited love. The only difference is that this book also throws in flesh-eating undead monsters. Like I mentioned, it’s a weird premise that only gets stranger and more “out there” as the book progresses. If you’ve ever read “Luba” or “Palomar” and wondered how those books would translate as episodes of “The Walking Dead,” this comic is the answer to your prayers. I enjoyed it but mostly because I love it when creators just let it rip and give their imagination and talent plenty of space to go nuts. This book feels like both a culmination and a celebration of Beto’s influences: newsprint sci-fi, romance comics, EC horror books, etc. I guarantee you have never read anything quite like it.
“Fatima: The Blood Spinners” is Gilbert Hernandez giving absolutely no fucks. He’s been in the game long enough that he’s earned the right to do whatever he likes and, man, he is clearly off the leash with this book. I guess sometimes the muse leads you to some pretty wild places.
“Fatima: The Blood Spinners” has all the hallmarks of the “Love And Rockets” comics that made Los Hernandez Bros. titans of the medium: clean black-and-white art, curvy women, a dash of magical realism, and a tale of unrequited love. The only difference is that this book also throws in flesh-eating undead monsters. Like I mentioned, it’s a weird premise that only gets stranger and more “out there” as the book progresses. If you’ve ever read “Luba” or “Palomar” and wondered how those books would translate as episodes of “The Walking Dead,” this comic is the answer to your prayers. I enjoyed it but mostly because I love it when creators just let it rip and give their imagination and talent plenty of space to go nuts. This book feels like both a culmination and a celebration of Beto’s influences: newsprint sci-fi, romance comics, EC horror books, etc. I guarantee you have never read anything quite like it.
“Fatima: The Blood Spinners” is Gilbert Hernandez giving absolutely no fucks. He’s been in the game long enough that he’s earned the right to do whatever he likes and, man, he is clearly off the leash with this book. I guess sometimes the muse leads you to some pretty wild places.
June 24, 2014
I am almost ashamed to give anything having to do with either of Los Bros Hernandez one-star, but. . . I heard this was not very good, but I dismissed it because "not very good" for Gilbert Hernandez is like "among the best" of almost anyone else - but whoever said it was not very good was right and I was wrong.
The art seems very hurried and the overall visual story-telling is a far cry from Gilbert's best Love & Rockets stuff, or something like the more recent Julio's Day.
The story is hodge-podge nonsense with zombie, pandemic, cryogenic sleep til the future, action-spy and corrupt authority plots all thrown together. There is no sense of character, let alone development and the lead Fatima comes across like the worse kind of big-breasted pulp exploitation cinema kind of character with none of the play and critique that I have seen Los Bros do with those tropes before.
The one thing I do like about it are some of the gonzo monsters.
I read the original issues (since I found them for cheap), so I am not sure if the collected edition has any additional material, but not sure if there is anything that could make this better save for totally re-drawing, writing and imagining it.
Sad.
The art seems very hurried and the overall visual story-telling is a far cry from Gilbert's best Love & Rockets stuff, or something like the more recent Julio's Day.
The story is hodge-podge nonsense with zombie, pandemic, cryogenic sleep til the future, action-spy and corrupt authority plots all thrown together. There is no sense of character, let alone development and the lead Fatima comes across like the worse kind of big-breasted pulp exploitation cinema kind of character with none of the play and critique that I have seen Los Bros do with those tropes before.
The one thing I do like about it are some of the gonzo monsters.
I read the original issues (since I found them for cheap), so I am not sure if the collected edition has any additional material, but not sure if there is anything that could make this better save for totally re-drawing, writing and imagining it.
Sad.
April 30, 2024
I happened to read this for a second time while travelling through Southern California and suddenly 'got it'. This is Gilbert's take on exploitation cinema. One could say that it is Tarantino-style postmodern grindhouse but that is not quite right for me. It feels like it is taking directly from the same working class Southern Californian traditions of popular exploitation cinema that shaped Tarantino.
Gilbert conveys so much with sparse dialogue fused with well composed & designed panels. This is cartoonist in the auteurist writer-artist tradtion. Immense world and character building with small flourishes. There are some non-sequiter transitions that required me to read it twice and with attention, but when it falls into place it is a true joy.
Gilbert conveys so much with sparse dialogue fused with well composed & designed panels. This is cartoonist in the auteurist writer-artist tradtion. Immense world and character building with small flourishes. There are some non-sequiter transitions that required me to read it twice and with attention, but when it falls into place it is a true joy.
June 20, 2023
So simple and weird I find myself adoring it. I haven’t read much by Hernandez (or either of his brothers) but I remember stumbling across this back in 2015 or thereabouts and thinking it was totally bizarre then too. This reads more like satire of genre, namely focused on zombie and post-apocalyptic narratives. I sort of dig how stilted and yet clean all the drawing is…it feels wildly pulpy even as Dark Horse was still publishing Hellboy and all of the BPRD offshoots. And just enough grotesque body horror in the back third that it stuck in my memory well enough that I could track it down 8-9 years after first encountering it.
May 26, 2018
This one is really weird, even by Gilbert's standard's. A drug gives you the ultimate high, but turns you in to a Zombie! Very few Humans remain, and Fatima has the job of wiping out the zombies.
You can't explain it much more than that, otherwise you're just explaining the whole book. It doesn't go the way you would think though. It's a very stream of consciousness style of comic.
Definitely a unique story in this overwhelming world of Zombie Comic's.
You can't explain it much more than that, otherwise you're just explaining the whole book. It doesn't go the way you would think though. It's a very stream of consciousness style of comic.
Definitely a unique story in this overwhelming world of Zombie Comic's.
December 9, 2020
Finally GH hits the nail on the head in this dystopian future where a drug called Spin makes everyone who comes in contact with it a flesh eating zombie, or at least someone who desires to be eaten by said zombies. Graphic and bloody. Purely enjoyable. Female lovers Alexis and Teal look exactly like sisters Petra and Fritz for some reason, so once again, possibly another Fritz B movie. Just a "cult classic" in the making this time.
July 2, 2020
Zombies are not my cup of blood-red tea typically, the thinly-veiled disgust with mankind is something many of us already struggle with, and my solution does not involve a fantasy head-splattering spree. This adds a middle-class zombie and some space travel/suspended animation sci-fi, but mostly the way Hernandez draws is the appeal, more than what he draws and the story herein.
April 5, 2019
Bizarro zombie story with telenovela tendencies. Oh, and did I mention that beautiful Gilbert Hernandez art?
April 2, 2020
Sometimes it just doesn't seem like Beto even tried.
May 20, 2022
Their newer work in general is poor in comparison to their older work and this is no exception.
February 2, 2025
Good art but no love and rockets
August 15, 2014
I don't find it surprising that the zombie apocalypse comes around because, despite knowing that zombisim was the ultimate result, people still went ahead and took Spin, an amazing drug that gave the highest high, and shortly (within a day) left users in a bad way. Brain eating bad way. So what if Spin might turn me into a rotten corpse? Even though that seems to have happened to everyone else, surely it won't happen to me!
Anyway, Fatima: The Blood Spinners is about our titular hero going about the wasted drug zombified world and shooting the zombies in the face. There is a lot of blood, and not a small amount of brains, guts and other bodily bits being blasted, kicked, stabbed, imploded and generally strewn about the panels. The story follows Fatima as she goes about business trying to kill zombies and save humanity, but well...the story was a bit all over the place.
Despite the fact that all the ladies have these unrealistic fetishized bodies I actually found them to be not so bad. They were intelligent, brave and strong, not the typical women found in science fiction pulps. And to be fair, everyone, not just the women, was dressed in form fitting outfits.
Things really got strange after the characters went into cryo and that's where the story lost me. Though I enjoyed the bizarre artwork of the mutant creatures, I couldn't see how these two parts of the story the zombie/drug busting of the first half and the strange science/mutation stuff of the second half, went together.
However, it was still interesting and not something one would read every day, so if seeing someone literally kick the brain out of a zombie is your thing, Fatima: The Blood Spinners has you covered.
Anyway, Fatima: The Blood Spinners is about our titular hero going about the wasted drug zombified world and shooting the zombies in the face. There is a lot of blood, and not a small amount of brains, guts and other bodily bits being blasted, kicked, stabbed, imploded and generally strewn about the panels. The story follows Fatima as she goes about business trying to kill zombies and save humanity, but well...the story was a bit all over the place.
Despite the fact that all the ladies have these unrealistic fetishized bodies I actually found them to be not so bad. They were intelligent, brave and strong, not the typical women found in science fiction pulps. And to be fair, everyone, not just the women, was dressed in form fitting outfits.
Things really got strange after the characters went into cryo and that's where the story lost me. Though I enjoyed the bizarre artwork of the mutant creatures, I couldn't see how these two parts of the story the zombie/drug busting of the first half and the strange science/mutation stuff of the second half, went together.
However, it was still interesting and not something one would read every day, so if seeing someone literally kick the brain out of a zombie is your thing, Fatima: The Blood Spinners has you covered.
May 25, 2015
Background:
I bought 2 comics at an antique store in Wenatchee Washington. I took them to my now favorite comic shop to get some more information on where to find the beginning of both series. When I looked through the shelves, I saw issue #1 of Fatima: The Blood Spinners. It looked so weird compared to everything else on the shelf. Like it didn't fit in. I wanted to read it so bad, but never picked it up.
3 years later, I happened upon this at the library a few hours ago. I had to read it. It didn't take long. I loved every second of it. The only reason I give it 4 stars is because I felt it was a little short, and could have used more development. I wanted more from the story, more explanations.
It was really good, and I will probably have to buy it.
And I can't tell you just how much I LOVE the artwork style in all of the Hernandez brothers work!!
I bought 2 comics at an antique store in Wenatchee Washington. I took them to my now favorite comic shop to get some more information on where to find the beginning of both series. When I looked through the shelves, I saw issue #1 of Fatima: The Blood Spinners. It looked so weird compared to everything else on the shelf. Like it didn't fit in. I wanted to read it so bad, but never picked it up.
3 years later, I happened upon this at the library a few hours ago. I had to read it. It didn't take long. I loved every second of it. The only reason I give it 4 stars is because I felt it was a little short, and could have used more development. I wanted more from the story, more explanations.
It was really good, and I will probably have to buy it.
And I can't tell you just how much I LOVE the artwork style in all of the Hernandez brothers work!!
October 13, 2014
I've never thought I would ever be so dissappointed by a female-lead comic which actually happens to share a name with me. But I just did.
Maybe it's because I'm not a zombie fan, but in any case, I felt like I needed more story and less shooting. And Fatima is quite a badass agent, but the fact that I only got to connect with her in the last pages, when all her story is revealed, made me struggle with the badassing more than enjoy it and want to know more.
At least it's good to know that there's some Fatima out there who knows how to use a gun and kill zombies while keeping her humanity and little heart.
Maybe it's because I'm not a zombie fan, but in any case, I felt like I needed more story and less shooting. And Fatima is quite a badass agent, but the fact that I only got to connect with her in the last pages, when all her story is revealed, made me struggle with the badassing more than enjoy it and want to know more.
At least it's good to know that there's some Fatima out there who knows how to use a gun and kill zombies while keeping her humanity and little heart.
January 18, 2016
Two Hernandez in a weekend. This one is a sci-fi zombie-esque romp w/ romance and intrigue and stuff. It bounces all over the place. Like one of those super rubber balls, this is both fun and aggravating for those time where you just don't quite catch it and have to run after the bloody thing. All is good when you get it back but sometimes the run is a bit too much.
Involves super secret organizations, zombies, stasis, and high levels of corporate intrigue. Love stories and strong women. All par for the course with one of the Bros.
Involves super secret organizations, zombies, stasis, and high levels of corporate intrigue. Love stories and strong women. All par for the course with one of the Bros.
June 4, 2014
As with anything by Beto, the art is beautiful, but I am not really sure that the story (the little there is) really hangs in there. I still liked it just fine. The pull quote from Comics Journal is still the best summary: "If you like comics about people getting shot in the head, it's literally impossible to find a better one."
September 5, 2014
Zombies, bullets, beautiful women, mayhem, and more as only Gilbert Hernandez can conceive them. The artwork is, of course, lovely. It's easy to take the Hernandez brothers for granted these days. Love and Rockets burst upon the scene so long ago it's easy to forget what a revelation it was at the time. Suffice to say, the art rocks, the story is fun ... This one's a keeper.
April 13, 2014
A nice, quick read from Love and Rockets co-creator, Gilbert Hernandez. Was expecting the b-film style of the Fritz books but it was it wasn't as campy and not as detailed or expansive as any of his L&R work. Still, it's Beto so you can never go wrong.
March 26, 2016
the worst comic i've read in a decade. the plot was flimsy, hard-to-follow, and unsatisfying. I don't expect much from GH, but this was a new low—space zombie drug mystery? thankfully it only took 30 minutes
June 21, 2016
Grabbed this at the library on the fly and devoured it in about 30 or so minutes. I absolutely loved it. It played out like a 80's Grindhouse horror sci/fi flick. It would make a great movie or short lived tv show. I wish there was more!
April 16, 2014
4/2/14 Review tk.
4/15/14 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2014...
4/15/14 http://www.iwantmytwodollars.com/2014...
May 29, 2014
Wondered if I'd feel differently about this story almost two years after I'd first read it, when it first appeared in serial form. Not really.
August 22, 2014
This book 200% lost me.
January 28, 2016
Fun, over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek to the extreme!
October 14, 2016
Apocalyptic tale of a drug that turns people into zombies.
June 8, 2014
Not Beto's best work. It was OK, and I always love the art, but the story....meh.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews