The Reticent Heart and Other Stories #[nn]
In "Sugar 'N' Spikes," Gilbert Hernandez crafts a quietly unsettling journey through the streets of Palomar, where photographer Howard Miller captures fleeting moments of life—until an encounter with Tonantzin sets off a chain of strange events. After a disorienting visit to the town’s forgotten ruins, Miller returns home to a vision that lingers, leaving him unsettled and alone. With his signature blend of intimacy and mystery, Hernandez delivers a story that lingers in the mind, drawn and inked with the same meticulous care that defines his work. The cover by Gilbert Hernandez perfectly mirrors the story’s dreamlike unease.
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Howard Miller walks the streets of Palomar photographing its citizens. He has an encounter with Tonantzin, who gets the idea he can help her get noticed by Hollywood. When Theo introduces Miller to some of the ruins outside town, Miller gets lost in one of them and has an hallucinatory experience. He returns home in a shaken frame of mind and finds Tonantzin waiting for him.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).