When Will Eisner writes the introduction to a book about a comic artist, it is duly noted within the field. Gaining the respect of a man such as Eisner, who has done so much to propel the medium, means that Jordi Bernet has achieved legendary artistic status like few others. Joe Kubert’s foreword also provides additional prestige to this collection. Interviews, biography, and artwork come together in Bernet to provide readers with a truly comprehensive scope of the importance and relevance of the comic artist Jordi Bernet. With a dozen contemporaries providing commentary and identifying where Bernet fits within the larger landscape of international comics, this anthology of homage articulately identifies why Bernet’s work is so prominent.

Born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1944, Benet grew up following in his father’s footsteps, admiring and interested in comic art. By the 1960s, he had embarked on several series with various successes. He gained nominal acclaim for his work on Torpedo 1936, a series about a hitman in the 1930s. His career would remain on the independent and international level up until 2001, when DC Comics asked him to do a Batman story.

Mixing artists’ depictions and interactions with Bernet, the book inserts strips, excerpts, and drawings by Bernet to give a full spectrum of the work he has done. His more popular and influential works are included, such as Kraken, Torpedo 1936, Custer, and Sarvan, but also less well-known strips and pieces that were originally published in foreign countries or in smaller circles. Auad goes to great lengths to give readers a complete range of Bernet’s talent and capabilities.

Bernet is not shy when it comes to depicting sexual expression and injecting scenes with sexuality and tension. In his simpler forms, Bernet simples depicts sex or the promise of sex, but in his subtler moments, he merely uses positioning, posing, and gesturing to invoke a range of sexual energy that few artists can mimic. While the last section of this book, “Bernet’s Beauties,” entails those simple displays, it proves interesting how he emboldens sexuality within the women regardless of whether the pictures are revealing or not. There are additional elements of his nude drawings that invoke a certain amount of empowerment on the women’s behalf. Their poise and stature evoke power and defiance.

Of course, Bernet’s talents extend beyond depictions of the female body. His most remarkable talent is how he depicts the face and facial expressions. Many of his works have a gritty quality to them, and so much of that can be seen in the face of the characters. Bernet has a dark mood about his drawing, and it is within character faces that it becomes most evident.

For those familiar with Bernet’s work, this compendium succinctly exemplifies his contributions and abilities within the world of comic art. Those unfamiliar will find this collection to be an eye-opening experience into the world of a comic master that will send them scouring the Internet to find additional works by Bernet.