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Post by gothos on Nov 9, 2014 16:17:01 GMT -5
This is a thread for anything anyone wants to say about the works of the Brothers Hernandez.
I just gave Jaime H's RETURN OF THE TI-GIRLS a second re-read. On the first reading, I thought it was pretty confused and meandering, and I agreed somewhat with a reviewer who said that it pulled the reader in two different directions at once, trying to build sympathy for its one-off characters (some of whom seem to be alt-world versions of other Jaime characters) and yet trying to keep things in an anything-can-happen mood that sort of defeats the appeal for sympathy.
I still think RETURN is slightly flawed in that respect, but on my second reading I realized that, intentionally or not, this is Jaime's take on the Marvel comics of his youth. Just as Marvel specialized in alternating skull-bursting fisticuffs with soap-opera melodrama, Jaime's homage provides the same wild action but tempers the fight-scenes with brief melodramatic snippets that aren't intended to be developed continuously like a soap; they're just there for a quick "dose of reality" amid the crazy fantasy.
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Post by fanboystranger on Nov 10, 2014 11:09:52 GMT -5
It definitely is an homage to Silver Age comics with its "anything goes" mentality, but I also read it as a lament about getting older. (I guess there's a lot of wrestling reference in there, too, but I'm not a big enough wrestling fan to get that aspect.) It's certainly an odd chapter in Jamie's ouvre.
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Post by MDG on Nov 10, 2014 13:00:20 GMT -5
I really, really enjoyed the book, but felt it had more a spirit of non-Marvel-or-DC 60s superhero comics (like Dell).
Also, what's wrong with building sympathy for one-off characters? He does it pretty well.
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Post by gothos on Nov 10, 2014 16:47:46 GMT -5
I really, really enjoyed the book, but felt it had more a spirit of non-Marvel-or-DC 60s superhero comics (like Dell). Also, what's wrong with building sympathy for one-off characters? He does it pretty well. I was citing another critic's view, which I don't entirely disagree with. It's not that Jaime does a bad job of building sympathy, but I think the other critic correctly targeted a "don't worry too much about all this; it's all gonna go away" attitude, an attitude that's at odds with the parts where he's trying to give his characters charm and back-stories. Of course some of that has to do with the gulf between mainstream and alternative. Mainstream creators are almost always trying to create franchises that can sustain themselves and make the authors money. Alternative authors gain street-cred from being fairly anti-franchise-- although sometimes it's more style than substance, since you still have to pay money for a LOVE AND ROCKETS T-shirt. just as you would for a BATMAN one. This project was the first time Jaime actually devoted a coherent story-line to the various super-powered types who have been hanging on the edges of Jaime's quasi-naturalistic universe. I was a little vague about whether Jaime meant that they occupied their own comic-book universe that was just interfacing with the regular Locas-world, but on reconsideration I decided he would have little interest in such niceties. |
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Post by gothos on Nov 25, 2014 18:14:37 GMT -5
For some reason, when I first started reading both "Locas" and "Palomar" in the original LOVE AND ROCKETS, I think I liked Gilbert's work better than Jaime's.
Strangely, I've gone the other way over time. Jaime has introduced a lot of intriguing characters to the "Locas" mix while I feel like Gilbert's spinning his wheels.
Of course, Gilbert on his best day is better than brother Mario, sort of the "Tito Jackson" of the family. (Ooo-- glad none of them will read that!)
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Post by fanboystranger on Nov 25, 2014 19:24:16 GMT -5
For some reason, when I first started reading both "Locas" and "Palomar" in the original LOVE AND ROCKETS, I think I liked Gilbert's work better than Jaime's. Strangely, I've gone the other way over time. Jaime has introduced a lot of intriguing characters to the "Locas" mix while I feel like Gilbert's spinning his wheels. Of course, Gilbert on his best day is better than brother Mario, sort of the "Tito Jackson" of the family. (Ooo-- glad none of them will read that!) That's been my reaction, too. I think that Beto's early stuff was more accomplished, but as time went on, I began to enjoy Jaime's stuff more. I think that Jaime may have only peaked in the last few years with "Browntown" and Love Bunglers, whereas Beto's attention is all over the place these days-- quality work, to be sure, but it doesn't have the vitality of his earlier work. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 13, 2016 15:49:27 GMT -5
Neat article about Maggie over at The Onion. I am a little confused and might have to re-read Love and Rockets more carefully : what is Maggie's real name? In early L&R issues she calls herself Margarita Luisa Chascarillo (something I had forgotten) but in more recent years we learned that "Maggie" was a nickname given to her by her mechanic mentor and that she's actually named Perla Luisa Chascarillo. Was there an in-series explanation for the change? |
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Post by shaxper on Jul 13, 2016 16:00:34 GMT -5
Nice bump! I've been slowly making my way through Love & Rockets for the first time and am only one chapter into "Heartbreak Soup". I can tell this is a work that demands my full attention, and I haven't felt like I've had my full attention to give, but seeing this thread return has given me some motivation. Maybe it's time.  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 13, 2016 17:21:59 GMT -5
Heartbreak soup reminds me a lot of Garcia Lorca. I was initially taken aback by Gilbert's style, which is so different from Jaime's, but his story really sucked me in. Palomar is a magic place.
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Post by berkley on Jul 14, 2016 1:10:55 GMT -5
I love Jaime's stuff and my first encounter with Love and Rockets was his Mechanix when it was published as a separate colour comic, but it was two late-80s collections of Gilbert's Palomar stories (The Reticent Heart and Duck Feet) that finally drew me in and made me a regular - and obsessive - L&R reader. I envy shaxper the experience of reading Heartbreak Soup for the first time.
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Post by Rob Allen on Jul 14, 2016 12:31:58 GMT -5
I've intended to delve into the world(s) of Love and Rockets for a long time, and I'm sure it will happen someday.
In the meantime, the only Hernandez work I've read so far is Gilbert's Girl Crazy, which was beautiful to look at but a little confusing.
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Post by shaxper on Jul 15, 2016 0:56:41 GMT -5
So this thread just made the front page and the facebook page. How would you explain Love & Rockets and the Brothers Hernandez to comic fans who have never heard of them before?
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Post by MDG on Jul 15, 2016 8:23:46 GMT -5
So this thread just made the front page and the facebook page. How would you explain Love & Rockets and the Brothers Hernandez to comic fans who have never heard of them before? Really, really good. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 15, 2016 9:46:08 GMT -5
It's like real life, only more so. More magical. More down to Earth. More passionate. More beautiful. More disheartening. More troubling. More human.
Give me more!!!
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 18, 2016 8:00:45 GMT -5
Re-read Love and rockets: new stories #6 this morning, and... wow. The Jaime part floored me, as had been the case for issues 4 and 5.
This should definitely be taught in any comic-book storytelling class. In just a few pages, we are exposed to a complex family story with believable and deep emotional overtones, with more tension than in your typical thriller. Allowing time to pass so quickly is also a powerful storytelling device, and not one frequently used in American series. (The L&R characters basically age in real time, slowing down for a story and then catching up later. Here we have something like a five year gap).
Artwise, it's amazing how you know that characters must be related just by looking at them, even if they don't share obvious traits like freckles or even hair colour. The only other artist I know who can pull it off so elegantly is Eric Shanower, as demonstrated in his Age of Bronze series.
This is so good that it's almost distracting. I often find myself thinking "how did he do that? How did I come to care so much for a character I didn't know existed just five pages ago?"
Such storytelling is really the work of a master.
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