It had been a minute since I read any Love and Rockets, but I recently read Life Drawing to check in with what Jaime Hernandez has been creating these past several years. This book follows the exploits of Jaime's two main focal characters of late, Tonta and Maggie. Most of the book looks at how Tonta is dealing with life after high school, with her bouncing around her aunts' houses, taking drawing lessons at the local community college, maybe finding gainful employment, and fumbling toward possible relationships. Maggie keeps popping up in and around her life in surprising ways, and together they begin to work on Maggie's fear of the ocean.
None of this plot summary really gets at what makes this book special, which includes the dialogue, interactions between the characters, and gorgeous artwork. In many ways, it reads like a grown-up Archie comic, with multiple short, separate episodes that coalesce into a narrative whole. The characters are vivid and how they interact with each feels real, funny, and moving. The issues they deal with are mundane and relatable, but the artwork is exquisite and expressive. In lieu of a preview, I am just going to post a series of random panels as rendered by Hernandez.
I think readers new to the Love and Rockets world might need to allow themselves some time to get into this book, as it is a bit scattered on the front end, but fans will be able to visit again with a cast of old friends. I loved seeing the familiar stomping grounds being populated with newer characters, and there are a few surprises, too, including a forest spirit and a couple of weddings. It's another outstanding comic by one of this generation's best artists.
All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. In their starred review Publishers Weekly gushed, "Hernandez's jaw-droppingly clean line and mastery of the subtly caricatured human form make the most mundane moments vibrate with life." John Paul Bullock wrote that it "is a perfect entry point for anyone who’s recently discovered this groundbreaking series." Tom Shapira pondered the task of tackling this series for the first time and wrote, "The reviews are still good, they’ve always been good, but there’s just so much of it."
Life Drawing was published by Fantagraphics, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. This book features adult situations, profanity, sex, and nudity, so it is recommended for readers mature enough to handle those things.
