Maria M.

If Maria M. were a movie, it'd be more than three hours long and with an ending that would put Scarface's to shame.

You know what's crazy? How fast time goes by. The first half of this book was published in 2013, and I wrote a review of it here. I have to say that looking back at my past reviews often makes me cringe a bit, but I think that one is pretty well composed and captures what I still think about this book. So go check it out. The only thing I could not say then but can now: Gilbert sticks the landing, and there is a lot of blood along the way. Whereas the first half of the book is a story of an immigrant trying to find her way in a sleazy world, the second half is more a concentrated crime drama with lots of intrigue and double-crossing.

Also, abdominal walnut cracking!

This book is an excellent one, showcasing an accomplished creator's range of skills in fine fashion. There is so much plot packed in the visuals, it's a testament to economical storytelling. It's a good read for those unfamiliar with his work or his Palomar tales, but it's also highly rewarding for readers who have been enjoying those comics over the years as well. The only people I cannot recommend this book for are younger ones, as it features sex, violence, and profanity. But if you are mature enough to handle those things and enjoy a gruesome crime tale that pays tribute to classic exploitation/B-films, this book is right up your alley.

This book's author is Gilbert Hernandez. He has been creating comics for about four decades now, most notably the Love and Rockets series with his brothers. He is prolific and considered one of the great American comics creators of all time. He talks extensively about his life and works in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. Publishers Weekly wrote that "the pulp plot is executed with style, strong and sensitive character development, practiced casual linework, and the kind of gonzo weirdness—such as Maria’s talent for cracking walnuts with her abs—that defines the Hernandez ethos." Andy Shaw opined that "anyone else with an interest in sharp, sexy, violent but sophisticated stories can still enjoy it for what it is: a B-movie homage that takes the genre above and beyond our expectations." Robert Rea summed up, "Every writer should be so lucky to have the imaginative chops that Hernandez shows in Maria M."

Maria M. was published by Fantagraphics, and they offer a preview and much more here. Also, the publisher is having their big annual Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales soon, so check those out. They publish lots of excellent books!

Loverboys

Loverboys is a return to a certain sort of story for Gilbert Hernandez. The story here takes place in the small town of Lágrimas, which feels a lot like Palomar but seems to me to be in the US. There are also many interesting characters there, with strong, distinct personalities. Rocky is one of the main players, and he is having affairs with both his boss and a former teacher.

That teacher, Mrs. Paz, is the object of many men's affections as well, though she does not give many the time of day. Then there is the trio of teenage girls who want to poison the whole town so they won't have to go to school anymore. Rocky's little sister, Daniela, is in this group but then she creates a separate plot to just blow the town up. Eventually, Rocky has to leave town for a while and Mrs. Paz decides to watch Daniela in the meantime, and this set-up is the catalyst for a bunch of revelations.

There is lots of drama in this book, between strained family relations, a few complicated love triangles, lots of gossip, two terrorist plots, and a knothole where some magical folk may live (this is a Gilbert Hernandez book after all, which means there has to be some magical realism somewhere). So, to sum up, a lot happens in a short amount of space. I am not sure all the plots resolve in a satisfying way, but I feel that this is still an interesting read. And for people who are loath to tackle the entirety of Love and Rockets, Loverboys would work as a good enough introduction to Gilbert's work.

Most of the reviews I have read praise this book, even if they acknowledge it is not a substantial work. Tom Murphy called it "accessible, inventive and entertaining, while also having the slightly rambling, off-balance quality that Beto’s readers know and love." Publishers Weekly summed up, "Some abrupt transitions make this a minor work from Hernandez, but the compact story is a pleasing diversion." Matt Little wrote that "a middling Gilbert Hernandez book is still better than many creators' best work." John Yohe had many issues with the book, and he summed up that "a little magic isn’t an excuse to have unbelievable characters. Or ginormous boobs and booty shorts."

Loverboys was published by Dark Horse, and they have a preview and more here. If it is not clear by now, this book is really for mature readers, so I do not recommend it for younger folk at all.

Bumperhead

Last year, the prolific and legendary Gilbert Hernandez impressed with his semi-autobiographical exploration of childhood, Marble Season. This year, he follows up that book with his second one published by Drawn & Quarterly, Bumperhead. If Marble Season was about childhood, then Bumperhead appears to be about adolescence. The main narrative here follows the titular Bumperhead, who's really named Bobby, during five different periods of his life, which are defined by his musical choices and relationships. Interestingly, the book seems to start in the 1970s, but it really seems to exist in a strange state where each section happens in the exact same time period even though they depict very different portions of Bobby's life. It is as if time has collapsed into itself and all things happen simultaneously, and I felt it was a great way to think about the function and impact of memory on our lives.

In the first part, Bobby is a young boy who is teased because of his noggin. We meet his parents, his Spanish-speaking dad who cannot really communicate well in the US and his chain-smoking and detached mother. We also meet his friends, including his buddy Lalo who has a magical object that lets him see the future. Bobby is interested in certain girls he knows, but he is too shy to do anything.

He is also menaced by an ominous and horribly human-looking sky.

Over the course of the later chapters, Bobby and his friends age, horse around, and experiment with music and substances. Bobby begins to find it easy to talk to girls, and he passes in and out of relationships with several. He gets into glam artists like Mott the Hoople and Gary Glitter for a while, gets into a harder rock phase where he idolizes Alice Cooper and The Ramones, and settles into the raucous punk scene where he listens to groups like The Sex Pistols and The Germs. His musical tastes are part of his metamorphosing identity, and much of the book looks at how he fits into the world, how his family life radically transforms, and how religion fits into everything. Even though it seems to be the deceptively simple story of a life, and Bobby's tale takes on a sort of mythic or magical kind of status. In the end this is a book about a mundane life, the universe, and everything.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been full of praise. The Onion A.V. Club's Oliver Sava called it "an engaging, immensely rewarding story about the nature of time and reclaiming the present from a tortured past." In The Comics Journal Richard Gehr opined, "Bumperhead finds Hernandez at his most humane and personal." Emily Temple lauded its "frantic" storytelling, commenting that "it reads like how memory feels: you get it in snatches, in patterns, in moments of glory or pain." Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, advising readers, "Do not miss this delicate, heartbreaking masterpiece."

Hernandez sheds more light on the origins and autobiographical aspects of the book in this interview.

Bumperhead was published by Drawn & Quarterly, and they provide an excerpt, reviews, and more here.

Maria M. Book One

Maria M. may be the most metatextual graphic novel ever. It is an adaptation of a movie written by a grandaughter about her grandmother, starring her aunt as the main character. And all of this is set in the fictional Palomar-universe Gilbert Hernandez has carefully and fulsomely developed over the past three decades. Also, the events recounted in the movie have were the topic of one of Beto's densest, most complicated narratives, Poison River.

The good news is that a new reader would have to know none of that, because this a lean, mean killing machine of a book. The story follows one Maria Martinez, immigrant in the USA trying to make her way. This opening illustration should tell you how the story is going to go.

She tries to find success in beauty contests, acting (in legitimate and stag films), dancing, wearing costumes at business conventions, and working in restaurants. Add to these struggles that she witnesses some very criminal business, she begins to attract attention from some very shady characters.

Through the course of events, Maria becomes many things, a bauble to be possessed, an object of desire, and a player in the world of organized crime and drugs. And that is only half the tale, as there will be a sequel.

This book is beautifully prurient. Gone here are the grotesque characters of Poison River, their parts played by the more traditionally attractive Hollywood actor types. Sex, violence, and all the hallmarks of exploitation cinema drip from these gorgeously rendered pages. Beto seems to be reveling in and through the artwork. Maybe the book is too beautiful, but it is interesting to see how the "cleaned up" version compares with the more literal one.

A master of graphic storytelling, Gilbert Hernandez has received many positive reviews. Tom Murphy wrote that even though he "can’t hold Maria M in the same affection as Beto’s more ‘human’ material," the book is "held in place by an almost mind-bogglingly complex cat’s cradle of metatextual references and correspondences." This book is both simple and complex, depending on how much of Beto's work the reader knows. That he is able to create work that can straddle such territory is amazing.

Maria M. Book One is published by Fantagraphics, who provide previews and much more here.

Citizen Rex

To close out Gilbert Hernandez Month, today I am looking at a book he co-created with his older brother Mario, Citizen Rex. This book collects a 6 issue limited series about a gossip columnist, robots, a secret tribunal of truth-seekers, black market prosthetics, family drama, and an android that just might be the next step in human/robot synthesis.

A facile way to describe this book would be to call it a cleaner version of Blade Runner, in the sense that this world is much more sanitary and well composed. The main story happens about 50 years from now and follows Sergio Bauntain, a gossip columnist who goes by the name Bloggo. He usually covers stories about local organized crime, much of it centering on the illegal trade of technological body parts, as such enhancements are all the rage. But he ends up catching on that the advanced robot CTZ-RX-1 was not actually deactivated and destroyed as previously though but is avenging his past mistreatment. All the while Bloggo is pursued by the Truth Takers, a mysterious group of vigilantes who seek the justice that the system does not seem to provide and who resort to sinister ways to get the truth.

Sample page from Comixology

There are a lot of moving parts and ideas in this book. Like any piece of good science fiction, it blurs lines between reality and fiction, human and machine, and the demands of family versus those of society. It is an exercise in action, intrigue, philosophy, and metaphysics. I thought the book was a very suspenseful, fun, and exciting read, using familiar sci-fi elements but crafting a narrative that seemed unique unto itself. Mario and Gilbert speak more about creating the series in this interview.

Reviews I have read about this collection have been very positive. The Comics Journal's Sean T. Collins called it "a dense, engrossing, and above all humanistic approach to the genre, and not a bad way to calibrate one’s behavior in the real world as well." Dominick Malloy called it "a uniquely deep story." Sarah Boslaugh summed it up as "a sci-fi epic overflowing with ideas and artwork soaked in retro cool."

Citizen Rex is available from its publisher Dark Horse, who provide a preview here.

The Troublemakers

The Troublemakers is one of Gilbert Hernandez's adaptations of a movie that starred Fritz, his psychologist character from Love and Rockets (she's on the right side of the cover). It is a paean to his love for B- or exploitation movies and a meta-fictional component of his Palomar universe. Casual readers do not really need to know any of that though, because the book holds up as a satisfying read on its own merits.

I am not going to tell you so much about the plot other than it focuses on a trio of grifters.

Vincene seems to be the craftiest, and she is always on the run.

Nala is a former magician's assistant with a bunch of tricks up her sleeve but is worried about getting too old to pull off more scams.

Wes, a frustrated singer, is trying to fleece his associate Dewey out of $200,000 so he can buy his own club.

These characters' allegiances are constantly shifting, and they double-cross each other in pretty much every way possible. Not so good for them, but great for a reader seeking lots of plot twists. The characters are surprising for who they reveal themselves to be, and the story at the end takes on a pretty surreal yet violent turn when 7 stray bullets find their marks. Hernandez speaks more about his work on this book in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been very positive. Ron Richards wrote that Gilbert's storytelling ability here is "at the top of his game." The Comics Journal's Rob Clough summed The Troublemakers up as "a minor work in Gilbert Hernadez’s imposing catalog, yet it still shows the artist at the height of his powers, capable of crafting characters with surprising depth even in the basest of genre stories." The reviewer from The Beguiling remarked on the entire series of faux movie adaptations, "These books are delicious." I concur with these reviewers, and I found the book to be engrossing, compelling, and a lot of fun for both noir and comics fans.

A preview and much more can be found here from the book's publisher Fantagraphics. You can find an extension of the preview here.

Julio's Day

Julio's Day covers much more than a day as it takes place from Julio's birth in 1900 until his death in 2000. Over those hundred years, he ages, family members and friends die, and others are born. The effects of major events, including both world wars, the 1929 stock market crash, the Vietnam War, and the first Gulf War ripple through people's lives. The setting is an unnamed, rural, American village that calls to mind Palomar in its bucolic aspects.

Most of the pages in this volume were published in much shorter 1 and 2 page comics over the course of 6 years in the second volume of Love and Rockets, but here are combined to depict an entire lifespan. The cast of characters is large, and they age, appear, and disappear from the narrative, but Hernandez provides a handy reference page at the front of the book.

Reading the book as a whole, I am struck by how it is a deft combination of iconic and monumental scenes of family and childhood mixed with very local and personal happenings. This book displays some impressive vistas, and sometimes seems like a parable of sorts, with many versions of traveler tales. But it is also full of small, evocative moments, such as short exchanges, prayers, and glimpses into people's hope and aspirations. Also, love is a big part of the proceedings, because Julio spends his entire life living at  home with his mother as he cannot reveal or come to grips with his homosexuality. He has a few relationships over the years, but they are covert and unspoken.

I read this book at a brisk clip, finishing it relatively quickly, but there is so much here to digest and chew over, that I see myself coming back to it often in the near future. As The Comics Journal's Charles Hatfield wrote, it is pretty interesting to read and compare this book, which is about a century's worth of lives and societal changes, with Marble Season, which is much more about Gilbert's childhood and a specific moment in time. Certainly both offer different views of Hernandez's impressive range of artistic and narrative prowess.

All the reviews I have read about this book have praised its beautiful art and intricate storytelling. In a starred review from Publishers Weekly it was called "a marvelous and tightly scripted epic whose last page is a heart-stopper." Tom Spurgeon spoke to its complexity, "I felt this work more than I processed it intellectually, which is odd in that I think it's relatively complex and will lend itself to multiple readings and a truckload of spread-across-a-table analyses." Andy Shaw summed up, "Julio’s Day is a literary classic, and another incredible piece of work from a true master of comics."

Julio's Day was published by Fantagraphics, and they provide a preview and much more here.

Speak of the Devil

I took a little detour from Gilbert Hernandez Month yesterday, but today I am going back on track.

Speak of the Devil collects a 6 issue limited series that was on The Comics Journal's Best of 2007 list. The story is about gymnasts, family relationships, a mysterious Peeping Tom wearing a devil's mask, and a murderous love triangle. The main character is Val, a gymnast who lives with her divorced father and his new wife. She struggles with this new situation and also dates a boy whose family appears to be abusive. As these young people struggle through their lives, a mysterious stranger is terrorizing their neighborhoods, peeking in open curtains.

This mysterious figure is particularly fixated at staring in at Val's parents while they are having sex. I am not going to reveal many plot specifics, because I think this book relies on a sequence of revelations and escalations in the course of its narrative. But I will say that things take a sinister turn, and the second half of the book is violent and bloody.

The strongest aspects of the book are its pacing and its focus on a small set of characters. It reads like a Hitchcockian thriller, raising questions of psychology and propelled by shocking visual scenes. The story is unsettling and disturbing, and it is definitely not intended for younger readers, but it lingered in my mind. And the artwork is characteristically fantastic, incredibly well rendered and paced. You can see from the two-page excerpt above that Hernandez can tell a story that is both economical in its storytelling and sensational in its impact.

Reviews I have read about this book have been mixed or measured. Robert Stanley Martin called it "a terrible disappointment." Andrew Wheeler wrote that "Hernandez’s art is as assured and potent as ever" and also that he liked this book better than Chance in Hell. Jog also noted that the artwork was "top notch" and added that the story "eventually takes on an oddly lyrical tone."

Speak of the Devil was published by Dark Horse and they provide a preview here.

Yeah!

Yeah! is a curious creation in terms of its creative team. Writer Peter Bagge and artist Gilbert Hernandez are much better known for their influential and seminal alternative comics works for adult audiences like Hate and Love and Rockets. One of the last places you would expect their work would be in an all-ages book from a mainstream comics publisher like DC, but from 1999 until 2000 this series ran for nine issues under the Wildstorm imprint.

The story follows the exploits of Yeah!, the most popular band in the universe but utterly unknown on planet Earth. Band members Krazy (vocals & guitar), Honey (drums), and Woo-Woo (keyboards) ironically struggle to find an audience and have to compete in battles of the bands in order to make money. Their main competition is a semi-successful group called The Snobs, only one part of a colorful cast of supporting characters that includes their duplicitous manager Crusty, Honey's "hippie dippie" boyfriend Muddy, and their pet goat Buckeye.

The book is full of zany, intergalactic adventures balanced with humbling experiences. Yeah! cannot spend any of the money they make out in the universe on Earth, and they are constantly scrounging for opportunities to break it big in the music business on their home planet. In all, I found this book fun, surreal, and very charming. Hernandez's art is clean and energetic, calling to mind Dan DeCarlo's classic style on Archie and Josie and the Pussycats. Even though these comics were originally published in color, the black and white is still very attractive, allowing readers to more admire the line work. Bagge's stories are silly yet have enough gravity to make the reader care. Bagge speaks about his work on this book in this interview.

Most reviews I have read of Yeah! remark on the skill of the creators but are tempered by the tone and scope of the book. Marie Penny wrote that "old school comic fans, pop music lovers, and alien aficionados will enjoy Yeah!" Publishers Weekly summed up their review calling this book "a minor but highly enjoyable effort from two masters." Jeremy Nisen admired the book's "cuteness" but added that its unfinished plot-lines detract from the book as a whole.

ALA/YALSA 2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" List - See more at: http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/yeah-5.html?vmcchk=1#sthash.cAxRhchB.dpuf

ALA/YALSA 2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" List - See more at: http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/yeah-5.html?vmcchk=1#sthash.cAxRhchB.dpuf

ALA/YALSA 2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" List - See more at: http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/yeah-5.html?vmcchk=1#sthash.cAxRhchB.dpuf

Yeah! is available from Fantagraphics, who have a preview and more here.

Marble Season

Marble Season is a coming of age story in the vein of works like Our Gang, Peanuts, or the Cosby Kids, where children's personalities, rich fantasy lives, senses of play, imaginations, and mercurial social relationships are highlighted. In this sort-of-autobiography Gilbert Hernandez threads together the monumental and routine into a tapestry that reflects childhood experiences and sensibilities with a sense of whimsy, nostalgia, and also poignancy.

The book mostly follows Huey, the middle brother in a family. He roams the neighborhood, usually with his kid brother Chavo in tow. He gets annoyed by having him trail along all the time, but he also has a similar relationship with his older brother Junior, who is a teenager trying to act cool and hit on girls. The boys' lives revolve around comic books, professional wrestling, and television shows, and they play lots of games outside modeled on those media.

They also have lots of interesting neighbors, like the girl who compulsively eats marbles

or the new kids who are oblivious, volatile, and very physical.

In all, this is a thoughtful and moving look at childhood and its many intricacies.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have deemed it praiseworthy. In a starred review Publishers Weekly called it "a masterful, involving, funny, and real portrait of kids and their wide world, unlimited by reality—until, at least, it’s time to go home for dinner." The Comics Journal's Rob Clough summed up his review, "Hernandez’s understanding and recollection of the formative moments of childhood is surpassed only by his ability to depict it on the page with a style that is both naturalistic and cartoony." Rachel Cooke called it "a treat: beady, nostalgic and sometimes unexpectedly piercing."

A preview is available here from Drawn & Quarterly.

Gilbert Hernandez Month!

If you pay attention to what books and authors I review, you will have noticed that I am a huge fan of Los Bros. Hernandez.

I got this photo from here.

This month I will be highlighting the work of Gilbert Hernandez who recently won a PEN Award. He is one of the co-creators of Love and Rockets, a long-running alternative comics series, and is an amazingly prolific artist who publishes multiple books a year. I hope you enjoy my look at his many works!

The Adventures of Venus

Love and Rockets month is over, but the fine books from Hernandez brothers just keep coming! This one is made up installments originally published in Measles, an anthology for children that Gilbert edited in 1999 and 2000, with one new story to introduce the volume. It follows Venus, a young girl who lives with her mother Petra. Venus is very active, playing soccer, shopping for her unique tastes, and having adventures with strange and fantastic aliens. She also has an ongoing rivalry with her frenemy Glinda Gonzalez that adds spice to the proceedings.

Gilbert (Beto) Hernandez is one half of the creative juggernaut that has been creating Love and Rockets comics for the last three decades. He has also been productive with self-contained graphic novels, like Sloth and  The Troublemakers. One of comics most highly regarded creators, Beto has won many awards over his career, including the InkPot Award in 1986, the Kirby Award in 1985, multiple Harvey Awards, and a 2009 Fellow Award from United States Artists.

Reviews I have read about this book have been very positive though somewhat cautious. Drew McCabe praised the book as occurring in "that special place in between that catches that transition from childhood into adolescence, which doesn’t get captured on the comic book page much, and is a rare treat that Hernandez delivers here to such perfection." Peter Gutierrez was more reserved about the book, writing "while certainly young readers should appreciate many aspects of the book, some of its content may land as so idiosyncratic (albeit playfully so) as to inaccessible." Sheena McNeil also praised the book, "It's a good, well-done, fun comic I definitely recommend giving to younger readers." In this case, younger means about grade 8. I think the book is quite charming, though Gilbert's often surreal visions might not be for everyone.

A preview, video preview, and even more is available here from the book's publisher Fantagraphics. Here is another preview from Robot 6.

Love and Rockets Month Coda

Thanks for reading my ramblings about Love and Rockets this month, and thank you also for bearing with me when I fell behind and was not posting as regularly as I would like. It has been a difficult yet rewarding experience for me, and I have a new-found respect for those who review comics on a regular, daily basis. This endeavor is way harder than it looks, and I hope that I have given you something to think about, enjoy, or look into.

I realize that I have presented the first volume of this series in the order they were originally collected, but today they are available in a different format. Those books are detailed in this helpful guide How to Read Love and Rockets by Fantagraphics, the fine folks who have published this series for the past three decades. I truly feel that the Hernandez brothers have created some of the best works available in graphic novel form. They are well worth checking out, if you have not already.


Happy anniversary, Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario! Thank you for all the great comics!

Love and Rockets Volumes 13-15

Love and Rockets month comes to a thrilling conclusion today as I post about the last three volumes in the original run of the series. Enjoy!

 
Chester Square

This book ranges far and wide with its plot. For the most part it follows Maggie as she wanders about, trying to make sense of all the upheaval and loss in her life. For stretches of the story, she is stranded at a bus station in Chester Square, where she has to contend with lonely guys, a surly prostitute named Ruby, suspicious business owners, and local law enforcement. Alternatively, she also ends up on the road with professional wrestlers, and she muddies the waters of her personal and professional relationships along the way. All the while, she encounters conflict and decisions about who she should be and who she should associate with.

Names are a big deal in this book, and it seems that Maggie goes through many in the course of growing up. Not really a cipher, she is more a lost soul casting about looking for an identity and fulfillment, only to be deterred by bad relationships, tragedies, or just plain poor planning. Her journey feels like some sort of allegory or morality tale, with the elements of a cowboy western, Jack Kirby's Fourth World (a couple of characters look a little too much like Oberon and Highfather to be coincidental), Lee and Ditko's Spider-Man,and a Twilight Zone episode. Maggie is a wanderer in search of meaning, a sort of woman-with-no-name. Or rather, a woman-with-many-names.

Jaime's artful weaving of stories and characters evokes so many emotions and touchstones that this book feels monument, a meaningful highpoint in the Locas narrative and also in comics in general. The ending is a thing of beauty, sweet but not treacly. Jaime would eventually return to this series and these characters, but there is a sense of closure here and a rare moment of happiness after much drama and travail. Reading this book was a rewarding and moving experience for me.

My Rating: A masterpiece. Probably my favorite book from this first series.

Luba Conquers the World

Gilbert has long juggled a huge cast in his Palomar stories, and with this book he pushes his limits even further. Luba's past and present collide here, as she has grown older, settled down some, and moved to the United States. We get to see how life has treated her and also how a large number of the other characters have aged and established their own lives. We see them in America working as entertainers, entrepreneurs, and menial workers. They cover a gamut of sensations and fates.

Add to all these happenings flashbacks to Luba's childhood as well as Maria's (Luba's mother) life, including her involvement with criminals, violence, and her various children. It turns out Luba has two long-lost sisters, Petra and Fritz, who have their own stories and relations to account.

All of these ingredients combine into a huge story motor that has many moving parts. At times, scenes burst forth with emotion, energy, and intrigue. It is easy to get lost in all of these interconnected narratives, but certain themes and images appear again and again. The mysterious nature of family relations are examined, as well as the cycles that generations may follow. The characters frequently try to raise themselves up and strive for the best things in life, but they spend much time in the grime and grit of life. Still, Gilbert exposes the positive that can come from glorying in those places. Wallowing in the mud might be undesirable in the long run, but it is where many people get their starts and there are joys in these visceral experiences.

Life here is depicted as striving to reach for something better, something brighter, something maybe out of reach. Luba's version of conquering the world, like Gilbert's work in general I could contend, is humble, humbling, and amazing.

My Rating:There is so much packed in this volume, and it left me breathless, exhausted, and mostly fulfilled.

Hernandez Satyricon

This volume is a sort of catch-all, collecting various and sundry tales from all three Hernandez brothers. The stories are frenetic, full of crazy energy, and they are frequently profane, playful, and shocking. I can't say anything really stands out as particularly memorable beyond shock value, but the half of this book that contains promotional drawings, calendar panels, alternative covers, and poster art is full of crazy, beautiful ideas and gorgeous imagery.

I think this is more a book for long-standing fans who want to see rarities from the series.

My Rating: Mostly for L&R completists.

Love and Rockets Volumes 10-12

As we speed toward the exciting conclusion of Love and Rockets month, I will tackle the last 6 books three at a time. Starting with:

Love and Rockets X

Often described as a Nashville for the 90s, Love and Rockets X is ostensibly about music scenes, with quotations from all kinds of contemporary songs, from rap to more alternative bands, but it is also about racial tensions. These tensions crop up in competing musicians, rival clubs, and lots of macho posturing by people in the streets. Reading that last sentence, readers might just think that Gilbert is treading on Jaime's turf, and this book is partly concerned with capturing the spirit of the day much like Jaime's early work was concerned with capturing the voice of punk rock.

But it also busts out in surprising ways that connect to Gilbert's Palomar stories. We see lots of people who used to live there and who have immigrated over to the US, and their presence casts a different light on the story. More than just capturing the feel of a music scene, this book is also about a diverse cast of characters trying to make their way in a world and the problems that arise from miscommunication and variety. This story is not about a melting pot, but about how various people retain their flavors, sometimes turning out well and sometimes turning toward unrest, strife, or violence.

I think this book could almost be relegated to period piece status, but the presence of those Palomar characters rescues it from that fate. Gilbert's musician characters just don't do much for me. The opening and closing sequences that bookend the story seek to make this story seem universal, but to me they come off a little forced and cliched. Still, there are some great moments to be found in this book.

My Rating: Maybe my least favorite L&R book. Still well above the Mendoza Line.

Wig Wam Bam

Named after a Sweet song, this volume shows that Jaime's cast is older, though not necessarily wiser. The song reference harkens back to a childhood revelation. This backward glance is nostalgic in a way, but perhaps more wistful, as the characters are all caught up in all kinds of intricacies and relationships and there is little hope of returning to those youthful concerns.

So many things happen in this volume that I am not even going to attempt to summarize, but I will say that it also covers so much emotional ground that it boggles the mind. And the ending is brutal and devastating. This book is dense with action, symbolism, and deft character work. To top things off, the story and the art suit each other so well that the whole operation appears seamless. If I had to choose one word to describe Jaime's work it would be economy. Not a line or panel seems wasted in his delivery of an impactful story.

My Rating: Out of the park. A home run.

Poison River

I cannot tell a lie. This book really impressed me, but it was something I had to read in chunks.

Poison River is a series of stories that span time and space. It tells about Luba, her life before she came to Palomar, and a tangled web of crime, deceit, and longing. Each character gets the spotlight for a story, highlighting a particular event or series of events in their lives. What complicates reading this book is that they all step in and out of each tale, and sometimes they look very different as the time-jumping means they are different ages in different stories.

Reading this book, I was struck by its emotional directness as well as its frank regard for sexuality. It deals with complex issues of determining sexual preferences, including choosing same-sex partners as well as confronting matters of obsession and incest. People's relationships drive their lives, and the complicated webs they weave ensnare the reader in a voyeuristic sense but they also seize the characters themselves as if they are doomed to certain fates all along.

This volume is an ambitious work, a life history done kaleidoscope-style, with constantly shifting main characters. This book is complex, and somewhat bewildering because the reader is constantly trying to reorient at the start of each tale. But, by golly, when you start making connections and realizations, it is a revelation akin to staring at one of those Magic Eye posters and suddenly seeing the image. In the end, there is a sense of the complete picture, even if there is not a single narrative thread that unifies the book. Still, there are plenty of shocking moments, secrets revealed, and emotions tweaked to make this a fine reading experience. I just don't recommend reading it all at once.

Full of crescendos and valleys, Poison River may disappoint some because it does not follow convention narrative patterns, but I feel it offers a rewarding reading experience. Moreover, this book just begs to be re-read.

My Rating:  The opposite of The Death of Speedy, this book is a window that has been shattered. Still, there are many pretty pieces to admire.

Flies on the Ceiling

Flies on the Ceiling

"Flies on the Ceiling" is a mature, masterful story about a breakdown. It is a dreamlike and horrific, as reality is melded with fantasy when Izzy has to deal with a choice that haunts her. She cannot run away from her thoughts, even though she runs far and wide to escape. She does find some relief in the form of a surrogate family, but ultimately that does not last. In the end we view this character who had largely been seen as quirky, strange, and sometimes ridiculous as a more realized, though damaged woman. This is a complicated and troubling tale: some see it as hackneyed with blatant symbolism while others view it as the intersection of grief, religiosity, and recovery.

The other Locas characters are well-represented in the rest of the stories. We learn more about Ray's life and childhood; we see how unhinged and needy Penny Century is as she tries to sabotage Maggie and Ray so to promote Maggie and Hopey.  We also glimpse into Doyle's life and see how he began on the path of violence, grifting, and drifting. He is a pathetic character who seems capable of so much more, but he continually gets beaten down by life events. When I heard Jaime talk about his work this summer at HeroesCon, he spoke of his proclivity to act as a villain who tortures his characters. That vibe comes through in this volume loud and clear.

Gilbert does not have much work in this volume, but his impressionistic, dreamlike bio of artist Frida Kahlo is so full of admiration, craft, and daring imagery that it holds its own with the title tale. The rest of his entries read like experiments in form and surreality.

My Rating: Like the movie said, "There are a million stories in the naked city." Jaime is determined to tell them all, and tell them well. A couple of throwaway tales detract from the book as a whole.

Blood of Palomar

Blood of Palomar

Yesterday, I reviewed Jaime's first masterpiece, The Death of Speedy, and today I am writing about the first solo Gilbert book in the series. As good as this book is I do not really count it as his first masterpiece because of the punch of his first "Heartbreak Soup" story. Still, there are a million serial killer stories out there, but "Human Diastrophism" stands out from the rest because of its small town context, human characters, and political overtones.

The book starts with three short stories and they are remarkable for their brevity, soul, and emotional impact. The drawings of young Pipo's pout and Vicente's sly smile from the first tale "Sugar -n- Spikes" are brilliant and striking, and they contribute to the excellent pacing and stagecraft. This great sense of the theatrical carries over into the main story, a huge saga of political and romantic intrigue as well as murder.

The story captures the zeitgeist of late Cold War paranoia, where people feared atomic conflagration. Tonantzin is probably most symbolic of this feeling, at first the comely barbosa vendor who inspires many men to lust becomes suddenly politicized, speaking out against the overbearing influence of the US and USSR superpowers, even in their small corner of the world. She becomes a protester and advocate, alienating some and firing up others.

The townsfolk are concerned with ridding themselves of bands of marauding monkeys who are scouring their land and creating havoc. The brutality of slaughtering these beasts is juxtaposed by the actions of a monster in their midst, someone who is killing random townsfolk. Additionally, the sense of paranoia that seizes the people in town is palpable.

As someone is killing random people in town, there is a witness who is paralyzed from speaking, though he does try to communicate his knowledge through art. This Cassandra-like figure adds a mythic, philosophical aspect to the proceedings. His interludes comment as much on the power and function of art as much as how people respond to incredible and horrific situations.

Perhaps this story is some statement about the price of advancement or progress. That is not for me to say definitively, but what matters is that there are so many images, symbols, and situations here ripe with meaning that makes many such analyses possible.

I will not ruin the ending, but I will say that it is one of the most powerful fictional conclusions I have experienced, shocking, horrible, and sweetly sorrowful.

My Rating: A heart-rending, impressive classic. Gilbert's ability to manage a huge cast is exceptional.

Duck Feet

Duck Feet

So far, I am learning how difficult it is to review these early volumes that are more anthologies of stories from both brothers. I am going the bullet points and brief commentary route again:

Gilbert's stories:

• "The Mystery Wen"- A simple story about the cerebral Heraclio being a hypochondriac who fears going to the doctor. 
• "The Way Things Are Going" - A walk on the dingy streets that some of the characters find themselves on when they leave Palomar looking for work. It reads like a short, noirish comic written by Bukowski. That's a good thing.
• "Duck Feet" - A creepy witch story that touches on the town's superstitions, kooky children, haunted trees, indigenous people, the law, and the mundane goings on in Palomar. Surreal, surprising, and suspenseful.
• "Bullnecks and Bracelets" - I am not even going to try to sum up all that happens in this story. It is far-ranging, sheds light into the lives and romances of a great many Palomar characters, and just plain amazing in its scope. This is the first of Gilbert's forays into making a Nashville-like story. Think of it as a short, magical history of Palomar, told with pinache and punch.
• "For the Love of Carmen" - The very first Love and Rockets story I read (in an anthology), and it knocked my socks off. A look at two very different characters that make for a contentious, complimentary, and loving couple. I just marvel at Carmen's combination of bluster and vulnerability. This story may seem sappy to some, but I love how it all comes together.

Jaime's stories:

• "The Adventures of Rocky and Fumble" - By now you know I really like these stories and wish there were more of them. This one is part Huck Finn, part Andy Griffith Show, part Good Times, with a robot. I like the mix of comedy, dread, and whistfulness.
• "Locas" & "Locas versus Locos" & "Secrets of Life and Death"- Maggie ruminates about her weight and catches up with Rand Race. This short, sitcom-ish story kicks off a series of glimpses into various parts of a day in the lives of our heroines. Teresa wants to date Hopey. Hopey wants to date Maggie. A few other folks want to date Maggie, too. There is a whole lot of maneuvering, canoodling, and coach surfing here. Doyle is my favorite.
• Mojado Power" - A "boys will be boys" story with swearing, posturing, and arguing over the relative merits of Barbara Streisand. Just what you expect to find in a Love and Rockets book.
• "Rena" - A brief 2-page look into the former wrestling queen's life in Zymbodia. Mostly involves bickering with Duke and Bernie.
• "Rocket Rhodes" - A sad coda to the Rocky and Fumble stories. Rocky is grown up, stranded on an alien planet, and without much contact or hope of returning to Earth. A weird mix of hopefulness that devolves into adult disillusionment. Jaime can be cruel to his characters sometimes.

My Rating: Contains some of my favorite stories, but it is more uneven than some of my favorite volumes.