Just another Hernandez post...

I know, I know – I totally have OCD and I totally need to get some tablets or something for it!
But really and truly - this guy is a genius, and I love (nearly) everything I have read of his so far.
I just thought I’d put out there a few cool little things that I have fond on the net’ in my travels this evening.
First, one of my favourite pictures from the “Luba” hardcover -
It was from this great story in which Venus talks about how much she loves comic books. I mean, I can obviously relate to this love of hers, but also, I was a total comic fan when I was a kid as well – and I love it how her Mum and Tia (or Luba to us!) are also comic fans.
Next, the CBR (comic book resource) has posted a quote from Hernandez of what he is reading at the moment. I found it refreshing that he and I have similar tastes in comic books! But, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, as his own work does fall under the same banner as the artists in which he reads -

“The new comics I always enjoy are by R. Crumb, Dan Clowes, Richard Sala and Charles Burns. I haven’t seen Burns’ and Sala’s new books yet but I did read The Bible by Crumb, which I found tedious only because of the subject matter and Wilson by Clowes. That was hard to get through because the protagonist is so supremely hateful. Well executed, though. Except for Sala, those other guy’s comics only come out every five years or so, so I’m usually looking at reprint collections for my fix. I look forward to the complete Dick Tracy and whatever nutty 1940′s/50′s stuff Fantagraphics and IDW put out. No new mainstream stuff.”

Though I haven’t really gotten into Crumb myself, I have been flirting with the idea of giving him a go, and with this endorsement from Hernandez (and most of the other folk in the comic book world) I think I may just find myself picking up a Crumb one of these days soon(ish)

La Maggie La Loca

I also found out that Steve Weissman, one of my favourites and which I have written a blog post on here has coloured a lot of the Los Bro’s work – including one of Jaime’s newest on Maggie and Co., ” La Maggie la loca” – how great are his soft pastel colours? It’s vintage, yet so fresh all in one!

I may be the only person in the world who loves L&R and doesn’t know this – but bare with me folks – I was doing some research on the books, and came across an interview with Gilbert in which he discuss the titles, “New stories of Old Palomar” and nearly died of happiness! The old Palomar stories, ala “Heartbreak Soup” are just so beautiful and riveting, I was hoping that Gilbert would explore more like it in the “Luba” hardcover. It’s funny, because in the interview, which is very cool and can be read here, the interviewer points out the very big differences in “Luba” and in the Palomar stories. I’ll put a little bit of the interview below so you can hear it from the words of the master himself -

“Your early works get compared a lot to 100 Years of Solitude, people talk a lot about Márquez-like magical realism, but once Luba and her family and the other characters leave Palomar, there’s more focus on the realism, less on the magic. With the return to Palomar, you returned to that more magical feeling story. Is that a function of the time and place? Is that something you wanted to go back to with the New Tales?

Actually, yes. I looked at what made Palomar successful for me and the readers, and what made it what it was. And, like you said, a lot of that stuff got put in the back seat with the Luba story. Looking back at the Palomar work and thinking of new stories, it seemed like, well, this is what made it what it was. I’m a big supporter of basic imagination in stories: You know, tall tales, but tall tales that intermingle with the character’s real lives. That was one of the strengths of the strip. Also, the ensemble cast, and not necessarily in the Luba way. The way Palomar was, all the characters, the main characters, had equal weight. And they all looked different. So there was that, too. I was letting go of a lot when I did the Luba stuff. I was pretty much focusing on a family, and a lot of the characters looked alike, whereas in Palomar they all looked different. And I thought a lot about that, because comics is a visual medium, and it’s important to have it look like something.”

I love it how he talks about how the magic in the stories should entwine perfectly with the characters lives – that’s why I’m not a big fan of DC or Marvel – because the superheroes everyday ‘fake’ lives seem to be so removed from the action that is occurring all around them that it all seems quite wooden to me. 
So, there are three volumes of “New Tales from Old Palomar” and I have added them to my wish list on Amazon – if anyone out there who loves L&R, or anyone that knows about the books can you tell me if the 32 page volumes come in a bigger volume? I so rarely buy floppys, or comics that aren’t more than a hundred pages, but in this case, I’m too excited to wait around if a hardcover version is years in the making!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my rant! I’m working on a post that talks about feminist comics and the lack of feminist characters in Marvel and DC comics – so keep a close eye out for that one! I’m working pretty full-on the next few days, so a new post will not be likely between now and Sunday – but you never know your luck in this big ol’ thing we call the Wold Wide Web…