The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death

Product Information

Jaime's characters are so convincing and his stories so compelling that it is easy to overlook his greatest strength: the most economically handsome drawing style in comics." Booklist I always liked that quirkiness — that there were weird things going on next door and you just go about your life. In a 2004 interview, you said there were parts of your work you weren’t sure would ever be accepted because “I don’t know if my culture will ever be accepted.” That was 15 years ago and ...

The First Annual PW Comics Week Critic's Poll". Publishers Weekly Online. Publishers Weekly. 2006-12-19 . Retrieved 6 September 2011. This graphic novel centers on the protagonist Maggie, who is about to go to a reunion gathering of punk bands at a town or neighborhood she once lived in named Huerta, near LA. The art work is excellent and the dialog advances the character development. Maggie is seemingly conflicted about everything - but in a charming way. Rather than give the story away, I'll just say that the story seems to be about how the past never really ends - a kernel of Maggie's wild youth still informs her life, and probably always will. The punk scene that she says she was most happy being in in those days, remains with her. It's possible that the outsiders who would gather at Del's created their own insider world consisting of outsiders, and that this voluntary community replaced her non-existent family since she was living with an aunt who evidently didn't understand her. People need to find support and love one way or another - and so the hangout with the punk kids became "home" to her, perhaps at a crucial time in her life, her adolescence. Harvey Awards". Harvey Awards. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013 . Retrieved 13 June 2015. Flies on the Ceiling – the story of Izzy Reubens' nervous breakdown in Mexico, where she moves after an abortion and a divorce. Character index for Jaime's Hoppers/Locas stories - About 187 characters appear at least once in Jaime's work; 65 of these appear more than once.

Locas is, for the most part, the story of Margarita Luisa Chascarillo (known as Maggie, Perla, Maggot and more!) and Esperanza Glass (called Hopey, and don't you forget it!) as their lives evolve, shift and change over the course of an indeterminate number of years. Where Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar operated on a level of community and family, Locas is more focused on individual identity and individual connections. It's a fascinating character study, simply to see all of the contradictions that make up Maggie and Hopey (and most of their supporting cast), how two best of friends can be so similar and yet so different, and how they can alternately be completely unable to function without the other and yet be utterly unwilling to stand one another's presence over squabbles big and small.

Palomar tells the story of a fictional village in Latin America and its inhabitants. Its vibrant characters and sometimes-fantastic events are sometimes compared to the magical realism literary style of authors such as Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges. The series is also sometimes referred to as Heartbreak Soup, after the first story set in Palomar. Fritz, Petra, Venus: Fritz and Petra are Luba's long-lost half-sisters who share her voluptuous figure and penchant for adventure. Venus is Petra's precocious, comics-loving daughter. One of the most talented artists our polyglot culture has produced." The New York Times Book Review I have to admit that with Hopey changing so much, it was hard writing her into this new story. I didn’t really like her. I thought, I don’t like her as a person. I don’t like what she’s doing. I don’t like how her life turned out. She is one of those friends you’re disappointed in.Everything I draw is trapped in the laws of gravity. And knowing that there’s a skeleton inside…. Even if Maggie is just standing there listening to someone talk, I know what’s going on inside her body. I know there’s earth under her feet. I know certain feelings she’s having are causing her body to do certain things…. There’s a bigger world around ’em, that when I’m drawing Maggie standing around talking, I know there are people miles away from her. I know there are cities. I know there are people who don’t care about what she’s going through. I know there’s traffic driving by, whether I show it or not. I know the sounds that are happening, because she’s outside on a busy street talking to somebody. I just know all this stuff is going on even if she’s just standing there with a dumb look on her face. Over the years, they focused on their women characters' interpersonal dramas, their love lives and their neighborhoods.