Gilbert Hernandez
Gilbert Hernandez | |
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Love and Rockets | |
Awards | See below |
Gilberto Hernández (born February 1, 1957),[1] usually credited as Gilbert Hernandez and also by the nickname Beto (Spanish: [ˈbeto]), is an American cartoonist. He is best known for his Palomar/Heartbreak Soup stories in Love and Rockets, an alternative comic book he shared with his brothers Jaime and Mario.
Early life
Gilbert Hernández was born and grew up in Oxnard, California[2] to a Mexican father and Texas-born mother.[3] He had five brothers and one sister, raised by their mother[4] and grandmother, as their father was rarely around.[5] They were exposed to comic books early in life through their mother, who passed on her love of the medium to her children. Young Gilbert read all he could, with the exception of romance comics. He set his passions on becoming a graphic storyteller, learning everything he could by studying what he found in comics, while developing his drawing skills through constant practice.[4]
The radio was always on at home, and he grew up listening to the
He was particularly enamored with the work that
Career
In the early 1980s, both Jaime and Gilbert created flyer and cover art for local bands. He also did the cover artwork for the record Limbo by Throwing Muses. The alternative rock band Love and Rockets was named after the Hernández brothers' comic book.[10][11]
The first wider recognition of Gilbert and his brothers' work occurred in 1982, after they had sent in a copy of their Love & Rockets comic, which up to that point they had been self publishing, to the
In 1981, Hernandez and his brothers Jaime and Mario published the first issue of Love and Rockets, which was quickly picked up by Fantagraphics Books, who republished the earliest materials in a new series starting in 1982.
In 1983, Hernandez published the first part of the first Heartbreak Soup story in Love and Rockets #3. This began Palomar, Hernandez' magic realist magnum opus which was completed in 1996.[17] These stories take place in the fictional rural Latin American village of Palomar, where modern technology and rampant consumerism have yet to reach[17]—or even phone lines. The focus on the stories was on the characters, with their variety of personalities, rather than on action as in superhero comics, or on shock value as in underground comix.[18] [14] Over the years, the Palomar stories became longer, more complex and more daring, especially in the long story "Human Diastrophism", in which a serial killer appears in Palomar, whose identity is only known by an unstable artist who slowly loses his mind.[19]
Unusual in the male-dominated comic-book world of the time, Love and Rockets gained a large female audience, largely due its sympathetically-portrayed and prominent female characters, who were not merely the objects of male lust.[5]
The first volume of Love and Rockets came to an end in 1996, with its fiftieth issue. Hernandez brought the Palomar stories to an end with a devastating earthquake, which briefly brings together many of the characters who had moved out of the village. The story closes with Luba and her family leaving for the United States to escape from hitmen.[5] Jaime and Gilbert went their separate ways. Gilbert continued with Luba and her family in series such as Luba, Luba's Comics and Stories, and edited to the children's anthology Measles before its early demise.[5]
Hernandez collaborated with Peter Bagge on the series Yeah! for DC Comics in 1999–2000, about "a teen girl rock band who performed in outer space", aimed at pre-teen girls. Bagge provided the script—the first time he worked on a project he hadn't written. The wearying pace at which he needed to work on the series, combined with a lack of reader interest, led to its cancellation after nine issues[20]
In 2001, Love and Rockets returned with a second volume, published roughly quarterly.[21] The new series was published in standard comic-book size,[22] and in it Hernandez focused on shorter stories that didn't rely on continuity. For his longer stories, he also began creating stand-alone graphic novels, such as Sloth (2006), about a teenager from a small town who wills himself into a coma.[21]
The second volume of Love and Rockets came to an end after twenty issues. A third volume, called Love and Rockets: New Stories began in 2008. While Jaime continued with his Locas characters in the series, Gilbert focused on new characters.[22]
In 2009, Gilbert published The Troublemakers, his second solo graphic novel with the publisher, inspired by
Influences
Hernandez has said that, at a young age, he was particularly enamored with superhero comics—particularly 1960s Marvel Comics artists such as Jack Kirby's work on Fantastic Four[4] and Steve Ditko, and the cartoony art of DC Comics artists such as Carmine Infantino and Dick Sprang.[25] He also said he drew a large influence from humorously exaggerated, naturalistic artists such as Dan DeCarlo, Harry Lucey and Bob Bolling's work on various Archie Comics titles.[26] He was impressed by the longer, "epic" stories he found, for example, in Classics Illustrated, or in issue #2 of Charlton Premiere Comics[27]
Critical analysis and reception
The style of Gilbert's work has been described as
Along with his brother Jaime, Gilbert has been named as one of Time’s "Top 100 Next Wave Storytellers" in 2009.[29] He is also co-creator and co-star (with his wife, Carol Kovinick) of The Naked Cosmos,[29] an eccentric low-budget TV show about a cosmic prophet known as Quintas.
Awards
- 1986 Fantagraphics Books)
- 1986 Inkpot Award[31]
- 1989 Harvey Awardfor Best Writer for Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics)
- 1990 Harvey Award for Best Writer for Love & Rockets (Fantagraphics)
- 1989 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series for Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics)
- 1990 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series for Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics)
- 2001 Harvey Award for Best New Series for Luba's Comix and Stories (Fantagraphics)
- 2004 Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story for Love and Rockets #9 (Fantagraphics)
- 2009 Fellow Award from United States Artists
- 2013 PEN Center USA’s Graphic Literature Award for Outstanding Body of Work
- 2014 Eisner Award for Best Short Storyfor Untitled in Love and Rockets: New Stories' #6 (Fantagraphics)
- 2023 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award for Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection (Fantagraphics)
Bibliography
- Heartbreak Soup (Love and Rockets Library (Palomar & Luba Book 1)) (2007) Fantagraphics
- Human Diastrophism (Love and Rockets Library (Palomar & Luba Book 2)) (2007) Fantagraphics
- Beyond Palomar (Love and Rockets Library (Palomar & Luba Book 3)) (2007) Fantagraphics
- Vertigo Comics
- Chance in Hell (2007) Fantagraphics
- Speak of the Devil (2008) Dark Horse Comics
- The Troublemakers (2009) Fantagraphics
- High Soft Lisp (Love and Rockets Book 25) (2010) Fantagraphics
- Love From The Shadows (2011) Fantagraphics
- The Adventures of Venus (2012) Fantagraphics
- The Children of Palomar (2013) Fantagraphics
- Julio's Day (2013) Fantagraphics
- Marble Season (2013) Drawn & Quarterly
- Maria M. Book 1 (2013) Fantagraphics
- Luba and Her Family (Love and Rockets Library (Palomar & Luba Book 4)) (2014) Fantagraphics
- Fatima: The Blood Spinners (2014) Dark Horse Comics
- Grip: The Strange World of Men (2014) Dark Horse Comics
- Maria M. Book 2 (2014) Fantagraphics
- Bumperhead (2014) Drawn & Quarterly
- Loverboys (2014) Dark Horse Comics
- Garden of the Flesh (2016) Fantagraphics
- Blubber (2015) Fantagraphics
- Yeah (1999) DC Comics
- Eros Comics
References
- Specific
- ^ Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide. Archived from the original on February 18, 2011.
- ^ Aldama 2009, p. 171; Kaplan 2006, p. 128.
- ^ Aldama 2009, p. 175.
- ^ a b c d Aldama 2009, p. 172.
- ^ a b c d Kaplan 2006, p. 142.
- ^ Kaplan 2006, p. 129.
- ^ Aldama 2009, p. 171.
- ^ ""Love and Rockets'" Gilbert Hernandez on Darwyn Cooke and How Punk Rock Changed His Life". CBR. 2016-05-11. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
- ^ "Gilbert & Jaime Hernandez on Punk, Latinidad, & Reviving Their Seminal 'Love and Rockets' Comic Book". Remezcla. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
- ^ Gilman, Michael. "Interview with Gilbert Hernández". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ "Bound Together 2023: Art & Photo: Cartoons". Alta Online. 2023-09-25. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
- ^ Wolk 2007, p. 68.
- ^ "Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets". NPR. January 27, 2023.
- ^ a b Bello, Grace (2015-08-24). "Gilbert Hernandez: I Saw My Neighborhood as the World". Guernica. Retrieved 2024-03-16.
- ^ Barnett, David (2016-05-10). "'There's nothing like it in comics' … how Love and Rockets broke the rules". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
- ^ Hatfield 2005, p. 69.
- ^ a b Kaplan 2006, p. 131.
- ^ Kaplan 2006, p. 134.
- ^ Kaplan 2006, p. 140.
- ^ Kaplan 2006, p. 144.
- ^ a b Kaplan 2006, p. 145.
- ^ a b Wolk 2008, p. 1.
- ^ Manning, Shawn. "Gilbert Hernández Cavorts with 'Troublemakers". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ Wolk 2008.
- ^ Kaplan 2006, p. 128.
- ^ Aldama 2009, p. 172; Kaplan 2006, p. 129.
- ^ Aldama 2009, p. 174–175.
- ^ "Teen angst with a difference". BBC. 2006. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ a b c "Gilbert Hernandez: USA Rasmuson Fellow, 2009, NV, Literature". United States Artists. 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ Timberg 2007, p. 1.
- ^ Inkpot Award
- General
- Aldama, Frederick Luis (2009). "Gilbert Hernandez of Los Bros Hernandez". Your Brain on Latino Comics: From Gus Arriola to Los Bros Hernandez. University of Texas Press. pp. 171–181. ISBN 978-0-292-71973-6. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
- Hatfield, Charles (2005). "Gilbert Hernandez's Heartbreak Soup". Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature. ISBN 978-1-57806-719-0. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
- Kaplan, Arie (2006). "Gilbert Hernandez". Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!. Chicago Review Press. pp. 125–146. ISBN 978-1-55652-633-6. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
- Timberg, Scott (2007-10-07). "Drawn to a dark side". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ISBN 978-0-306-81509-6. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
isbn:0306815095.
- Wolk, Douglas (2008-10-17). "The Audacity of Hopey". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
Further reading
- artbomb creator profile of Gilbert Hernández
- Fantagraphics Books: 91–123.
- Nericcio, William A. (2002). "12 A Decidedly "Mexican" and "American" Semi[er]otic Transference: Frida Kahlo in the Eyes of Gilbert Hernandez". In Romero, Mary (ed.). Latino/a Popular Culture. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-3624-1. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
- Gilbert Hernandez at the Grand Comics Database
- Gilbert Hernandez at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)