From Beto & Jaime with Love & Rockets

Gilbert Hernandez (left) Jaime Hernandez (right)

 (Above) Examples of Gilbert's art 

(Above) Examples of Jaime's art

          Last night I got to see a Q&A session with Gilbert (aka Beto) & Jaime (pronounced HI-may) Hernandez – two of the world’s greatest living cartoonists. They appeared at Shambaugh Auditorium on the campus of The University of Iowa in Iowa City. Although they are still young men, for over thirty years they have been writing and illustrating the classic alternative comic book “Love and Rockets” (later appropriated as the name of an unauthorized rock band.) “Love and Rockets” is a comic book made up of two unrelated, yet somehow complimentary halves. Jaime’s half concerns Maggie and Hopey, a pair of young lesbians living in Hoppers, a Latino community in Los Angeles. Gilbert’s half is set in the South American pueblo of Palomar, featuring Luba and her many children. 

          Embarrassingly, I have to admit that I am not very familiar with their writing – there is so much great stuff in the world, there simply aren’t enough hours in a lifetime to see and hear and read everything great that’s out there. Suffice to say that they have received pretty much universal acclaim for their writing. Interestingly, the moderator last night (who, overly modestly, did not state his name) is not an art teacher, but an English teacher.

         What I do know about the Hernandez brothers is that their black and white artwork is exquisitely beautiful. Every panel is a masterpiece, every page is a masterpiece. Interestingly, last night’s moderator showed slides of several full comic pages, almost none of which contained any writing or dialogue. Jaime’s elegant, mostly solid blacks on white is perfect for his sleek, modern storytelling. Gilbert’s funkier approach is perfect for his stories about down- to- earth characters who share magical, mystical beliefs. Don’t take my word for it, though. In the most recent Comics Journal (issue 301), R. Crumb (the greatest cartoonist in history) singles out (doubles out?) The Hernandez Brothers as masters of anatomically correct drawing, and masters of drawing beautiful women. (Crumb claims limited ability at the former and NO ability at the latter). In relation to their drawings of beautiful women, one critic (I don’t know his name) memorably wrote of the Hernandezes “Their genius is like cruelty – it makes you fall in love with lines on paper.”

          Considering their considerable reputation, the two men came across as genuinely modest and likeable.

          Last night’s most memorable moments;

          Gilbert related that their mother would occasionally spend hours telling them stories about her growing up in Mexico. The Hernandez children were utterly fascinated by her stories, which regularly combined realistic situations with supernatural elements presented unquestioningly as fact.

          Jaime related that one of his favorite cartoonists was a creator of Li’l Archie comics. As an example, he described one panel in which a single element – a dark side of a barn – almost subliminally related to the reader that it was sundown and therefore, Li’l Archie, walking on the road, is headed for home before it gets dark.

          “Love and Rockets” used to appear about three times a year. It is now an annual. I was surprised to learn that nowadays each artist only produces 50 pages a year, but that is more than they ever produced in years passed.

          Their work is available, as always, from their long time publisher Fantagraphics Books.