Love and Rockets, Vol. 2: Chelo's Burden

Love and Rockets #2

by Gilbert Hernández, Mario Hernández

Notable for their strong female characters and their focus on relationships . rather than on tradtional comic book "action", the stories collected in this volume show how the comic format can be used to create characters and situations as detailed and compelling as in any novel.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Comix, Graphic Novels Comics, Romance, Sequential Art

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 1996

About the author

Gilbert and his brother Jaime Hernández mostly publish their separate storylines together in Love And Rockets and are often referred to as 'Los Bros Hernandez'.

Gilbert Hernandez is an American cartoonist best known for the Palomar and Heartbreak Soup stories in Love and Rockets, the groundbreaking alternative comic series he created with his brothers Jaime and Mario. Raised in Oxnard, California in a lively household shaped by comics, rock music and a strong creative streak, he developed an early fascination with graphic storytelling. His influences ranged from Marvel legends Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to the humor and clarity of Hank Ketcham and the Archie line, as well as the raw energy of the underground comix that entered his life through his brother Mario.
In 1981 the brothers self-published the first issue of Love and Rockets, which quickly drew the attention of Fantagraphics Books. The series became a defining work of the independent comics movement, notable for its punk spirit, emotional depth and multiracial cast. Gilbert's Palomar stories, centered on the residents of a fictional Latin American village, combined magic realism with soap-opera intimacy and grew into an ambitious narrative cycle admired for its complex characters and bold storytelling. Works like Human Diastrophism helped solidify his reputation as one of the medium's most inventive voices.
Across periods when Love and Rockets was on hiatus, Hernandez built out a parallel body of work, creating titles such as New Love, Luba, and Luba's Comics and Stories, as well as later graphic novels including Sloth and The Troublemakers. He also collaborated with Peter Bagge on the short-lived series Yeah! and continued to explore new directions in Love and Rockets: New Stories.
Celebrated for his portrayal of independent women and for his distinctive blend of realism and myth, Hernandez remains a major figure in contemporary comics and a lasting influence on generations of artists.

Reviews

[Meg Powers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pushing my taste further in Jaime Hernandez's camp. Unless he is writing and drawing science fiction, I just get impatient with Gilbert's take on soap operatics. I read the first Love&Rockets book in its entirety, but I am finding myself skipping through the Palomar stories to get to the Maggie and Hopey bits. Jaime's style is just more appealing, and although Gilbert draws some great wrestling women, Jaime's girls are just hotter. In my busy, nerd-ass theatre school schedule, I can't waste time on boring comics!
I will write more intelligently about this later.

[milo in the woods · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s fine but contextless

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As long as I've been reading Los Bros. Hernandez, I've preferred Jaime as an artist but Gilbert as a storyteller. This volume already cements that opinion for me. Though the book's titled Chelo's Burden (and Goodreads has the authour listed as Jaime, rather than Beto), there are two major story arcs and a few minor self-contained stories (as well as one from Mario that's a little of both) herein.
Heartbreak Soup is a lovely, poignant, bittersweet story from Beto, and this book adds a few new pages to the original magazine version of the tale to introduce us to some of the denizens of his Palomar-centered world. Some of these characters (like Luba) become the stuff of legend through the course of his long-running saga...and some don't make it to the end of this tale. Superb storying, and only the first glimpse of what he's capable of.
100 Rooms from Jaime, meanwhile, is considerably lighter fare, but a wonderful showcase for his effortless-looking, cartoony-but-believable artwork. It's a nice way to see Maggie, Hopey, Penny & Izzy mostly at play, rather than in constant strife over whatever, but doesn't feel like anything you couldn't read the rest of their lives without.
The other stories range from sci-fi-lite from both Jaime & Beto, to an excellent peek into the past of Rena Titanon, the story of how Maggie got to be a superhero (just once) and another 'chapter' of Mario's odd Somewhere in California saga.
This was an absolutely entertaining book in the series, and the start of Los Bros. hitting their stride.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡¡¡INCREDIBLE!!!

[Chris Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

My goal this summer is to get through the first 10 volumes of Love & Rockets. Gonna' try and give each a brief review I can look back on.

The Maggie / Hopey storylines in Vol. 2 are great. I really liked what was happening in Palomar but there was too little of it!
I was a little disappointed by the one-shot / side stories in this Vol., but happy to see more wrestling!

Overall it is a very good comic, with substantial character building from vol. 1 amid some fun and wild tales. Looking forward to vol. 3

Crazy to think this work is almost 40 years old.

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still feel like I’m just getting a feel for the series, but I like this volume a lot more than volume 1, as between the Locas and Palomar, I feel like we’re finally getting to know some recurring characters we can care about.

[Baal Of · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems to be where the Hernandez brothers really hit their stride. Complex characters, stories that range all over the map, but have more cohesion than the first volume. Nice artwork.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una gran combinación de Fellini y Buñuel, o sea que está bien vergas m

[Al McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many classics here.

[Yvette · Rating 3 out of 5]

从图书馆预约的是Vol.1 但收到却是第二册。收录的故事风格不一，从超级英雄到爱情故事，篇幅最长的是讲述Palomar小镇故事的heartbreak soup，Maggie and Hopey的故事则比较零散，主要的是100 rooms 那篇。

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of Love and Rockets picks up speed with Gilbert's excellent Heartbreak Soup which really starts the Palomar stories. I had forgotten how strong the storytelling was in these early stories. He captures the speech and manner of young boys so well. Really tremendous.

Jaime's stories are little bit of a letdown. 100 Rooms is entertaining but shallow as the girls wander around H.R. Costigan's palatial estate. Maggie is foolish in a way that isn't cute but does accurately portray the folly of a 19 year-old girl.

There is another less than stellar Mario story as well. It is hard to keep up when both of your brothers are creative geniuses.

I had forgotten the cheesecake factor in the series. The Bros love drawing their girls in various states of undress. They get away with it by writing theses women so well.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been getting these books from the library and so I've read some of them out of order.

This is the second book in the series of graphic novels compiled from Love and Rockets.

I don't know what else to say other than I really love the Hernandez brother. There art work is clean and well done. Their stories are compelling, when not humorous and insightful.

[Dan Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of potential here, and I look forward to getting deeper into these to see how the storytelling comes together. Like Vol. 1, this is an eclectic collection. The art is great, and the writing is starting to catch up.

[The Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luba for president!

[Will Hines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilbert's first and best Palomar story. It's because of this one that I'll buy everything crazy he does nowadays.

[Tristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie & Hopey forever!

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection contains Heartbreak Soup, the first story in Gilbert's long Central American Palomar epic.

[William Mego · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stick with it, Gentle Reader, the story and art will continue to improve.