Love & Rockets Book 15: Hernandez Satyricon

Love and Rockets #15

by Gilbert Hernández, Jaime Hernández

The final Vol. 1 collection, with the "unclassifiable" stuff from the previous three years, including the stories where Jaime and Gilbert drew each other's characters. Easily the wildest and most outlandish volume!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

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

[Owen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel bad giving this only 2 stars - not that it's any less great than anything else Los Bros. have done, it just feels a little scatterbrained since it is a collection of odds & ends that weren't previously reprinted, like they really had to dig in order to come up with enough material to fill pages.

[Eric T. Voigt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being introduced to a whole cast of characters who I'm supposed to be treating as old friends could've felt off-putting, but the stories are so well-crafted and the art is envy-inspiring, not breath taking... eye-taking?, so it wasn't that much of an issue for me starting way later in the series than I should've for my own safety. They treated me gently.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably should have held off on reading this volume until having read more of the previous ones-- I've only read one or two others before and that was years ago, so the little vignettes contained in this book didn't mean as much to me as if I had been more familiar with the characters and their stories. That said, it was an enjoyable read nonetheless!

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the Hernandez brothers having fun with somewhat throwaway but still entertaining stories. One particularly amusing story is about Gilbert Hernandez and his wife Carol, with each of them drawing the other.

[Chelsea Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Christmas! and Easter Hunt!

[Gessy Alvarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely crazy and disorganized but I enjoyed it nonetheless.