Birdland

by Gilbert Hernández

Gilbert Hernandez' sensationally semen-drenched fantasia is still the hottest Eros comic of them all. With a delightfully deviant cast featuring driping exploits of two spunky strippers, an oversexed psychiatrist and her philandering husband.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Erotica, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fiction, Comix

100 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 1992

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

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gilbert takes Luba's sisters to the adult imprint of Fantagraphics, so as well as his trademark magical realism, we also get graphic sex, lots of it. and still this is a good piece of work. 7 out of 12. And no, I couldn't think of a GIF or an image I could use :)
2016 read

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Gilbert Hernandez, and I'm certainly not a prude... but this is an appalling misfire.

Birdland is a world of nonstop erotic excess, in which nothing is taboo, including incest and a really suprising amount of rape. Actions have no consequences in this fantasy land, and although I understand the intent of celebrating libido without guilt or realistic complications, this is a mess, neither erotic nor liberating.

The fact that Hernandez throws his established characters into the soup makes it seem even less appealing. I understand that they are not real people and that Hernandez has always enjoyed mixing the surreal with the more mundane, but... yuck.

I'm glad this wasn't my first exposure to his work, or it would have been my last, and I would have missed a lot of genius. Sadly, this one is not recommended at all.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't get my hands on Love & Rockets, so since this had "bird" in the title, I read this.

I think the gender-swapping is the best thing about this comic. I found Hernandez's characters hard to distinguish between. The excess cum and disproportionate breasts were off-putting, and the dialogue was fairly terrible. But otherwise it was what you'd expect. He's a talented artist and the character Bang-Bang is cool. Not as interested in Love & Rockets now, but I'd still read it if I came across it.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought Gilbert's Love and Rockets stories had a lot of sex. Apparently not enough!

This erotica comic from 1992 features Fritz and Petra but its very exaggerated. There's some plot and story here - it gets thrown out the window about 2/3rds through... but this is definitely pornographic and not the faint of heart.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the sexiest, orgiastic and orgasmic work of art I've ever read or seen ... with enough love, science fiction, and evolutionary and androgynous philosophy thrown in ... not to be just hardcore porn.

[Norman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this porn?? If not, this is the single most XXX rated thing one can perhaps “read,” and the amount of sex depicted makes it a very private read...

I wanted to get more meaning out of it, but instead I was questioning things such as why “choad” is a sexy word or what’s up with all the alliteration.

[Brian Stillman · Rating 2 out of 5]

My, but that's a lot of cum.

[Mikey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I notice that Birdland isn’t for everyone, but let’s set the sex aside for a moment. This book is a crucial missing link in Gilbert Hernandez’s body of work, bridging the gap between much of his 1980s and 1990s storytelling. It connects Maria, Luba’s mother, to Fritz’s pendant, which in turn ties back to Palomar. Within that framework, Birdland becomes a swirling, exuberant dance of endless connection and rotation—both narratively and physically.

What makes Birdland remarkable isn’t just its eroticism but it's rare sense of freedom and joy. No one is murdered, cursed, or caught in an ironic downfall. Instead, there’s lust, thwarted love, and an uninhibited celebration of sex—where gender is fluid, women take center stage, and pleasure is freely given and received. Think about most erotic material: does porn meet that standard? Does it feel intellectual? What sets Birdland apart—and why it earns five stars—is not just that it’s fun, funny, and engaging, but that it genuinely pushes boundaries in a way so much erotic media does not. It’s about the purity of pleasure, the wit behind the desire, and the radical freedom to be oneself.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beto takes a raunchy twist on his Palomar stories by taking two of Luba's sisters - Fritz and Petra - and dropping them amidst a little pocket fantasy world where everything has to do with sex. This isn't particularly good by any means, mostly because Birdland strips away the magical realism, the surrealism and the subtlety that Beto displays in his mainline Love and Rockets stories. But it's still a great looking comic and one that adds a unique spin to his diverse library of comics.

[Ushnav Shroff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This graphic novel was a semen-soaked riot of adventures that was extremely hard and dull to follow at times - but that could have been due to all the blood exiting my brain, for Gilbert Hernandez's Birdland is nothing short of crude pornography instilled with a sense of weak narrative.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Standard smut comic made slightly more interesting by the inclusion of aliens and hypnosis.

[Aleena Treesa Dominic]

I nees to wash my eyes

[rotting charm · Rating 1 out of 5]

i gotta admit, this is very cringe. the only good thing is that flat chested woman exist, which is not usual in these kind of works.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Fourth edition January 1996*

Beto quiera llamar y dibujar con el peno de un novio pero no tiene buenas ideas. Menos las tietas mas grandes, el arte es bien y tres o quatro personas son interesante pero todos otros cosas son estupido o feo. El marque de tres estrellas es simpatico.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is beautifully rendered and features some spectacularly explicit and tawdry sex (not that that's a bad thing). It even makes a gesture or two towards trying to add some sort of actual psychological depth to the cum-drenched proceedings, though mostly it opts for a comic/kitsch feel, with the humour at about a borscht-belt level. There is a plot, sort of, about aliens who are curious about the human sex drive, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense except as an excuse for the fucking and the polymorphously perverse orgy at the end (before the rather redundant post-script story). If you like well-rendered if senseless porn and have a high tolerance for cum shots, this is your book. Otherwise, be warned.

[captain america · Rating 1 out of 5]

graphic sex with little in the way of storyline that couldn't have been said in 4 or 5 pages...but this IS the "Eros" imprint of Fantagraphics after all so sex is the raison d'etre.

more disturbing than everything and everyone covered in come is gilbert adding more and more improbable and superfluous layers (both before and after birdland was published) to long-standing characters. for example, although fritz and petra are in the love & rockets/palomar storyline, the birdland story arc is far enough removed that they may as well be different characters. all the extra baggage cheapens the accomplished palomar stories.

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very explicit, but oftentimes beautifully so, Birdland is a beautifully rendered erotic graphic novel. Hernández's artwork is as amazing as ever, as is his story lines. Very unconventional, but if you are a lover of his work, and are an adult, I would completely recommend Birdland.

[Jay Daze · Rating 2 out of 5]

The least erotic of Hernandez's comics.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to locate where my comics are - garage in a nice plastic bin I think

[Rolando · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book way more than is humanly excusable.

[Meem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fail.

[lilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

talk about blushing!!!

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's pretty much the opposite of erotic.

[Dave Riley]

Crap. A succession of couplings between naked people -- mainly nubile women. Indulgent.