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Love and Rockets #12
Love and Rockets, Vol. 12: Poison River
Gilbert Hernandez (Love and Rockets series) has produced some of the best comics work of the last ten years. Poison River is the story of one of his most engaging characters, Luba-self-possesed, intelligent an iconoclastically sexy- in the years before she arrived in Palomar, Hernandez's mythological Central American Village. We meet Maria, Luba's mother, beautiful, pampered and recklessly promiscuous. Maria's husband discovers that Luba is the result of a tool-shed trystwith Eduardo, a poor indian worker and kicks mother, child and lover out into poverty. Glamorous Maria abandons the other two in turn, and much later a teenage Luba meets her future husband Peter Rios, a conga player and small-time(soon to be big-time) gangster who takes her away to a life of privilege. But their meeting is not by chance and Rio's peculiar sexual obsessions (women's navels and well-hung chorus "girls") are driven by carnal memories of the exquisite Maria. Indeed Luba's new life (and the men in it) is much like her mother's - lavishly sheltered by violent anticommunist gangsters, who murder and terrorize the local "leftists" in the name of "business" and right-wing patriotism.
120 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1994
3 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Gilbert Hernández
435 books422 followersGilbert 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 17, 2012
If there's a single volume from this series that qualifies as the best, this is it. We're given the secret history of Luba, all the way back to her mother's latter days. The pacing can be a bit bewildering at times, often jumping panel by panel between characters, scenes and times. It all comes together, though, into a grand-scale narrative by the end (at which time, unsurprisingly, we see Luba's arrival in Palomar). While we're given glimpses of relationships we're already familiar with from the rest of the series, this book can stand on its own in a way the other volumes can't.
A great deal of this story is grim and adults-only, and Luba is never a sympathetic character. As a fairly detailed account of what goes into making a person who they are, however, this is a must-read.
A great deal of this story is grim and adults-only, and Luba is never a sympathetic character. As a fairly detailed account of what goes into making a person who they are, however, this is a must-read.
May 4, 2018
Luba, whose story Poison River tells lies at the heart of the L&R world, as in many ways the lynchpin of the Palomar stories. Strong, sensible, pragmatic from the outset it is obvious that Luba has lived a difficult life in a hostile world, negotiated the challenges of that world and survived to flourish a small town with little in the way of ‘modern world’ resources or access. Poison River, Luba’s back story, shows just what those struggles and challenges were.
Orphaned early, married to a gangster at 15 and thrown into a tangled tale of desire (both sexual and for power), political positioning and rivalry and the dangers of the corruption of a business associated with the trade in desire – for drugs, for sex, for safety and escape – all the while developing a sense of self-reliance in a hostile world in an unnamed Central American country during the 1950s and ‘60s Luba here develops as a literary character to parallel some of the great women of modern literature. That is to so, this is the most complex and sophisticated of the L&R tales thus far. Although it is Luba’s story each stage develops through a character in her world from her birth (told as her mother’s story) to her arrival in Palomar the narrative loops around and back and forth as the characters that shape Luba’s world and life grow, develop and have their influence.
The art work is excellent – sparse and using subtle markers to indicate shifts in perspective and time meaning that this is not a lightweight comic book to be rushed through but a sophisticated graphic novel (many texts give that label do not really deserve it) that both sets the standard for the form and should be savoured and relished. It is often said that L&R marks the potential for and is the foundation of the rise of the graphic novel. This collection, brought together to become a single text, is the evidence that supports that claim. I suspect it works well as a free standing single text: even so, it is a vital development in the Palomar strand of the L&R world, and is one of the novels, graphic or otherwise, I have returned to several times.
Orphaned early, married to a gangster at 15 and thrown into a tangled tale of desire (both sexual and for power), political positioning and rivalry and the dangers of the corruption of a business associated with the trade in desire – for drugs, for sex, for safety and escape – all the while developing a sense of self-reliance in a hostile world in an unnamed Central American country during the 1950s and ‘60s Luba here develops as a literary character to parallel some of the great women of modern literature. That is to so, this is the most complex and sophisticated of the L&R tales thus far. Although it is Luba’s story each stage develops through a character in her world from her birth (told as her mother’s story) to her arrival in Palomar the narrative loops around and back and forth as the characters that shape Luba’s world and life grow, develop and have their influence.
The art work is excellent – sparse and using subtle markers to indicate shifts in perspective and time meaning that this is not a lightweight comic book to be rushed through but a sophisticated graphic novel (many texts give that label do not really deserve it) that both sets the standard for the form and should be savoured and relished. It is often said that L&R marks the potential for and is the foundation of the rise of the graphic novel. This collection, brought together to become a single text, is the evidence that supports that claim. I suspect it works well as a free standing single text: even so, it is a vital development in the Palomar strand of the L&R world, and is one of the novels, graphic or otherwise, I have returned to several times.
October 10, 2020
Río Veneno saca a relucir lo más primario, bestial y reptiliano de la existencia humana. Beto Hernández utiliza todas las viñetas (y en ocasiones incluso los espacios que no se ven entre ellas) para narrar todos los acontecimientos que configuran el carácter de Luba. Nada se endulza, no hay maquillaje, ni reflexiones, ni racionalización, ni mucho menos espacio para el sentimentalismo o las emociones. La secuencia de hechos y los diálogos cargan con todo el peso de la obra, dejando al lector desnudo y desarmado ante la dureza de “ser” Luba.
August 12, 2018
¡¡¡INCREDIBLE!!!
Ofelia outshines all in this mostly dark trip to the origins of Luba.
Ofelia outshines all in this mostly dark trip to the origins of Luba.
April 21, 2020
Why do the women Look Like That???
June 15, 2020
Jo-der...
July 13, 2021
Confusing at its worst, but the highs are incredible and exactly what L&R is famous for
September 25, 2013
The life of Luba unfolds in this collection, going back to tell her story from her birth to when we meet her in Palomar. While I generally prefer Gilbert's stories to Jaime's, this collection felt a little too convoluted for me and I realized that I like how most of the previous collections break up the stories of Palomar vs. Hoppers as a way to kind of cleanse the pallet and leaving you wanting more of both. Since "Poison River" is all about Luba, I found myself distracted and wanting to read a little about Maggie and Hopey and Izzy, etc. . . between the machinations and duplicities of gangsters, crooked cops and politicians that this collection follows.
On the other hand, however, the retroactive development of Luba's character will be very useful to me in terms of my academic work, so I will probably be spending a lot more time with this collection soon.
Edit: I must have written this review when I was new to LnR, because Poison River is just the kind of book you have to spend a lot of time with to reap its rewards. It is incredibly dense and difficult, but I consider it an incredible example of the kind of sophistication that can be achieved in the sequential graphic medium. I have read it through twice since I first read it, and have spent much more time with sections as I wrote about it for my dissertation, and am considering reading it through again.
On the other hand, however, the retroactive development of Luba's character will be very useful to me in terms of my academic work, so I will probably be spending a lot more time with this collection soon.
Edit: I must have written this review when I was new to LnR, because Poison River is just the kind of book you have to spend a lot of time with to reap its rewards. It is incredibly dense and difficult, but I consider it an incredible example of the kind of sophistication that can be achieved in the sequential graphic medium. I have read it through twice since I first read it, and have spent much more time with sections as I wrote about it for my dissertation, and am considering reading it through again.
April 8, 2016
This is the first volume of Love and Rockets since the beginning that I didn't love. Beto's art is impeccable as always but his storytelling takes an experimental turn that just felt tedious and self indulgent. There are certainly moments of brilliance, especially the decompressed storytelling in the first chapter but it becomes increasingly hard to follow and overloaded with back story. It's kind of like he had a longer comic and then removed random panels. I'm sure I'll revisit this, because there is a great narrative in here, it's just structurally (and purposefully) hard to follow and bloated.
Read
November 16, 2011The origin story of Palomar's hammer-wielding mayor/bath woman that brings Luba from mischievous toddler to world-weary woman. Not quite on par with the earlier Palomar stories, Poison River has a tendency to rest on its laurels - those laurels being brutality and kinky sex - but still successfully captures some real human drama
July 25, 2012
Maybe my favorite Love & Rockets collection. All Beto, telling the story of Luba's life before Palomar. The story-telling in this one's particularly fluid; Beto's a master of knowing what needs to be articulated and what can be left to the world between the panels.
September 18, 2007
The Brothers Hernandez initiated me into the world of graphic novels. Maggie and Hopey seduced me, but it is Luba and the Poison River stories that haunt me to this day.
February 14, 2008
Ofelia for president!
Read
January 4, 2009this unfolds luba's life before she went to palomar. i got hooked and had to start reading palomar.
May 29, 2012
This is not America. Or is it? The sixties, revisited by Beto through the life and times of Luba, are a gloomy age of treachery, bloodshed, senseless wandering.
July 31, 2015
Further adventures from Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar.
June 18, 2023
Gilbert Hernandez at his finest
June 23, 2016
i'm almost through this set of love and rockets and have to say give these guys a pulitzer already!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews