Gilbert Hernandez and The Naked Cosmos

IMAGE (C) 2009 GILBERT HERNANDEZ

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM "LOVE AND MAGGIE"

Above is a great image from Gilbert Hernandez's film "The Naked Cosmos" (co-starring wife Carol Kovinick-Hernandez) a very strange-looking effort, to say the least. The official site can be found here, with ordering information, stills gallery (where I found the above image), and anything you need to know about this project. Below is the trailer, and if you don't want to buy the DVD after seeing it you shouldn't be reading this blog:


via

(this used to be offered by Fantagraphics Books, but I couldn't find it anywhere on their website. Check the usual places for out of print items if Bright Red Rocket is also sold out of the DVD.)

(11/1: here is the actual catalog page from the Bright Red Rocket website where the new printing of "The Naked Cosmos" is now available)

The Troublemakers is Coming Soon

Gilbert Hernandez's eagerly awaited new original "Fritz" graphic novel, THE TROUBLEMAKERS, debuted at the Alternative Press Expo 2009. Fantagraphics has recently put the book up for pre-order here, along with several preview options. via FlogBlog

This should appeal to all fans of hardcore noir/crime fiction, such as Richard Stark, Dan J. Marlowe, and Charles Willeford. Not to mention followers of the Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips CRIMINAL series. My personal favorite noir comic of all-time is definitely Gilbert's POISON RIVER saga, so many great characters acting so badly and ending up even worse. This promises to be more of a Gil Brewer-type wild ride, rather then the density of POISON RIVER. If, like me, you want to see this series of graphic novels by Gilbert continue, BUY THIS BOOK!

Love and Rockets Links Old and New: Part 3

CRUSH:






via


Chris Arrant interviews Vito Delsante (co-creator of the since-cancelled graphic novel FCHS) who lists Jaime's "Locas" stories as an influence.


Molly Young of We Love You So crushes on LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 1 and the Hernandez Brothers, in general.


A long time ago there was a huge posting of Jaime Hernandez rarities (including that SILVERHEELS 3 color story I've been looking for forever). I've got two addresses that you may be able to find this at, try here or here.


Brad Curran has unnatural attractions to a certain Love and Rockets mechanic, go look.


Erik's "now reading" sidebar is LOVE AND ROCKETS 2 (includes front cover). See previous link.


London, England's Gosh! Comics store blog talks about LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2 and CITIZEN REX 3.

Douglas Wolk recommends CITIZEN REX 3 (and crushes on LUBA) in his "Don't Ask! Just Buy It!" column.

Rocco Nigro at Trouble With Comics lists "Six Greats Comics of 2009" with #5 being CITIZEN REX 1. Geoff Grogan, same place, lists "Six Comics I happened to read in 2009 that I liked very much" including LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2, and "Six graphic novels I read in 2009 that I liked a good deal" citing LUBA and LOCAS II hardcovers.


Kiel Phegley interviews Jhonen Vasquez on his STRANGE TALES 2 contribution, wherein he reveals LOVE AND ROCKETS as an early influence (and mentions Gilbert's SLOTH as among the books he owns but hasn't read).


Wellington, New Zealand band "Kittentank" lead singer Frank Eggleton says the band's name was taken from "a graphic novel called LOVE AND ROCKETS."

On the Covered blog artist KG does a very nicely stylized version of Gilbert's classic Palomar statue cover from the original series LOVE AND ROCKETS 23.

Mike Sterling shows appreciation to both Gilbert and Jaime on his Progressive Ruin blog.


Gilbert Hernandez crushes on Scott Allie and Kevin McGovern's Dark Horse graphic novel EXURBIA. The link will take you to the press release with Gilbert's pull-quote, a preview, and another link for online ordering if you're so inclined.

some links via Flog Blog, Journalista, Savage Critics, and Comics Reporter

Love and Rockets Links Old and New: Part 2

REVIEWS:

many are via FlogBlog, a few via Comics Reporter
Scott Cederlund reviews LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 1.
Vanja has a long critique of Jaime's "Ti-Girls" serial from LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 1+2.
Irene reviews LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2 as part of her vacation reading list on the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh blog.
Ace Bauer reviews LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2.
Chris Mautner has a short review of LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2 at Robot 6.
Not-Matt-Brady-of-Newsarama has a long review of LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2.
Leroy Douressaux at Comic Book Bin reviews LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2, check out the links to other L&R-related Comic Book Bin articles at the bottom of the page.

Mark London Williams, in the "Nexus Graphica" column, reviews the LOCAS II hardcover.
Chris Estey discusses the LOCAS II hardcover collection.

Michael C. Lorah reviews the LUBA hardcover at Newsarama.

Gary Lactus reviews CITIZEN REX 1+2, be sure to read comment threads.
Don MacPherson reviews CITIZEN REX 1.
Infernolad briefly discusses CITIZEN REX 3.

Jill "The Nerdy Bird" reviews MYSPACE: DARK HORSE PRESENTS Volume 2 with Gilbert's "Manga" story, very well done website if I remember right.

Love and Rockets Links Old and New: Part 1

Here's a roundup of the September and October links I've got backed up on, many of them are from the ever reliable FlogBlog.


MISCELLANEOUS:


Jaime Hernandez had an illustration in the New Yorker of Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke, which sparked much chatter among other entertainment bloggers (usually with Jaime's illustration accompanying). Thompson on Hollywood, Bob Westel, Heidi MacDonald, Thierry Atard, Nick Nadel, and Nikki Finke, herself.



Sean T. Collins briefly mentions Jaime and his relationship with genre comics in his Small Press Expo 2009 "New Action Panel" transcript here.


Brad Curran reviews his pull list including the unread LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2, the comments on this post are amazing they go on forever! I love it.


The Comics Reporter, er, reported that current CITIZEN REX editor Diana Schutz was nominated to THE JOE SHUSTER AWARDS "Hall of Fame" 2009 class. Congratulations to one of the more talented editors in the business.


Both The Comics Reporter and Poopsheet Foundation reported that KRAMERS ERGOT 7 won the 2009 Ignatz Award for "Outstanding Anthology or Collection." Jaime contributed to this monster book.


Brad Curran, again, this time with opinions on a variety of Hernandez Brothers books: LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 2; CITIZEN REX; SLOTH; and, "Palomar" stories.


CITIZEN REX 2 ranked 287th out of Diamond's TOP 300 comics sold in August, list here.


CITIZEN REX 3 and 4 have since been released, but I haven't been able to find copies at my local comics stores.


the folks at ifanboy had a few comments on CITIZEN REX 3, always worth a look.


Ng Suat Tong analyzes THE SANDMAN 1-20 by Neil Gaiman (and various) and mentions Jaime Hernandez's newer "Maggie" stories in comparison.


The FlogBlog reported that Jaime Hernandez's LA EDUCACION DE HOPEY GLASS won "Best Foreign Work" at the XIV Aviles Comic Convention, his second foreign work award for this book if I remember correctly.


"Look! It Moves" column by Adisakdi Tantimedh discusses Jaime's "Ti-Girls Adventures" stories in the context of FINAL CRISIS-type mainstream superhero crossover events.

Sean T. Collins lists his purchases from SPX 2009 including NEW TALES OF OLD PALOMAR 3 by Gilbert Hernandez.

Chris Mautner writes on Carol Kovinick-Hernandez's new photo uploads on her Facebook page. Also see THE COMICS JOURNAL 125 (October 1988) for three pages of Carol's photos from the 1988 San Diego Con.

Ed Howard brings up Jaime Hernandez in a discussion of the merits of Pixar animation.

Certainly the oddest comment thread I've come across, with Wendy Pini, George Perez, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez discussed in relationship to the art on Archie Comics!

Lu writes on participating in a read-a-thon, one of the books is HEARTBREAK SOUP by Gilbert Hernandez.

Sean T. Collins profiles what is probably the rarest publication Jaime Hernandez ever appeared in, a photocopied mini-comics version of KRAMERS ERGOT 7. Collins even posts a picture of the little book! Go take a look.

CITIZEN REX 4 was previewed one, two, three, four, five times in anticipation of it's release on October 21. Haven't seen a copy yet, but it's nice so many mentions in the blogosphere.

Jaime audio interview: http://comixclaptrap.blogspot.com/2009/10/season-2-episode-1-jaime-hernandez.html

Sandy Bilius has a "meta-list" of over a 100 critics best-of-2008 lists, which is boiled down into a top 100 of 2008 list here. It includes LOVE AND ROCKETS NEW STORIES 1 and THE EDUCATION OF HOPEY GLASS.

Tom Spurgeon's recent "Five for Friday" post on "Pals" included an inordinate number of characters from the LOVE AND ROCKETS pantheon, take a look here.

Jaime Hernandez Stussy T-shirts Now Available

Remember those great t-shirts with designs by Jaime Hernandez that were announced a few months ago? Thanks to Jason at swag syndicate I finally found links to sale pages for each item on the Stussy website:

"Femme Rock"
http://www.stussy.com/#/shop/mens/tees/hernandez-femme-rock-tee
"Graveyard"
http://www.stussy.com/#/mens/tees/hernandez-graveyard-tee
"Stage Wrecker"
http://www.stussy.com/#/mens/tees/hernandez-stage-wrecker-tee
"Punk Girl"
http://www.stussy.com/#/mens/tees/hernandez-punk-girl-tee

The shirts come in a variety of sizes and cost $28.00 each, a real bargain for a custom Jaime designed anything!

For European Jaime fans Urban Industry has a "Stage Wrecker" and "Femme Rock" for sale on their website: http://www.urbanindustry.co.uk/products/brand.asp?bid=16

Jason's posting includes color pictures of a couple of the shirts, and is dated 9/22/09 so this post will not be new to some of you out there.

Wonder Woman Day IV: Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez Guests

WONDER WOMAN DAY IV OCTOBER 25, 2009

Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez will be appearing in person signing from Noon-6:00pm

at EXCALIBUR COMICS, 2444 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, Oregon

benefitting the following charities: Raphael House of Portland; Bradley Angle; and, Portland Women's Crisis Line.

Silent Auction of original Wonder Woman drawings by Gilbert and Jaime (above), as of 11:15 CT on 10/24 Gilbert's drawing was at $150 and Jaime's drawing was at $435!! Way to go, folks.

Fantagraphics Books donated LOVE AND ROCKETS hardcover collections as door prizes.

more information here: http://www.wonderwomanmuseum.com/WWDay4/WWDay4.html

Origins of Maggie: Punk Rock Forever

This is the final installment of "Origins of Maggie" series, going out with a bang with Letty's introduction of young Maggie to The Ramones. This sequence from "Wig Wam Bam 8" serves as Jaime's history of rock music he listened to, as well as the music that shaped his character. It was Letty's introduction of punk rock that led Maggie to Del Chimney's place, and after Letty's death to Izzy introducing Maggie to Hopey. The rest is history, as they say.

Re-reading Love and Rockets

Tom Spurgeon wrote a great post on his comics reporter website about comics you might re-read and how they might help you reflect back on life in general and specific moments mirrored in comics memories, in particular. I immediately agreed with his choice of Jaime Hernandez's "Death of Speedy" storyline, since I just reread the whole thing a couple months ago. This is probably one of Jaime's shorter storylines, so that may have something to do with why I always pull this story out rather than "100 rooms" or "House of Raging Women" (not to mention the endless saga beginning after the "Death of Speedy"-storyline continuing through the end of the original series). In my opinion, it's Jaime's most realistic story as there really are no fantastic or supernatural elements until the very end (when they really hit hard, emotionally). The artwork is not as good as Jaime's current style, but how I remember copying those panels over and over again when I was in high school. Jaime's style back then was kind of uneven, in a GOOD way, as there were highly realistic renderings next to Harry Lucey-level hijinx next to old-style Mechanics renderings. Just a wonderful transistional phase that I really bought into at the time it was published, and of course still do every time I reread it. However, I didn't recall HOW much I bought into Jaime's story until I read this passage by Spurgeon, "[...]and most importantly have broken with the simple desire it invoked in me to want to live the way Hernandez depicts these people living their lives[...]". I identify with that statement, so much, as I was a very shy, isolated person when these characters dropped in my lap, so to speak. Not necessarily wanting to be a gang member, but just hanging out on the fringe of existence as Ray and Maggie and their ancilliary characters were doing in this story. The last paragraph of Spurgeon's post is probably my favorite writing on LOVE AND ROCKETS I've come across, it definitely lives up to the source that inspired it.

P.S. Steve Ditko's AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and Carl Barks WDC&S 10-pagers, also make my short list.

Love and Rockets Curiosities #6

I've seen a lot of foreign editions of LOVE AND ROCKETS while scrolling through ebay or Amazon, usually spanish or french-language reprints by local publishing houses. However, I have to admit being suprised that LOVE AND ROCKETS fame has spread as far afield as Africa. Capetown, South Africa, to be exact. Bid or Buy (yeah, BOB for short!) is "Africa's Largest Online Marketplace." They have a Capetown seller who had a hardcover LUBA volume for sale, although it had a different cover than the Fantagraphics edition (the cover was a montage of faces, rather than a single figure of Luba). Here's the address to the sale page, although the auction has expired already:

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/16014581/Luba_Gilbert_Hernandez.html