Love & Rockets Sketchbook Two SC

by Gilbert Hernández, Jaime Hernández

How do they do it? How do Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez keep topping themselves issue after issue, year after year in their award-winning comic Love and Rockets ? Through hard work, constant experimentation, and page after page of diligent sketching. The second volume in the Love and Rockets Sketchbook series is a fascinating look into the work processes of two of comics' most talented artists, allowing readers to witness the creative pricess, from the earliest ideas through roughed-out pages all the way to finished artwork (including several completed sequences that were edited out of continuity, seen here for the first time!) — plus dozens of pages of beautiful character sketches, as well as the requisite sketchbook section of just goofing around, all annotated by Los Bros. A wonderful gift idea for Love and Rockets fans.

Genres: Comics, Art, Graphic Novels

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 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

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second set of rough work from Los. Bros. Hernandez is not as worthwhile as the first. There seemed to be much less to include, so images are given full-page status when it doesn't really seem necessary. There's also considerably less to read: there are no unpublished strips here, and very little explanation given for what is here.
If there's any reason to have this book (aside from being a Hernandez completist), it's for more portraiture from Jaime! Most of his section is devoted to pictures of people, often in pencil, usually realistic, though sometimes in ill-advised caricature (best left to his brother). Gilbert offers some funny peeks at characters we know, LOTS of swimsuit images and a mysterious character called Leonor I don't remember seeing but who's included with the Palomar folk.
Not at all necessary, unless you absolutely must.