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The Art of Jaime Hernández: The Secrets of Life and Death
In 1981 three Mexican-American brothers self-published their first comic book, Love and Rockets, and “changed American cartooning forever” according to Publishers Weekly. Over twenty-five years later it is still being published to critical and commercial success.
Jaime Hernández’s moving stories chronicle the lives of some of the most memorable and fully formed characters the comics form has ever seen. His female protagonists, masterfully delineated with humor, candor, and breathtaking realism, come to life within California’s Mexican-American culture and punk milieu.
In April 2006 Hernández began serializing his work with the New York Times Magazine—all of which will be collected here in full color. The notoriously private artist has opened his archives for the first time, revealing never-before-seen sketches, childhood drawings, and unpublished work, alongside his most famous Love and Rockets material.
Praise for The Art of Jaime Hernández:
"The Art of Jaime Hernández is proof of what I've been trying to convince comics artists to do for thirty years. FEWER lines and less technique with more 'human interest' was, and should still be, the way to approach our craft. Bravo, Jaime, for your body of work! Continue to be yourself."
J-- ohn Romita Sr., artist, The Amazing Spider-Man
Jaime Hernández’s moving stories chronicle the lives of some of the most memorable and fully formed characters the comics form has ever seen. His female protagonists, masterfully delineated with humor, candor, and breathtaking realism, come to life within California’s Mexican-American culture and punk milieu.
In April 2006 Hernández began serializing his work with the New York Times Magazine—all of which will be collected here in full color. The notoriously private artist has opened his archives for the first time, revealing never-before-seen sketches, childhood drawings, and unpublished work, alongside his most famous Love and Rockets material.
Praise for The Art of Jaime Hernández:
"The Art of Jaime Hernández is proof of what I've been trying to convince comics artists to do for thirty years. FEWER lines and less technique with more 'human interest' was, and should still be, the way to approach our craft. Bravo, Jaime, for your body of work! Continue to be yourself."
J-- ohn Romita Sr., artist, The Amazing Spider-Man
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
11 people are currently reading
510 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 28, 2013
I think the text is okay. It's not badly written and I really liked the biographical info and photos but I could take or leave the rest.
I love seeing process work and the unfinished and early art though, so much! I just wish there was more of it. Seeing what my favourite artists drew like before they were all mature and polished is one of my favourite things.
Even though I am a huge L&R fan I don't know if this is a book that I really need to own, but I'm glad I read it.
I love seeing process work and the unfinished and early art though, so much! I just wish there was more of it. Seeing what my favourite artists drew like before they were all mature and polished is one of my favourite things.
Even though I am a huge L&R fan I don't know if this is a book that I really need to own, but I'm glad I read it.
August 15, 2010
you know there's a great bio-pic begging to be made just focusing on the early years of Los Bros: all those great childhood scenes ripped straight from Jaime's "kid's comics", the blending of surfer and latino culture in Oxnard, CA in the 60s/70s, a youth spent devouring comics and then, the explosion of punk rock, culminating in that 1980 Black Flag show at Starwood in LA, where pressed against the back wall by the size of the pit, Jaime thought to himself "...It's the end of the world and I love it."
October 2, 2019
In the here and now I'm an aging Gen-X artist and author, but I've been a fan of Jaime's work in particular since I was a punk in the mid 80s. Any glimpse into the mind of such talent, and the souls of the characters he creates is a treat.
I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking to improve their visual storytelling skills, as you'll see how a few lines on paper can become 'living, breathing characters' that will stick with you. I'd also recommend this to fans of the series, just because.
I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking to improve their visual storytelling skills, as you'll see how a few lines on paper can become 'living, breathing characters' that will stick with you. I'd also recommend this to fans of the series, just because.
February 9, 2011
Lots of great background material - family photos, descriptions of Los Bros Hernandez's life pre-L&R.
Also very nice at showing Jaime's influences and explaining why L&R was so groundbreaking in the world of comics.
The author does an OK job summarizing 30 years of material in one book - but as a fan - I wanted the book to be twice as long as it was.
Also very nice at showing Jaime's influences and explaining why L&R was so groundbreaking in the world of comics.
The author does an OK job summarizing 30 years of material in one book - but as a fan - I wanted the book to be twice as long as it was.
December 29, 2018
This is a well-edited collection and narrative about Hernandez's work - a bit of biography and influences, and well chosen full-length stories from his decades of comics to argue that Love and Rockets is groundbreaking for comic storytelling in the 80's/90's. My entire SoCal childhood basically overlaps exactly with the original run of Love and Rockets - so while it seems weird that I wasn't reading them in as a kid since they were quasi-local, I would have had to have been a pretty hip 9-year-old to have been down with Maggie La Loca in her punk days. Scrounging the libraries of LA I've managed to keep up with the "New Stories" issues, but at this point in my strong fandom, it's probably time for me to spend my own money on reissues of the original Love and Rockets!
July 13, 2019
A really well produced overview of Mr.Hernandez’s work from his earliest influences to his current (relatively speaking) work. It’s great to have such an influence captured so well outside of his work itself. The oversized format and high printing quality serve their purposes fully, highlighting the clean lines and wonderful characters which have influenced so many people and books for decades now. Great read, fantastic art (of course). Well done.
December 12, 2017
I really enjoyed this, but I think a book with art of this scale needed more accessible language. I have an English degree, so I'm used to reading rhetorical theory and comics criticism, but not everyone comes from that background.
January 3, 2023
What a wonderful way to start off the year, getting an insight into one of the best artists of the past century. Really helped put some things into perspective. Jaime really is the best comic artist of all time. One of these fucking days I'll actually get through and read all of Love and Rockets.
June 25, 2017
While the waxing poetic of the writing is nice, the star is the large blown-up art of Xaime. Original stuff, sketchbook, unused art, doodles; It's all great.
November 12, 2019
Very good art book and look into the world of Jaime Hernandez.
February 25, 2017
It's rare to find a well written and archived book for an artist like this- so many sketchbooks are published for money or the analysis is solid but the images are lackluster. This was a real introduction to love and rockets for me and it made me clearly understand more of the mythology and process and timeline for this series- such a smart take! Def a great read
November 29, 2012
I had to buy this when I saw that it had the ad for love and rockets from 1985 which I saw then and made me want to read it! (Albeit it took me 25 years to do so). The ad is a lovely picture of (what I now know) Hopey, Maggie, Izzy and Penny in a fake police line up. This book is lovely, first off it contains the Maggie story of her going to visit Rita in her island retreat that wasn't in the reissues. While it was rather jarring to see them all in colour, it was a nice story. The book covers some of the history of comics, and independent comics, as well as some of the history of the LA punk scene. As someone whose NOT an artist in anyway the technical descriptions in later chapters about why the art was amazing went right over my head, but I did agree that I loved it. It was strange for me to see what was the most well regarded and what wasn't. Interesting to see how "the death of speedy" is considered the height of the comic as that to me, while it does make me cry, is one of the lesser stories as it focuses much more on the men than the women, much more on the gangs than punks, and much more on the straight people than the queers. Of course writing it all out like that I guess it's kinda obvious why that's so popular! But this is a truly gorgeous book, with lots of wonderful pictures not seen anywhere else. Sometimes I questioned which of the originals were reprinted (the Doyle story?) and really there wasn't enough pictures (or mention) of Hopey. But I still loved it and would definitely recommend it to a fan of Jamie's work.
December 4, 2012
(More pictures at parkablogs.com)
This is a wonderful retrospect of Jaime Hernandez and his career in comics, a tale so interesting it could be material for another comic book. Every page with text on it is overflowing with insight as Jaime shares his views on comics and his characters.
Author Todd Hignite has done some intensive research to put everything together. It's filled with comic art, personal sketches, discarded work, story ideas scribbled on notes and other stuff. Lots of covers and panels are laid out and discussed in terms of what you're seeing and you're not seeing (behind the scenes). And all of them are printed huge to show off the marvelous line art.
There are also some really cool photographs, such as from his childhood, his Mohawk hair days and some with him and his brothers behind a table at some comic con.
This book is an absorbing read. Highly recommended to fans of Jaime Hernandez and his comics.
June 13, 2011
A wonderful book about a wonderful artist. It was a joy to see so many rare pieces of art and original pages from years past. Not only do you get to see many of Hernandez' pages from Love & Rockets, but you get to see them in process, unfinished, or as abandoned concepts. My favourite possibly being a page from "Jerusalem Crickets" circa 1987 where Hopey is writing a letter to Maggie where you get to read the actual letter, as opposed to the page that was used where you see Hopey write the letter but not what she put in it. Each page works in its own way although the original unused one has an incredible image of Hopey with her guitar that takes my breath away. About the only negative thing I can say about this book is that the author is so enamored with Jaime Hernandez that the writing borders on hagiography. He also understates the contributions of Jaime's brother, Gilbert, in the execution and popularity of Love & Rockets, as a whole. Still, worth a read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in art history or the comic book medium.
February 27, 2011
It's a huge beautiful book detailing a lot of Jamie's early work and influences. The evolution of his characters - and their natural aging - remain one of the most amazing ongoing fictional chronicles I can think of. In the end though, it just makes me want to sit down with a big volume of Locas; it leaves me too hungry for the storytelling. I hate to only give this 4 stars, and I realize it's about Jamie's art, not the Love & Rockets universe. But that narrow scope, wonderful as it is, left me wanting more. I'd give it 4.5 if I could.
August 14, 2016
Hernandez' place in the pantheon of comics creators is assured, and this book goes a long way to explaining why. The history of his life and career is fascinating, but the text is a little dry, and as the focus shifts from his life and career to looking at why his art works, it gets bogged down in turgid academic analysis. Not perfect then, but informative, and ultimately it's a beautiful hardback book stuffed with Hernandez' artwork. What's not to love?
December 21, 2014
For me this was a good place to start with Love and Rockets. I picked it up from my local comic shop about 6 months ago and now I am a die hard fan of Los Bros! I would recommend this book as it serves as a great introduction to Jaime and his iconic characters Maggie and Hopey.
September 7, 2011
Made me want to reread all his comics.
December 2, 2010
wow, this book is overwhelming and incredible. this is going on my christmas list!
August 30, 2011
best. birthday present. ever.
February 11, 2015
Great artwork, wonderfully written - perfect companion to Hernandez's amazing body of work.
May 6, 2012
This is a beautiful book that does a great job of showing off Jaime Hernandez's fabulous drawings while also giving a good sense of his diverse influences.
May 13, 2012
No matter how many times I've read through the L&R canon, I'm still not sure how Jaime Hernandez did it, by which I mean, breathe so much life into these ink patterns.
October 4, 2017
Checked out of the public library, once, and must again. I love Los Bros. Hernandez and this volume speaks volumes.
July 9, 2015
An amazingly in depth look at the art of Jaime Hernandez (and its development). Indispensable for scholars and fans.
October 30, 2015
This supposed art retrospective book contains a rare full-colour Maggie story. So you're gonna want to get that.
March 1, 2014
Great book about the greatest.
April 10, 2016
Loving the old photos (Jaime with mohawk, yow!), art and interviews. Hignite's text can be awfully dry though.
Update: yes, awfully dry.
Update: yes, awfully dry.
December 4, 2016
Samples of art & commentary. I enjoyed it, even though I don't know much about comic art and the tools used.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews