Love & Rockets: New Stories #4 by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez ships in September (hopefully).

Will it be brilliant? Probably.

Will it be as good as Love and Rockets: New Stories #3, where Jaime Hernandez gave us a look at Loca Maggie after three years of absense in two beautiful tales The Love Bunglers and Browntown? Now that might be tough.

Our own Kenny Penman had this to say about Jaime’s Browntown story, and L&R in general:

“Los Bros single-handedly changed the way I read comics and the comics I read. Without them, there would be no Blank Slate Books as I would never have left the reading ghetto of superhero comics I had so long luxuriated in. At times I liked Gilbert’s stories more – although there was never much in it – but I knew, and still do, that Jaime is probably the best cartoonist in the world. It’s not just his drawing, the writing can be off the cuff sometimes but when he gets it right the comics can be filled with melancholy and still be uplifting.

This look at Maggie’s early life with her siblings in a desert town that their dad’s job has brought them to, is wonderful. The art is sublime, as mindful of empty space as the drawn parts – beautiful and elegant. The story gives us lots of Maggie’s back story, which as we know her life after this, gives us hope in how she rose above circumstance. I’d started to take L&R for granted – always good but maybe not with the punch of those early comics that had turned my head. This came up and gently whispered in my ear and I was deeply in love all over again. Comic of the year.”

And the thing is, he certainly wasn’t alone in that praise. Browntown is quite rightly up for an Ignatz for outstanding story. So the expectation for New Stories #4 is huge.

Jaime is returning to The Love Bunglers and presents a sort of sequel to Browntown with the teenage Maggie returning to Hoppers in Return For Me, it may be magnificent.

Gilbert isn’t slacking off either – his two stories are the 35-page cover story King Vampire and the return of High Soft Lisp’s Fritz returns in the 15-pager And Then Reality Kicks In, which Fantagraphics are describing as “This complex and layered dialogue may be Gilbert’s finest piece of writing yet”.

Fantagraphics have provided a preview of Love And Rockets: New Stories #4 here with 5 pages from each brother. But just to tempt you…

(Jaime Hernadez)

(Kate Beaton)

And here’s a couple of the stand-outs:

Divorce Italian Style by Jaime Hernandez (also available as a limited-edition print)

Make Way For Tomorrow by Seth.

Five Easy Pieces by Kate Beaton.

Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/01/31/criterion-collection-comic-books-artists/#ixzz1D0Rp7D9B

This week marks the release of the Criterion versions of The Naked Kiss and Shock Corridor, two gritty Samuel Fuller pulp classics chock-full of special features — including the stark, moody DVD cover by Daniel Clowes (Ghost World, Wilson). Of course, the Criterion Collection is no stranger to gorgeous illustrated covers courtesy of comic book industry luminaries, including everyone from Sean Phillips and Jaime Hernandez to Kate Beaton and Francesco Francavilla.

Indeed, a large portion of the Criterion Collection’s success can be attributed to the company’s unique sense of cover design. (The in-house style is so ubiquitous, it’s even become the subject of hilarious parody.) While the Collection employs a wide variety of talented illustrators, comic book creators have supplied some truly memorable gems.
Take a look at some awesome Criterion movie posters (some of which were created for screenings at last year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival) that sprang from the pens of comics creators below. Beaton’s moving Five Easy Pieces poster needs to be available for sale yesterday. Perhaps Criterion could release the Jack Nicholson classic separately from the pricey America Lost and Found set and use Beaton’s image for the cover?

Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/01/31/criterion-collection-comic-books-artists/#ixzz1D0RJsnXO

(Jaime Hernandez photo borrowed from the Fantagraphics blog)

Over at The Daily Crosshatch, there’s part one (of four) of a great Jaime Hernandez interview. Including this; on the fortuitous mistakes that have sometimes added so much to his work, from the new Love & Rockets Volume which contained the quite brilliant Brown Town:

“This brand new story that just came out in Volume Three of all new stories [“Brown Town”], Maggie’s brother Calvin shows up. In the end you find that out. He was created out of an accident. As the characters were getting older, I wanted to show what Maggie’s family was like. She has brothers that I’ve never talked about. So I created this family of hers. You have her sister Esther, who I’ve showed, a number of times. But she also had these brothers who I’ve never shown, who I always had in the back of my head.

Yeah. So I gave her three brothers. There’s five in her family. Well, one day I was reading back in issue seven, and someone mentions that she has six in her family. I went, “oh!” So, in passing, I had one of her brothers mention the brother who had run away, who was kind of the bad seed, the troublemaker. He left early, and that’s why she only has five in the family [laughs]. I mentioned that in passing, just for my own peace of mind—I don’t know if anyone would have noticed.

[Laughs] Yeah! And so I created him, and so in the back of my head, she’s had this brother out there. So, I worked it into this story. It worked perfectly. It almost created this character that I had to fix from being non-existent.”

If you are a Love & Rockets or a Jaime fan, or you’re just looking for that perfect present for someone who is….. The Art Of Jaime Hernandez.

SPX 2010 – Spotlight – Jaime Hernandez from Small Press Expo on Vimeo.

Now that’s a gorgeous cover by Jaime Hernandez, from the second issue of Strange Tales Volume 2 – due in November 2010. He and Gilbert have stories in this one, along with Farel Dalrymple, Paul Maybury, Tony Millionaire, Jeffrey Brown and Paul Hornschemeier.

And if you haven’t already picked up the collection of Volume 1 – why not?

(Via Fantagraphics blog)

Missed this a while back, but isn’t this Cliff Chiang variant cover to Archie #600 through the Hero Initiative Archie series a brilliant and stunning image? Very, very reminiscent of Jaime Hernandez and Love & Rockets methinks.

(via Newsarama)

The Village Voice recently cover featured Hernandez (the article is online here)and Jaime’s cover is lovely – especially the sly hand gesture from Maggie – LA indeed. (via the FB blog)

And this little bit of Jaime Hernandez news/art has given me the excuse to put up some of these wonderful sketches that have been collected over here at Scans Daily (again via the FB blog). Lots of Wonder Woman and Marvel superheroines in Hernandez’ perfect style.

By Todd Hignite, designed by Jordan Crane

Abrams Comic Arts

(* quote on the title of this piece from Alan Moore)

This is one of those pointless reviews I do every so often. Pointless simply because The Secrets Of Life And Death is a book that anyone who loves Jamie Hernandez’ work will already have down as something they really, really want and need. And nothing I say could change your mind. And nothing I’m going to say should change your mind because The Secrets Of Life And Death is every bit as impressive as the beautiful cover would lead you to believe.

And those of you who know nothing about Jaime Hernandez will get far more out of this review by looking at the gorgeous artwork on show here, buying all of Jaime’s collected works and then, once you’re a convert, coming back for the art book.

Simply put: This is a stunning hardcover collection of art from Jamie Hernandez; impressively substantial, expertly designed, expertly written, a beautiful addition to any bookshelf. I could almost leave it at that and throw in some of the images in question. This really is a book that sells itself.

(Oh, it most definitely is. The original artwork for “It’s Not That Big A Deal” splash page (detail), Love & Rockets #44, 1994. From The Art Of Jaime Hernandez, published by Abrams Comicarts, Artwork © 2010 Jaime Hernandez)

The Secrets Of Life And Death contains a treasure trove of material; new sketches, childhood drawings, reference material, photographs, and most importantly page after gorgeous page of Jaime Hernandez art of all kinds; published, unpublished, long forgotten and work that’s become almost iconic in modern comics.

It all starts off with a complete, colour, 25 page Jamie 2006 New York Times strip, freshly expanded and with additional story pages. And that’s just the Preface, serving as a beautiful introduction to what we’re about to receive.

(The classic cover to Love and Rockets #1, 1982. From The Art Of Jaime Hernandez, published by Abrams Comicarts, Artwork © 2010 Jaime Hernandez)

A mention about the design; it’s credited to Jordan Crane and he’s done such a fantastic job, making almost every page a visual, aesthetic delight – in fact, he should really have received cover billing. Every single double page spread has something beautiful to look at and Crane presents the artwork in it’s best possible light. The one possible criticism of the book is that Crane has insisted, only occasionally, in cropping some of the artwork. It’s a minor, but slightly niggling fault in a great book.

Added to the artwork, there’s also a very good and very comprehensive critical biography of Jamie Hernandez, expertly written by Hignite. But, thanks to Crane’s design work,  there’s never too much text on any one page to distract from the real reason the book exists.

(Another classic Jaime cover – from The Death Of Speedy collection, 1987. From The Art Of Jaime Hernandez, published by Abrams Comicarts, Artwork © 2010 Jaime Hernandez)

For those of you wondering what all the fuss is about, Hignite’s words should more than convince you of the importance of Jaime Hernandez, who, in partnership with his brother Gilbert (and occasionally elder brother Mario) created something that almost single-handedly redefined what was possible in the comic medium. From it’s debut in 1981, Love & Rockets magazine showcased Jaime’s stories chronicling the lives and loves of memorably real characters, so fully formed that they practically jumped off the page. His artwork, all gorgeous lines, sumptuous blacks and a modern, realistic yet ever so sensual look was great to begin with, but every issue of Love & Rockets saw Jaime refine and perfect his art to a point where less was so much more. Jaime Hernandez can say more with a few simple lines and brush-strokes than many artists could say in pages.

But by now, even if you’ve never heard of Jaime hernandez before, you’ll already know this, just from the few pages and panels accompanying this review.

(Original artwork to Chester Square, Love and Rockets Book 13 cover, 1996. From The Art Of Jaime Hernandez, published by Abrams Comicarts, Artwork © 2010 Jaime Hernandez)

Jamie Hernandez is an artist truly deserving of a monograph and here, with The Secrets Of Life And Death, Todd Hignite and Jordan Crane have created something truly worthy of sitting alongside Jaime’s Locas volumes. (Now all we need is the complimentary monograph on brother Gilbert). Everything about The Secrets Of Life And Death is of the highest quality, as befits the subject, right down reassuringly heavyweight paperstock.

And this impressively weighty book, beautifully designed, expertly written and packed with the artwork of a genuine modern comic master has one final thing in it’s favour; the price.

It’s ridiculously cheap for what it is – a RRP of £25 is silly enough, but the FPI webstore currently has it at £16.75 (that’s practically insulting to the artist). And for those of you still to experience the genius and wonder of Jaime Hernandez – here are his books.

Art by Jaimes Hernandez, one of the best, most influential comics creators on the planet; hell, Los Bros Hernandez even get read and enjoyed by people I know who would never consider themselves comics readers, but Love & Rockets they can’t resist… Finished work, sketches, layouts and designs, it’s a large, well produced hardback volume from Abrams full of glorious Jaime artwork, with text by the brilliant Todd Hignite and an intro by Alison Bechdel.

(sketch work by and (c) Jaime Hernandez)

Let me just repeat that to your stunned brain: Hernandez, Hignite, Bechdel, glorious big art book. Want is not a strong enough term. Desire, perhaps. Covet. Need. By the great Four Color Gods, comics life just doesn’t get better than this…

(a colouring guide for Love and Rockets volume 2,  number 7 (above) and the finished, gorgeously clear picture (below), both by and (c)Jaime Hernandez)

(to heck with  Roy Lichtenstein, this is real pop art!)