Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez
Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez (Fantagraphics, 2003) In one the stories contained here, Heraclio, probaby the one intellectual in the town of Palomar where these stories take place, is arguing with another school teacher (like him) about literature. He brings up One Hundred Years of Solitude and notes that it is like his town and his family and friends. Unmistakably, Gilbert Hernandez (writer and drawer) of these stories is tipping his hat to an influence. These stories set in a fictional Mexican town remind one very much of Garcia Marquez’s family epic. Hernandez focuses on a town rather than a family, but over the course of these 500 pages we get the same epic passing of time: characters grow up, grow old, die.
These stories are collected from the long running comic Love and Rockets, done mostly by the two brothers Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. I’ve always been a bigger fan of Jaime (his similarly massive collection “Locas” is a work of brilliance), and never paid more than cursory attention to the other half of the comics. But reading this volume has given me a new appreciation of Gilbert’s work. The sustained attention this book required got me involved in the characters and stories. Like Garcia Marquez one could call this magic realism, as there is a fantastical element to a great number of the stories. Also present is the often distressing realism of the jobless, broken-hearted, sick, and mourned.
I’m still not a big fan of Gilbert’s art, but I got used to it as time went on. His brother Jaime’s drawing has a cleaner line to it that I really like.
Tags: hernandez
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