Jaime (sometimes spelled Xaime) Hernandez (born 1959) is the co-creator of the
alternative
Alternative or alternate may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki''
* ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film
* ''The Alternative ...
comic book ''
Love and Rockets'' with his brothers
Gilbert Gilbert may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Gilbert (surname), including a list of people
Places Australia
* Gilbert River (Queensland)
* Gilbert River (South ...
and
Mario.
Early life
Jaime Hernandez grew up in
Oxnard, California.
[Aldama, p. 119.] He is the youngest of his family, with four older brothers and one sister.
[
] His family embraced comics: their mother read them frequently and old issues were kept in large quantities in the house, to be read and re-read by all over the years.
[ "We grew up with comics," Hernandez said. "I wanted to draw comics my whole life."
They read all types of comics and enjoyed those that gave a fairly realistic depiction of family life as well as the standard ]superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
adventures. Hernandez was particularly influenced by Hank Ketcham's ''Dennis the Menace'' and Dan DeCarlo's ''Archie''' comics. The children in his otherwise rather realistic stories are often drawn to resemble Ketcham's, and Jaime's characters often strike very "DeCarlo-esque" poses. The work of Alex Toth, Charles Schulz, Jesse Marsh
Jesse Marsh (July 27, 1907 – April 28, 1966) was an American comics artist and animator. His main claim to fame is his work on the early ''Tarzan'' and related books for Western Publishing that saw print through Dell Comics and later Gold K ...
and Jack Kirby were also hugely influential.[
Hernandez has a lifelong fascination with pro wrestling, especially women's wrestling, and it has been a regular part of his work. Hernandez has also been a lifelong punk rock fan. In addition to playing in bands himself it has been a constant element of his work. His heroine Maggie and her friends are almost all punk fans; he also has done a series of stories about the career of another main character (Hopey) as a bass player for a luckless punk band.
]
Career
Jaime's main contribution to ''Love and Rockets'' is the ongoing serial narrative ''Locas'' which follows the tangled lives of a group of primarily Latina characters, from their teenage years in the early days of the California punk scene to the present day. The two central characters of Jaime's cast are Margarita Luisa "Maggie" Chascarrillo and Esperanza Leticia "Hopey" Glass, whose on-again, off-again, open romance is a focus for many ''Locas'' storylines. Early on, the stories switched back and forth between Maggie's sci-fi adventures journeying around the world and working as a "prosolar" mechanic repairing rocketships, and much more realistic stories of Maggie and her friends in a grungy, mostly Latin California neighborhood known as "Hoppers". Eventually Hernandez dropped almost all of the sci-fi elements, although he does still occasionally include references to the earlier stories and he still does very occasional short stories about superheroines, robots and other sci-fi genre elements.
The Hernandez brothers announced they were ending ''Love and Rockets'' with issue 50, and that they would be doing solo books from then on. For the next few years, the brothers released many solo books, with Jaime doing several books featuring his Locas characters (including ''Whoa Nellie'', ''Penny Century'', and ''Maggie and Hopey Color Fun'') and Maggie generally occupying a supporting role. Eventually they resumed doing ''Love and Rockets'' and Maggie again took center stage, but instead of the large, magazine-style format of the original issues, the book was now released in a more traditional comic book format.
The entire ''Locas'' storyline to date was collected into one 700 page graphic novel in 2004.
Hernandez has been praised for the physical beauty of his female characters as well as their complex personalities, and for years he struggled to create comparably nuanced male characters. Hernandez has often said that Maggie and Ray Dominguez both represent different aspects of his own personality.
In an interview with The Comics Journal, Hernandez admitted he'd had difficulty aging his characters, because while he'd known girls like Maggie and Hopey when he was young, he'd never known them long enough to find out what they did in adulthood.
Other work
In addition to his ''Locas'' stories, Hernandez has also done occasional work for DC Comics and '' The New Yorker'', and he has done many album covers for such artists as Michelle Shocked. Earlier in his career Hernandez also did album covers for some "Nardcore
Since the mid-1970s, California has had thriving regional punk rock movements. It primarily consists of bands from the Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, San Fernando Valley, San Francisco, Fresno, Bakersfield, Alameda County ...
" punk bands, such as Ill Repute
Ill Repute is an American hardcore punk band from Oxnard, California, United States, formed in 1981. They are noted for popularizing the "Nardcore" sound in the mid-1980s hardcore punk scene, and recorded for Mystic Records.
Their record ''What ...
and Dr. Know, the latter of whom featured his younger brother Ismael on bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
. Hernandez contributed his artwork for the Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...
' 2004 album ''All That We Let In
''All That We Let In'' is the ninth studio album by the Indigo Girls, released in 2004. The cover art is by alternative comics artist Jaime Hernandez of '' Love and Rockets'' fame.
The album was released in two versions: a single-disc, audio-only ...
''. In September 2006, Hernandez also created the artwork for the critically acclaimed Los Lobos
Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, ...
album ''The Town and the City
''The Town and the City'' is a novel by Jack Kerouac, published by Harcourt Brace in 1950. This was the first major work published by Kerouac, who later became famous for his second novel '' On the Road'' (1957). Like all of Jack Kerouac's major ...
''. In 1984-85 Gilbert, Mario and Jaime collaborated on '' Mister X'', a sci-fi comic book series from Vortex Press, with Jaime handling the art and Gilbert and Mario plotting. The book's noirish look has been cited as an influence by the creators of '' Batman: The Animated Series'' among other retro-futuristic
Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...
works. The Hernandez brothers themselves hold little affection for it, however, with Gilbert once describing it being "like a bad zit... it just sort of happened." The Hernandez brothers left the book when Vortex failed to pay them in full. Responding to the non-payment accusations, publisher Bill Marks
Vortex Comics is a Canadian independent comic book publisher that began operation in 1982. Under the supervision of president, publisher, and editor Bill Marks, Vortex was known for such titles as Dean Motter's '' Mister X'', Howard Chaykin's ''Bl ...
said "I don't dispute that one bit. And they'll be paid every nickel of it, or every quarter of it." The Hernandez brothers were indeed ultimately paid for their work on ''Mister X'' in 1988.
In 2006, '' Publishers Weekly'' ranked Hernandez' work ''Ghost of Hoppers'' second on its critics' poll of the best comic books of 2006.
Awards
* 1986 Kirby Award
The Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards were a set of awards for achievement in comic books, presented from 1985-1987. Voted on by comic-book professionals, the Kirby awards were the first such awards since the Shazam Awards ceased in 1975. Sponsored ...
– Best Artist, Best Black-and-White Comic (''Love and Rockets'')Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...
- Best Writer/Artist (''Love and Rockets New Stories #6'')
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
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External links
Jaime Hernandez at FantagraphicsReview of Love & Rockets Jaime Hernandez interview with Suicide GirlLong list of Love and Rockets links
- About 187 characters appear at least once in Jaime's work; 65 of these appear more than once.
Jaime Hernandez interview Scholarly article that sets Jaime Hernandez's work in historical/theoretical context
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Jaime
1959 births
Alternative cartoonists
American comics artists
American comics writers
American graphic novelists
American writers of Mexican descent
Harvey Award winners for Best Artist or Penciller
Harvey Award winners for Best Cartoonist
Ignatz Award winners for Outstanding Artist
Living people
People from Oxnard, California