14 x 17 - published as an installment of Fred Hembeck's recurring "Dateline @!!?*" strip in Comic Book Artist #15 (TwoMorrows, 2001)
I'd always admired Fred Hembeck's unique art and respected him as a presence in the industry since I first started reading comics in the late 1970s. His monthly "Hembeck" strip on the Daily Planet page in the back of DC comics was always a hoot (see additional image).
I never intended to get a piece of Fred's art. While I enjoy seeing examples of his work posted on CAF, I didn't have a character in mind for his distinct style. Then, I saw this image posted on the Love and Rockets subreddit. Fred clearly had a lot to say about the Hernandez brothers, and particularly Gilbert "Beto" Hernandez. So much so in fact that the text nearly overwhelms the bottom left illustration of Fred with Manuel, Toco, and Pintor from Gilbert's early Heartbreak Soup stories set in the fictional Central American town of Palomar.
I was thrilled that Fred still had this available after 25 years. It's an unlikely combo - Hembeck and the Hernandez brothers - but Fred's love of the material shines through. Listen to Fred - it's never too late to read Love and Rockets!
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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT
HEY!IT'S TOCO, PINTOR, AND MANUEL GO AHEAD, WAVE — THEY WON'T MIND. MAN, I'LL NEVER FORGET THE FIRST TIME I ENCOUNTERED THAT TRIO. IT WAS WAY BACK IN 1983, APPEARING IN GILBERT HERNANDEZ' INITIAL HEARTBREAK SOUP EPISODE, WHICH RAN 42 PAGES OVER ISSUES 3 AND 4 OF LOVE AND ROCKETS.
NOW, UNDERSTAND THIS-I'D PREVIOUSLY READ THE FIRST TWO ISSUES OF THAT FANTAGRAPHICS SERIES, BUT I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE AS TO WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT!! ZIP, ZILCH, ZERO, NADA. BUT... I PERSEVERED
WHY? WELL, IN THOSE DAYS, I HAD A LOT MORE TIME AND THERE SEEMED TO BE A LOT LESS TO READ. PLUS, GARY GROTH PRONOUNCED IT TO BE IMPORTANT WORK.
OF COURSE, GARY WAS ALSO PUBLISHING IT,SO THAT MUST'VE MADE IT DOUBLY IMPORTANT TO HIM. AND BY LAUNCHING HIS COMICS LINE WITH THE FLAMES OF GYRO HE PROVED THAT NO ONE WAS INFALLIBLE— BUT I FOUND HIS ENTHUSIASM GENUINELY INFECTIOUS. WHILE I REALIZE I'LL NEVER HAVE CULTURED TASTES A LA MR. G, STRIVING TO LOCATE MORE LITERATE MATERIAL IN THE COMICS FIELD IS NOT A BAD THING.
(PRETENTIONS ASIDE, IF I HADN'T FOUND THE ARTWORK, PARTICULARLY BY BROTHER JAIME, TO BE DOWNRIGHT GORGEOUS, I MAY VE NEVER PICKED UP THAT FIRST ISSUE AND MOST CERTAINLY WOULDN'T HAVE KEPT COMING BACK).
SUDDENLY, IN THE MIDST OF MY BEFUDDLEMENT, I STUMBLE UPON A STORY CONCERNING THE DENIZENS OF PALOMAR, A SMALL MEXICAN TOWN, THAT DEALS ESSENTIALLY WITH LIFE, LOVE, AND DEATH. NO DINOSAURS. NO ALIENS. NO WRESTLING.JUST A DECEPTIVELY INTRICATE TALE CHARTING THE INTERTWINED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN A MULTITUDE OF CHARACTERS COMPRISING A SMALL COMMUNITY, TOLD, ONCE THE READER BECOMES ACCLIMATED TO THE UNUSUAL (FOR COMICS) SETTING, IN A MASTERFULLY STRAIGHTFORWARD MANNER,SO, WHILE HIS DRAWING MAY NOT BE AS INSTANTLY SEDUCTIVE TO THE EYE AS HIS SIBLING, JAIME, GILBERT HERNANDEZ PROVED TO BE AS BRILLIANT A CARTOONIST AS ANY YOU WERE LIKELY TO FIND AND IM THINKING, GEEZ? MAYBE GARY WAS RIGHT??!..
SO, WITHOUT TEDIOUSLY RECAPPING THE COMPLICATED PLOT, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT SEALED THE DEAL FOR ME: WE MEET A GROUP OF YOUNG BOYS IN THE FIRST CHAPTER, ONE OF WHOM, HERCULIO, HAD MOVED TO PALOMAR A MERE THREE MONTHS EARLIER. WHEN THE GANG WAVE TO PINTOR, A BOY SITTING UNDER A TREE OFF IN THE DISTANCE, THE NEWCOMER IS CURIOUS AS TO WHO HE IS, AVOIDING AN EXPLANATION BUT DROPPING HINTS, HERCULIO (AND THE READER DISCOVER A FULL TEN PAGES LATER THAT PINTOR WAS A YOUNGSTER WHO PERISHED IN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT,AND HIS SPIRIT MATERIALIZES THERE AT HIS FAVORITE SPOT, ONCE EACH DAY AT ROUGHLY THE SAME TIME,VISIBLE ONLY TO HIS OLD PALS, AS WELL AS NOW,SOMEWHAT INEXPLICABLY, TO THE NEW KID IN TOWN AS WELL.
GOT THAT? NOW,YOU ALSO NEED TO KNOW THAT TOCO, ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE BOYS, DIES (OFF PANEL) LATER IN THAT FIRST PART, APPARENTLY FROM, um, LAUGHING TOO HARD--HE HAD FRAGILE LUNGS, OKAY? PART TWO MOSTLY CONCERNS ITSELF WITH THE LOCAL CASANOVA'S PURSUIT OF TWO VERY DIFFERENT WOMAN, AND WHEN, DURING THE TALE'S CLIMAX, AN OLD LOVER SURPRISINGLY CONFRONTS THIS MANUEL FELLOW, GUNFIRE EVENTUALLY ENSUES, BUT IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO LEAVE THE READER UNSURE OF THE OUTCOME.THEN, FOR THE FINAL TWO PAGES, EVENTS FAST FORWARD SEVERAL MONTHS, AS
HERCULIO AND A CHUM WANDER ABOUT TOWN,SKILLFULLY AND SUBTLY UPDATING EACH CITIZEN'S SITUATION. FOR INSTANCE, PALOMAR NOW HAS A PAIR OF NEWLY PREGNANT WOMEN --BUT WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE FATE OF BOTH BABIES DADDY?
