Reading Heartbreak Soup I felt much like I did when I first read Maggie the Mechanic last year after deciding that I wanted to be the comics fan who was at least familiar with the Hernandez Bros.’ ongoing series Love and Rockets. I recorded my thoughts about Maggie the Mechanic here on Substack in April of 2024. I’m back now having finished Gilbert Hernandez’s series based in the fictional city of Palomar.
One minor inconvenience of being too young to read when these comics were first being published is that I’m reading them now basically in media res, sans context. Not just in terms of where I’m at in the story, but also in the context of when the Hernandez brothers were first making and publishing these comics. It’s hard for me to know if the public was already familiar with some of these characters, or if the Brothers just dropped readers into the middle of a story back then and let the lore unfold over time for the reader. The way comics are told today, it feels risky to just launch into a story with zero world building, allowing the reader to piece the lore together as the stories unfold. Oftentimes writers feel the need to lay some sort of ground rules before a comic gets started: i.e. a narration box or some editor’s note that tells the reader point blank: “Outer Space. Sector TC-19. The year 4089” or some such table setting. But-at least for me-each of these collections of comics just start. Boom: You’re in Palomar. This is Chelo. She bathes people. And you’re off.
Therefore, what I said about Maggie the Mechanic last year also rings true here: it took me while to get into it. If I’m quoted saying anything about modern American comics though, it’s that the creators should be taking their sweet time telling a story. My biggest complaint is that comic stories feel rushed, or that they’re over too soon. Not the case with the Hernandez Brothers. Not at all. These stories not only take place over a long period of time, but they’ve famously told these stories in real time, letting the characters in their comics grow old as the creators grow old (even though I’m not quite there yet). One of the major conveniences of discovering these comics way later is I can read these comics over the period of a few months, and don’t have to wait years for a sequel.
Though it took me a while to get to know Gilbert’s sprawling cast of characters, as soon as I started recognizing each character I also started to care about them. As soon as I started to care about them, the sooner I became invested in the decisions they were making, mostly the bad ones. The stories contained therein read much like a soap opera, with characters cheating on one another and forming vendettas against other while you just watch from the sidelines. Of the Brothers many talents, one is writing characters that feel real. Their reactions, their weaknesses, their dialogue feels lived in, tangible, believable.
For The Love of Carmen is one of the storylines that stuck out to me as the love story between Heraclio and Carmen’s relationship is told via Heraclio’s narration. They seem to be one of the more genuine relationships found within the town of Palomar and it was nice to get the history behind it. It’s a testament to the amount of thought and back story Gilbert Hernandez has put into these characters. It’s also a great study of how to write well rounded people that aren’t a stereotype or a cliché.
The artwork shines in this book much as it does in Maggie the Mechanic. Normally I wouldn’t compare or contrast one artist against another, but the Brothers Hernandez-while not interchangeable-both wield a firm grasp of the power of black and white artwork, sequential story telling, and how to make a visual impact with each panel no matter how large or small. Much like writing, reading their books is a comic masterclass of how to render a panel, and how to create striking images with just black ink and white paper.
With works like Love and Rockets that’s: been around for years, has had an obvious impact and influence on comic artists and writers alike, and whose praises have been sung in comics journals far and wide, what have I got to add?
I guess only to say, the hype is real. If you haven’t read any Love and Rockets books, start soon. You’re missing out on great art and storytelling. And, if you’re anything like me and didn’t know where to start-start the same way I did. Visit Fantagraphics website and look for The Complete Love and Rockets Library, and start with Vol. 1-Maggie the Mechanic. Then move on to Vol. 2-Heartbreak Soup. Then keep going. It’s exactly what I plan on doing.
8/10
Story and Art by Gilbert Hernandez
Published by Fantagraphics