Life Drawing
Jaime Hernandez. Fantagraphics, $24.99 (136p) ISBN 979-8-8750-0049-2
The exhilarating latest entry in Hernandez’s sprawling Locas saga, first serialized in Love and Rockets, meditates on old regrets and new beginnings. Tonta, a teenager with a chaotic family life who hops “from trash house to trash house,” signs up for an art class. There, she meets—and immediately fights with—the older Maggie, who eventually becomes her sounding board and “crazy aunt.” At middle age, bisexual Maggie lives with a kind man but still carries a torch for her estranged best friend, Hopey. Tonta’s romantic dramas with her geeky friends are simpler, yet similar; while Tonta cuddles with her new girlfriend, Maggie fumes over Hopey rejecting a reconciliation to hook up with a “low-budget trash version of me.” Hernandez has built his characters’ Southern California town into a richly detailed milieu. Layers added in this volume include the subculture of indie comics fandom (Tonta cosplays as Cheetah Torpeda, a superhero who exists elsewhere in the Love and Rockets universe), a lake monster, and a wedding crowded with familiar characters past and present. Hernandez’s jaw-droppingly clean line and mastery of the subtly caricatured human form make the most mundane moments vibrate with life. Longtime fans will be moved by the weight of the older generation’s relationships, but the focus on a younger generation of characters makes this an excellent starting point for newcomers. It’s not to be missed. (Feb.)
Details
Reviewed on: 02/04/2025
Genre: Comics