Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories
by Gilbert Hernandez
I’ve known about Gilbert Hernandez for a long time. I don’t know how he came onto my radar but I think the fact that I’m a punk who’s into comic books makes it inevitable. I knew he was involved in something called Love and Rockets but it seemed like a universe so vast that it would basically be impenetrable to me at this point. Every time I saw some Hernandez artwork it would involve yet another female character who clearly had a backstory. Just how many ideas did this guy have in his head? Was I always going to be out of the loop?
Well, I’m lucky Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories exists because it proved to be just the dish I needed to penetrate this fortress. This book covers all the stories involving the characters from Palomar in the 80s and 90s. I didn’t know what to expect, but I didn’t think this book would have such an impact on me.
It all takes place in the fictional Mexican small town of Palomar. The stories and characters all have humble beginnings and Hernandez uses every issue to build the world and the characters even further. What makes it all work is that Hernandez is a bottomless well of ideas. There are dozens of characters in these stories and he’s made them all unique and complex. As we read on in the Heartbreak Soup Stories we learn about the history, background, and motivations of these characters, how they’re interconnected and how, no matter what happens, they can’t help but be caught up in each other’s orbits. The stories are simple, sad, heartwarming, hilarious, and incredibly relatable. At times, things take a turn for the Lynchian, and I mean that in the best way possible, as some outright strangeness descends on this town and its inhabitants. What matters most about Palomar is that you end up caring about these characters and want to spend time with them.
Palomar also looks gorgeous and you can see Hernandez’s style develop from a mix of R Crumb and Jack Kirby to a more polished unique style. His pages are wonderful and they sucks you right into this strange world. Even this edition is MASSIVE, with a sleek hardcover and oversized heavy stock pages. It’s truly elegant.
I haven’t read comics this great in quite a while. I’ve now spent over 500 pages with the (very fertile) people of Palomar, learning about them and watching them grow, and I feel invested in their lives. Honestly, is there better praise for storytelling than that?
Get it from Fantagraphics
