FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS – @fantagraphics
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
CARTOONIST: Gilbert Hernandez
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Gilbert Hernandez with Paul Baresh
24pp, B&W, $4.99 U.S. (February 2020)
Gilbert “'Beto” Hernandez is the prolific half of the comic book creating duo, Los Bros. (the other half being his brother, Jaime Hernandez). Gilbert and Jaime are the creators of Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics Books), the greatest American comic book series of all time.
Gilbert has produced a number of solo projects including (the infamous) Blubber, Yeah! (with writer Peter Bagge), and Twilight Children (with the late Darwyn Cooke). Gilbert's latest solo comic book project is the recently launched series, Psychodrama Illustrated. According to publisher Fantagraphics Books, Psychodrama Illustrated is a new Love and Rockets spin-off focusing on the classic character, Rosalba Martinez, best known as “Fritz,” and on her extended family. The series will feature stories about Fritz’s film career “that bend Fritz’s reality.”
Psychodrama Illustrated #1 opens with a frontispiece (inside front cover) one-page comic in which Dr. Valus Droog breaks the fourth wall and informs the reader about Fritz. [He also appear on the inside back cover.] In the opening story, “False Modesty,” Fritz bumps into an old friend of her half-sister, Luba de los Santos, the classic L&R character known simply as “Luba.”
Fritz finds the gentleman starring at a one-sheet poster advertising the debut album from “Killer,” who is Fritz's grand-niece, Dora Rivera. It seems that Killer is also a young actress, and she has replaced Fritz in “Hypnotwist 2.0,” a remake/reboot of one of Fritz's film, “Hypnotwist” (the tale of which was chronicled in Love and Rockets Vol. 2 #3). When Fritz joins the production of the new film, will she really be able to fit in with Killer? And what does Luba's friend want from Fritz...?
THE LOWDOWN: I was a huge fan of Beto's Blubber comic book series. I found it to be in the tradition (or at least the spirit) of Underground Comix with its brave and bold depictions of raunchy sex and surreal sexuality.
After only one issue, I don't quite know what to make of Psychodrama Illustrated, but I have to admit to you, dear readers, or at least the ones that already don't know, that I always love the work of Gilbert Hernandez. [I feel the same way about Jaime Hernandez.] I can say that Psychodrama Illustrated feels like the usual Love and Rockets comics starring Fritz, by which I mean that Beto gives us the breath and width of Fritz's character. Fritz is always acting, in front of, behind, and on the side of the camera. And she's always gonna f**k somebody (male, female, or otherwise), and here, one guy gets it and one (currently in prison) might get f****d.
“Inscrutable” is the word I most use to describe the late cartoonist Charles Schulz's Peanuts characters. I will say the same thing about Fritz, and in Psychodrama Illustrated, I hope that Beto does not decide to illuminate to many of the mysteries of Fritz.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets comics will have to have Psychodrama Illustrated.
8 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
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