Behind 'High Soft Lisp': Q&A With Love And Rockets' Gilbert Hernandez

By Daniela Capistrano

If you've never heard of the Love and Rockets series, you're missing out on a wildly entertaining contribution to Latino culture: comics.

Luckily, you don't have to be familiar with the decades-spanning oeuvre or even a fan of the medium: if you like stories about sex, violence, crazy schemes and epic family drama, then grab yourself a copy of High Soft Lisp, the latest installment featuring cool chicas created by Gilbert Hernandez.

image via Fantagraphics

“Five six. Hundred twenty-eight pounds. Forty-three twenty-two thirty-six. High soft lisp. Genius level I.Q.”

That’s how motivational speaker Mark Herrera sums up Rosalba “Fritz” Martinez, bombshell, former punkette, former psychiatrist, “Z” movie star — in this supremely sexy, constantly surprising graphic novel.

As Tex[t]-Mex blog so aptly put, "There is not enough to be said of our late 20th Century and early 21st Century Chicano Dickens, the one and only Gilbert Hernandez."

We recently "sat down" with the artist (he prefers interviews via email) to discuss the making of High Soft Lisp, why he loves to draw women and what he really thinks about Latino readers (you'll be surprised!).

Gilbert Hernandez at the book signing for High Soft Lisp in Seattle, Washington
(via AMERICANVIRUS' Flickr)

MTV Tr3s: What inspires you to continue including story arcs about Latina women and sexual abuse?

Hernandez: First of all, I simply enjoy drawing women — all types, but mostly ones attractive to me. There's no secret why I love drawing Luba, Fritz and Pipo. No waifs here, pedophiles!

The stories are simply dramatizations taken from situations in real life, from films and from stories I've heard. I feel those types of stories write themselves and are compelling for my readers.

MTV Tr3s: When are we going to see a Love and Rockets story on the big screen? What about an animated series?

Hernandez: That's something I'd like to see, but I haven't met anyone who is capable of translating my characters to film. There is interest in a Palomar film, but I can't discuss anything about it yet.

(There's a lot more, after the jump!)

MTV Tr3s: Fritz is pretty atypical (in relation to mainstream portrayal of Latinas/Chicanas). She’s bisexual, into punk music and sci-fi. Was she inspired by a specific woman in your life?

Hernandez: Not really. She's in part a combination of situations I've seen women in, but she's mostly made up of character. The trick is to make a character seem like they're real.

MTV Tr3s: We find it interesting that (comparatively) more white people have heard of Love and Rockets than Latino. Why do you think that is? Is that your experience?

Hernandez: I think more white folk are interested in comics than anyone else in the U.S. I don't feel that a lot of Latinos are very interested in the type of comics that I do. I have been criticized by Latinos that my work is cliched and unreal.

MTV Tr3s: Has there ever been a time when you struggled with putting something in a story because you worried that the Latino community might not like it? Can you describe?

Hernandez: I don't care if I offend anybody. My stories are about attractive women with personal problems and that's all.

MTV Tr3s: Were you trying to explain that Fritz’s preoccupation with sex and unhealthy relationships is a direct result of her childhood abuse? If not, why the inclusion of those panels?

Hernandez: I wanted to raise the question: how many people remember child abuse as the the truth or a distorted memory? Of course, there is serious child abuse out there in the world (behind closed doors and even out in the open) but in Fritz's case, is she telling the truth or lying to get attention?

I'm not bringing up any difficult subject to educate people, I'm interested in characters' flaws in a realistic way.

MTV Tr3s: Who are the Latino comic artists you admire?

Hernandez: The Latino comic artists I admire aren't known for the types of comics I do; they're more in the classic genre arena.

If anybody reading this is curious, here's a short list of artists you can Google:

• Al Williamson (Colombian): EC Comics, Flash Gordon, Star Wars
• Jose Luis Salinas (Argentine): Cisco Kid, Gunner
• Angelo Torres (Puerto Rican): Creepy, Eerie, Mad Magazine
• Ernie Colon (Puerto Rican): Richie Rich, Little Dot>
• Sergio Aragones (Spanish/Mexican): Mad Magazine

MTV Tr3s: If you could create a Latino superhero, what would his abilities be and what would he look like?

Hernandez: He would be a traditional Mexican masked wrestler, but there are already several of those around.

MTV Tr3s: Do you listen to music when you are creating characters? If so, which artists do you like and why?

Hernandez: I rarely listen to music while I work, too distracting. I have Turner Classic Movies on my studio T.V. all day because that's what inspires my stuff — good films.

As for music these days, I like The Hives from Sweden because I'm an old rock and roller and they rock!

MTV Tr3s: What is a recent movie based on a comic that you think got it totally wrong? What would you have done differently?

Hernandez: Well, I feel they dropped the ball with the Fantastic Four films. The cast was fine, but the series needed an epic treatment like Lord of the Rings. If they had had used the best of the FF comics with the TLOTR budget, they would have made the greatest comic book adaptation ever, a classic to which all new action films were to be measured.

MTV Tr3s: High Soft Lisp is narrated by Mark Herrera: you’re seeing Fritz’s life through his eyes and in relation to their on-again, off-again relationship. It isn’t until the end when Fritz’s career has taken a downturn and she confronts her dad that the story seems to completely belong to her, then it goes back to being about Mark. What was the decision making process behind that?

Hernandez: There's no special way I do stories. It's mostly instinctual. It simply felt better to do it as I did: no heavy thinking, nothing but my own feeling on what makes a story.

MTV Tr3s: Mark Herrera ends up marrying different "types" of women and the one he pines for the most is Fritz, who was never in love with him. She, in turn, is in love with a white male who doesn’t love her back. What were you trying to say with this?

Hernandez: Even the most together people on the surface often have flawed characters. I just like to show the most idiotic and immature aspects of people. None of my characters are role models, even though readers often mistake them for creations to admire.

MTV Tr3s: When you are pulling from panels over the years to create a story about one character, what helps you determine what new ones to create? Did you know all along what was going to happen to Fritz?

Hernandez: No, Fritz was an early character of mine that I wanted to use in L&R stories. It just turned out that she was the right character to continue where Luba left off. Luba because too tied up with family and a poor disposition for me to follow her any longer. Fritz was more open to new ideas and adventures.

MTV Tr3s: What do you love about Fritz?

Hernandez: Well, looks wise, she's an 8 1/2 and she's smarter than any of my other characters. She always has the potential to go anywhere and do anything I want because she's wealthy and childless, giving me free reign to change her life at any time. She's got class and the genetics to age beautifully and gracefully.

MTV Tr3s: What was your reaction when you found out that you were nominated for an LA Times Book Prize for Luba? Are you going to go to the awards ceremony?

Hernandez: Naturally I'm deeply flattered, but I'll be in New York at the time of the ceremony and unable to congratulate the winner in L.A.

MTV Tr3s: Which of your graphic novels does your mom like the most and why?

Hernandez: HEH HEH. She doesn't read my work because it's just "too too" for her.

MTV Tr3s: What are you going to do with the USA Fellows grant you recently won?

Hernandez: Spend it on gold rims for my car.

MTV Tr3s: What advice do you have for young Latinos interested in a career like yours? Do you think it’s important that they tell their own stories?

Hernandez: I can't imagine comics are good for anything but self expression, if you want to be taken seriously. If we don't put out comics, music, books, films and art about Latinos, nobody else will.

The End

Love and Rockets fact: The comic inspired bands! Formed in 1985 by former Bauhaus members Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins, Love and Rockets the band took their name from the series by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Gilbert references this in his book Love and Rockets X, as there were several different bands named "Love and Rockets" for a period of time.

To stay updated on all Love and Rockets comic news and releases, friend it on Facebook.

Tr3s Comunidad, do you think that Gilbert's comments about Latinos and comics are accurate? What were your favorite parts of this Q&A? Tell us in the comments or @MTV3!

Tags Gilbert Hernandez, High Soft Lisp, Love and Rockets