I've sort of dealt with the characters' lives more; particularly the women characters. Gilbert Hernandez More Quotes by Gilbert Hernandez More Quotes From Gilbert Hernandez I always felt I was living in two worlds. One was the Mexican world, because nearly everybody I knew, relatives and cousins and kids in the neighbourhood, were Mexican. Then school was a different world. It was ethnically mixed. Gilbert Hernandez relatives always world school I think I related more literally to the early 'Spider-Man' comics from Steve Ditko because it could be upfront and direct about the problems of being a kid. He captured being a teenager so beautifully. Gilbert Hernandez problems more being think Dennis the Menace was probably the most realistic comic book ever done. No space aliens ever invaded! Gilbert Hernandez realistic space done book It wasn't until school that we realised that we were abnormal. Gilbert Hernandez until were abnormal school My two biggest influences are Archie comics and Dennis the Menace. Gilbert Hernandez influences comics biggest two Our father died when we were very young, so our mother raised six kids. We saw the world filtered through her eyes, being a minority woman raising six kids. Gilbert Hernandez woman eyes mother father We grew out of the superhero comics, but we still liked comics, so we started putting our own experiences in the stories we were doing for our own amusement. Gilbert Hernandez out own doing superhero We thought everybody read comics. We didn't know we were weird. We didn't know people that collected comics were strange. It was as normal as listening to rock music on the radio. Gilbert Hernandez weird thought music people We were very happy when a South African court, which had previously ruled against us, took another look and decided that this material was not obscene and allowed it into the country. Gilbert Hernandez us look happy country Reviewers and critics can be overly cynical. If something the least bit sentimental comes up, they'll often start flying off the handle. But I'm like, 'Wait a minute, you've had those times in your life. Everybody has.' Gilbert Hernandez wait start you life When you're young you don't know anything, but you have lot of energy to express yourself. So you make a lot of mistakes and you stumble, but you also get a lot of truth from within. Gilbert Hernandez mistakes yourself you truth I had always shown childhood as something difficult, something you want to get the hell out of, but now I wanted to do a story that was the opposite, about that moment in time when you're in that world of discovery, doing what you want to do. That fleeting moment when you're in your zone. Gilbert Hernandez moment you childhood time I wanted to do pretty much a purely boy story, yes. The girls are kind of the bad guys in 'Marble Season', although that wasn't my intention. It's also a world without adults. Gilbert Hernandez boy story bad world In the old days, I just could not leave characters alone. Now I just try to keep the ones that still have something in the way of stories to tell. Gilbert Hernandez leave alone try way Whichever character I'm using and wherever I am in my mind dictates what kind of story I'm going to tell. Gilbert Hernandez i-am story mind character I felt like challenging myself and challenging my readers with something darker and heavier. I don't know how to explain it, because I'm not a political person. I have two political stories, and that's it: 'Human Diastrophism' and 'Poison River.' Gilbert Hernandez river myself know political It wasn't until I started to do 'Poison River' that the readership started falling. 'Poison River' started out very slowly and simply, but then it got really dense and complicated. I don't know, I think the readers just got fed up or burned out. They started dropping off. Gilbert Hernandez river think know complicated I grew up when comics were only sold in food markets and news stands, so the direct market is vital to me. The best way to make it stronger is if everybody buys my comics in multiple copies before they buy any others. Gilbert Hernandez best me food way I've dealt with Hollywood about having my work made into a film or cartoon but nothing came of it. That's not to say I wouldn't like to see something happen. Gilbert Hernandez say nothing see work I happen to think Latinas, Latin women, are the most beautiful women in the world. So that's what I'm going to draw. I love women from all cultures, of course, but if I was going to deal with any of them, that would be No. 1 for me. Gilbert Hernandez me women beautiful love
