This page jumped out at me during a reread of The Education Of Hopey Glass. Jaime Hernandez gets by with things that would drive me absolutely bugfuck if another creator did them, but he’s got a photographer’s eye for capturing something that makes every single panel worth having.
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Comments ( 7 )
Galen Willett commented on Jun 30 08 at 12:32 amForgive me, but I admit I don’t get it. Here’s what I see.
This cute girl seems to be interested in going to a place called Virgil. Then, four parties drive toward the right of each panel (which I presume to be the direction in which Virgil lies). Each group has different problems: acne, obesity, old age, and, apparently, bitchiness. After getting this six-person snapshot of the people of Virgil (don’t forget the kid in the corner of the fourth panel), she decides not to go there after all.
Would you explain to me the significance of this, if it would not diminish the elegance and subtlety for other viewers?
Kevin Church commented on Jun 30 08 at 12:37 amAs I said, Jaime Hernandez can do pages like this and I enjoy them much more than I would enjoy a similar page appearing in a comic by another creator.
Galen Willett commented on Jun 30 08 at 1:00 amMaybe right now their faces turn us off, but if you imagine each one of those people breaking out in even a momentary smile, the entire picture would be changed! Our skin-deep understanding of the people of Virgil doesn’t tell us anything important. I think I am too caught up in the shallowness of Hopey’s dismissal of these people to see what you are seeing.
The art is pretty great, though.
Scott commented on Jun 30 08 at 9:20 amI took it as just some random people driving by, possibly to denote the time that she spends waiting for the bus. They’re not necessarily driving to Virgil. They’re just random people, depicted fairly realistically.
gorjus commented on Jun 30 08 at 6:30 pmI loved this page, too–it’s a quiet respite from Hopey’s normal hollering and jumpin’. It shows demonstrably that time is moving, here–even if in starts and fits. Sitting on a bench can make time move like snails, anyway.
But look at the difference in the cars, the faces–Xaime puts love even onto the lowliest of folks, in the most mundane settings.
lar commented on Jul 02 08 at 4:38 ami love hopey @ this age…my girl maggie cried about her lot in life all the while- but hope is swinging wildly and trying to see what works and the whole time keeping it pretty goddamn gangster as the kids would say.
