Birdland (comic)
| Birdland | |
|---|---|
| File:BirdlandComicIssue2Cover.jpg Inez (left) and Bang Bang (right) on the cover of Birdland #2, art by Gilbert Hernandez. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Eros Comics Fantagraphics |
| Schedule | Quarterly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | October 1990 - July 1991 |
| No. of issues | 3 |
| Main character(s) | Fritz Herrera Inez Perez Bang Bang |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Gilbert Hernandez |
| Artist(s) | Gilbert Hernandez |
| Collected editions | |
| Birdland | ISBN 9781560972006 |
Birdland is a creator-owned erotic comic book limited series created by Gilbert Hernandez. It was first published by Fantagraphics via their Eros Comix imprint between 1990 and 1991. The series features characters from the Love and Rockets series he devised along with his brothers Jaime and Mario but was marketed separately due to its highly explicit sexual content.[1]
Creation
Hernandez stated Birdland takes place in an "alternate dimension" to Love and Rockets, so as not to "spoil the relative purity of the Palomar work".[2] He had been trying to find a larger role for Fritz since her brief debut in the first issue of Love and Rockets,[3] and felt the character fit the need for a third lead in Birdland. He would subsequently feature the character heavily in other spin-off titles.[4] Bang Bang and Inez Perez were other characters he had previously created in a non-Love and Rockets strip called Music for Monsters, and returned to for Birdland.[1] Hernandez created Fritz's sister Petra by accident when attempting to salvage a rendering of Fritz herself for the cover of the first issue.[5] Mark Herrara would subsequently be revisited as a Love and Rockets character.[2]
Publishing history
Birdland was initially published as a three-issue mini-series, mainly in black-and-white (with a small number of colour pages bookending the third issue). It was one of the first three titles released on the imprint, along with The Erotic Worlds of Frank Thorne and I Want to Be Your Dog.[6] Eros Comics released a collected edition in July 1992 compiling all three issues, labelling it as Eros Graphic Novel #1[7] with a new ten-page epilogue.[8] In 1996 they issued expanded editions of the first two individual issues, featuring additional sketches by Hernandez. The collected edition has since gone out of print.[9] Characters from Birdland also appeared in a strip Hernandez contributed to the 1991 benefit anthology comic The True North, published by the Comic Legends Legal Defense Fund to raise funds for two Canadian comic shop owners facing obscenity charges for selling adult-orientated titles. The one-page strip featured the characters questioning why violence was permissible in comics but sexual content was not.[10]
Synopsis
Collected editions
| Title | ISBN | Release date | Issues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birdland | 9781560972006 | July 1992 | Birdland #1-3 |
Reception
Groth would recall that Birdland was a commercial hit, outselling Love and Rockets.[1] Alex Chun reviewed the first issue of the series for Amazing Heroes, rating it 3½ out of 5 while praising the art and dialogue, but expressing reservations about how cluttered the narrative was.[11] In 1997, Todd Verbeek described Birdland as a "strange and erotic tale".[12] Reflecting on Hernandez's career in 2011, The Comics Journal, writer Tom De Haven defending the "sheer smutty recklessness" of Birdland but felt the series started a downturn in the coherence and quality of the artist's output.[13] Win Wiachek of Now Read This was impressed by how much there was to Birdland in addition to having a large amount of "squirty, slurpy stuff".,[14] while Chris Randle of Hazlitt called it "sweetly filthy".[15] Revisiting the series in 2012 for ComicsAlliance, Douglas Wolk praised Birdland for its "absurd and sly" humour. Frank Plowright was more reserved when reviewing the book for Slings & Arrows, finding the book funny but considering the surreal coda to be a disappointment.[16]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Love and Rockets Companion: 30 Years (And Counting). Fantagraphics Books. 3 August 2013. ISBN 9781606995792.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Daily Cross Hatch » Blog Archive » Interview: Gilbert Hernandez Part 1". October 15, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-10-15.
- ↑ "Gale - Product Login".
- ↑ "Syndicated Comics". 2 August 2017.
- ↑ "The Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez Interview". 13 December 2012.
- ↑ "Newsline". Amazing Heroes. No. 180. Fantagraphics Books. June 1990.
- ↑ "GCD :: Issue :: Eros Graphic Albums #1 - Birdland".
- ↑ "Newsline". Amazing Heroes. No. 199. Fantagraphics Books. January 1992.
- ↑ "Gilbert Hernandez's 'Birdland' Offers Alliteration, Transfiguration, Penetration [Sex]". 27 February 2012.
- ↑ Socks, Jason (October 1991). "Perspective - The True North Fights Against Censorship". Amazing Heroes. No. 195. Fantagraphics Books.
- ↑ Alex Chun (October 1990). "Comics in Review". Amazing Heroes. No. 184. Fantagraphics Books.
- ↑ "Birdland | Graphic Novels . Info reviews".
- ↑ "Love from the Shadows".
- ↑ "Birdland". 16 March 2010.
- ↑ "The Eternal Youth of Gilbert Hernandez". 9 May 2013.
- ↑ "Slings & Arrows".
External links
- Birdland at the Grand Comics Database