Gilbert's first non-Love & Rockets project in years, Girl Crazy, a three-issue miniseries, comes not from Fantagraphics, but from Dark Horse Comics. Michael Gilman was lucky enough to speak with Gilbert about Girl Crazy, Dark Horse, Love & Rockets, and other somewhat controversial projects he has planned in his post-Love & Rockets days.
Michael Gilman: What's Girl Crazy all about?
Gilbert Hernandez: Well, without spoiling it, it's about three girls, Kitten, Maribel, and Gaby -- lifelong friends with very different occupations -- who get together to help a fourth girl, another lifelong friend, get out of prison. There are a few plot twists in Girl Crazy and I can't really say too much more without giving away the story.
Gilman: Then tell me about the girls.
Hernandez: One of the girls works as a collector for the I.R.S., but she does her collecting in bizarre and interesting ways -- like wearing a giant gorilla suit and threatening people. Another girl is a jungle woman who gets paid for saving people's lives, and the third girl is a lawyer.
Gilman: Quite an interesting mix. You've got three different characters from three different walks of life -- and two are pretty wacky. Why did you choose these three women? Are they based on anyone you know?
Hernandez: No, I just did that for variety. I started out with sketches, and I can't really plan their personalities until I progress on what they look like. They just started out as different body types -- one is slender, one is muscular, and one is... let's say... classically voluptuous.
Gilman: A Vargas-girl type?
Hernandez: Yeah. And they all have these different figures and they all have different personalities. These girls are really close as friends, but they don't really hang out and that's a mystery that's going to be dealt with: why these good friends are never together. Another thing is that all the girls are fifteen years old. What they're getting together for, besides rescuing their friend from prison, is they all have their birthday on the same day -- they're all going to be turning sixteen. That's why they want to get their friend out of prison: a birthday celebration.
Gilman: Does this have anything to do with Love & Rockets at all? Have we seen these characters before?
Hernandez: No, this is a whole new series with all-new characters. It'll look similar to Love & Rockets because of the way I draw women.
Gilman: Speaking of looks, I've seen the dynamite cover for issue #1...
Hernandez: Which was drawn by me and inked by Dave Stevens, who is also supervising the colors on that piece.
Gilman: Wow. What about #2 and #3?
Hernandez: Number 2 is done by my brother Jaime, and I'm not really sure about #3 yet, but it's probably going to be this hot-rod poster artist named Chris Cooper.
Gilman: Better known as The Coop?
Hernandez: That's right.
Gilman: Why did you choose Dark Horse for this project?
Hernandez: Dark Horse always had a good reputation for being a good place to work -- for cartoonists anyway. It's been great so far.
Gilman: Is this a creator-owned project?
Hernandez: Yes, I own it. I'd be a millionaire if I sold it to Dark Horse outright, but, like most cartoonists, I'm content to be a thousand-aire [laughs]. I'd just like to own it, mainly in case there are merchandising or movie deals later, I would like to be completely involved.
Gilman: Any other special treats planned like the cover artists on this first series?
Hernandez: Not planned, but if I do continue Girl Crazy I wouldn't mind bringing other artists and writers into it. I'm definitely having fun with other people doing the covers so I'm not opposed to other writers and artists coming on, whether they have a back-up story or even a whole issue.
Gilman: Do you have anyone in mind?
Hernandez: Not really, although I do want a real high-quality book. I wouldn't want to get just anybody that I can get. It would have to be someone whose work I enjoy and respect.
Gilman: Outside of the fact that men, in general, might be a little girl crazy, is there any special meaning to the title?
Hernandez: No, there's no double meaning. I just like the title. It's kind of like an Elvis movie, y'know. He actually did one called Girl Happy and I checked to see if there was a comic called Girl Crazy from way back in the '40s, but apparently there wasn't. It's just a fun title. As soon as you read the title you know that you're in for a goofy time. There's not any sex and not too much violence in it... there's action but not violence.
Gilman: No blood but a few punches here and there?
Hernandez: Right. But no nudity, doggone it [laughs]. That was a little thing I had to restrain myself from.
Gilman: Any other projects in mind for Dark Horse?
Hernandez: Nothing specific, but I want to keep myself open to do one-shots here and there.
Gilman: Using your Love & Rockets characters?
Hernandez: No. I had such a great time creating the characters for Girl Crazy that I'd like to do it again every so often. I like creating new characters that aren't linked to any continuity -- it kind of frees me to go wild developing them.
Gilman: You mentioned a possible Girl Crazy film deal. Is film something you'd want to get into, or would you be content to let someone else take control of it?
Hernandez: I probably wouldn't be content to let someone else take control that easily. I do think Girl Crazy would make a good little movie. It would be real fun, even on a low budget. I would like to be involved to an extent, basically explaining to everyone what it is, and what kind of movie could be made from it.
Gilman: But you wouldn't want to direct or write the script or anything?
Hernandez: Well, if that was part of it, I would like to at the very least collaborate on those aspects. I'm open to all sorts of things -- I'm not going to hold it close to my chest and not let anyone else touch it.
Gilman: How would you sum up Girl Crazy?
Hernandez: It's a lighthearted, fun, sexy adventure strip... something I haven't done in a long time.
Gilman: Of your other work, what does this most closely resemble story-wise?
Hernandez: The best comparison is early issues of Love & Rockets -- very early issues. It's probably closest to my story called "Bem" in the first issue and my work on Mr. X, a series I did for Vortex. It's more along those lines. It's a science-fiction/fantasy-type story.
Gilman: A romp, if you will.
Hernandez: A romp, yeah.
Gilman: Once Love & Rockets #50 is over, are you going to continue working with Fantagraphics or are you bringing all your new material to another publisher?
Hernandez: I like working with Fantagraphics. I'm probably going to do a six-issue series for them after we finish Love & Rockets, for continuity's sake, because it's going to have some of the characters from Love & Rockets in it. It'll be called New Love Comics.
Gilman: So you're not abandoning your roots?
Hernandez: Oh, no, not at all, although most of it will be something different except for a few stories that pertain to the "Palomar" stuff.
Gilman: Do you have any plans to go back to Love & Rockets either at Fantagraphics or somewhere else like Dark Horse?
Hernandez: No immediate plans of any kind. When #50 comes out that's it. We want to bury it before it gets spoiled.
Gilman: You don't want it to become a parody of itself.
Hernandez: Right. There are so many cartoon strips that were great once and are now just okay. We don't want that to happen to Love & Rockets.
Gilman: But you're staying in comics...
Hernandez: Oh, yeah. No doubt about it.