OK so first off, I had already mentionned this one in a few earlier posts, and even made a detailed review on my other blog site (the one I can't really talk about!) so this here "review" (of sorts) won't bring anything new that hasn't already been talked about before, but I felt I needed to nail the point firmly across to make sure I have correctly, adequately, and extensively manifested my disapointment in the one-shot stand-alone "Garden Of The Flesh" by Gilbert "Beto" Hernandez, released by Fantagraphic Books.
First off, the basics. This is Beto's re-interpretation of some key stories/moments in the Old Testament of the catholic Bible, mainly Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and then Noah. The basic premises of the stories remain tru to the stories as we recall them, but he intermixes sex in the stories. As opposed to many cartoon artists who do graphic depictions of sexual acts in comic books, Beto has made a more "loving" approach to the carnal activities, in the sense that the people engaging in these acts love each other, enjoy each others' company, and aren't taking advantage of each other... except for one seen involving the devil in the garden of Eden, but even then it does come off as forceful or unwanted on the part of Eve's receptive ends...
"Garden of the Flesh" was something I had been waiting for well over two décades, after Beto's first and only forray in explicit sexual représentations in comics in the form of the mid-90s "Birdland" miniseries (and later slapped with a fourth "epilogue" issue and then expanded in the complete graphic novel version). Now I am sure that it is somewhat well documented that "Birdland" has remained my all-time favorite adults-only comic book, and it is what really opened my eyes to the Hernandez Brothers (Los Bros Hernandez) works, past and subsequent. There has been tons of comics before and after "Birdland" which all had their own ups and downs, but Nothing felt as compelling and engaging as "Birdland". I was slightly saddened that Beto had no aspirations of ever revisiting the adults-only form as, with "Birdland", he had "exorcised the demons" that needed to be expelled. He had expressed what he felt was needed and decided to move along forward.
Now "Garden of Flesh", as you can imagine, had some serious expectations attached to it, on my part at least (even though I am always trying to curb and restrain expectations at all costs, for these create disapointments). I thought that after well over 20 years away from the "format", Beto would have enjoyed re-licking his chops and getting back in the nitty and gritty of the adults-only format, but... well I was severly dissapointed. I knew there was no way and nothing could ever match what "Birdland" had accomplished back in the 90s, for I myself was a different person and had different sensibilities to the world at the time. It's been almost a half life since "Birdland" and so I knew that "Garden" simply could not fill the shoes of it's predecessor.
But what I ended up with was... well I can only say that I felt cheated, and that Beto was lazy and took quick shortcuts to do this little book. Since the late 90s or early Y2K or so, Beto's art has taken a less polished, more minimalist turn for the most part, and only rarely were we trated to the lush-ier and more "full" art he had explored in his earlier works such as "Love And Rockets" and the "Palomar" story arcs. It seemed as time progressed, Beto was spending less time on his drawing, possibly due to needing to release more quantity under stricter deadlines, and we got "more" Beto out there which just looked increasingly more like there was a "ghost drawer/artist" trying to imitate the Beto style.
And this is what "Garden" ultimately feels like: rushed, stripped down, and lazy. I feel as though Beto was offered a good amount of money from Fantagraphics to do a dirty sleezy comic book again, and he rushed through the panels as fast as possible in order to get his paycheque. Things feel incredibly two-dimentional artistic wise and even less in terms of characters, and the result is almost forgettable, or not an insult to a customer like myself. In "Birdland", you got a sense of depth and gravity, almost three-dimentional in terms of how he would showcase the acts his characters were engaged in, whereas "Garden" looks like a hastely done storyboard what was colorized but never refined.
And so I was very disapointed. I can see how fans of modern Beto work who "grew up" with his more minimalist work may find this book rather "revelatory", but it pales in comparison with his own earlier style. Plus let us not forget that in 2016-2017, most of the younger people following the comics trend have been exposed to adults-only sites on the internet and so Nothing in "Garden" will seem new or shocking in any way. In fact, some reviewers have mentioned the fact that anyone can get these types of kicks online at any time, so basically "Garden" feels more redundant than anything else. As for me well I tried to get as much data in before I ordered the book but maybe my enthusiasm prevented me from being able to foresee that it wasn't a work of carefully and lovingly crafted art. Being a fan of Beto and for the sheer fact that it is an adults-only offering, I would rate it a 3 stars out of 5, but that is being very generous.
First off, the basics. This is Beto's re-interpretation of some key stories/moments in the Old Testament of the catholic Bible, mainly Adam and Eve, then Cain and Abel, and then Noah. The basic premises of the stories remain tru to the stories as we recall them, but he intermixes sex in the stories. As opposed to many cartoon artists who do graphic depictions of sexual acts in comic books, Beto has made a more "loving" approach to the carnal activities, in the sense that the people engaging in these acts love each other, enjoy each others' company, and aren't taking advantage of each other... except for one seen involving the devil in the garden of Eden, but even then it does come off as forceful or unwanted on the part of Eve's receptive ends...
"Garden of the Flesh" was something I had been waiting for well over two décades, after Beto's first and only forray in explicit sexual représentations in comics in the form of the mid-90s "Birdland" miniseries (and later slapped with a fourth "epilogue" issue and then expanded in the complete graphic novel version). Now I am sure that it is somewhat well documented that "Birdland" has remained my all-time favorite adults-only comic book, and it is what really opened my eyes to the Hernandez Brothers (Los Bros Hernandez) works, past and subsequent. There has been tons of comics before and after "Birdland" which all had their own ups and downs, but Nothing felt as compelling and engaging as "Birdland". I was slightly saddened that Beto had no aspirations of ever revisiting the adults-only form as, with "Birdland", he had "exorcised the demons" that needed to be expelled. He had expressed what he felt was needed and decided to move along forward.
Now "Garden of Flesh", as you can imagine, had some serious expectations attached to it, on my part at least (even though I am always trying to curb and restrain expectations at all costs, for these create disapointments). I thought that after well over 20 years away from the "format", Beto would have enjoyed re-licking his chops and getting back in the nitty and gritty of the adults-only format, but... well I was severly dissapointed. I knew there was no way and nothing could ever match what "Birdland" had accomplished back in the 90s, for I myself was a different person and had different sensibilities to the world at the time. It's been almost a half life since "Birdland" and so I knew that "Garden" simply could not fill the shoes of it's predecessor.
But what I ended up with was... well I can only say that I felt cheated, and that Beto was lazy and took quick shortcuts to do this little book. Since the late 90s or early Y2K or so, Beto's art has taken a less polished, more minimalist turn for the most part, and only rarely were we trated to the lush-ier and more "full" art he had explored in his earlier works such as "Love And Rockets" and the "Palomar" story arcs. It seemed as time progressed, Beto was spending less time on his drawing, possibly due to needing to release more quantity under stricter deadlines, and we got "more" Beto out there which just looked increasingly more like there was a "ghost drawer/artist" trying to imitate the Beto style.
And this is what "Garden" ultimately feels like: rushed, stripped down, and lazy. I feel as though Beto was offered a good amount of money from Fantagraphics to do a dirty sleezy comic book again, and he rushed through the panels as fast as possible in order to get his paycheque. Things feel incredibly two-dimentional artistic wise and even less in terms of characters, and the result is almost forgettable, or not an insult to a customer like myself. In "Birdland", you got a sense of depth and gravity, almost three-dimentional in terms of how he would showcase the acts his characters were engaged in, whereas "Garden" looks like a hastely done storyboard what was colorized but never refined.
And so I was very disapointed. I can see how fans of modern Beto work who "grew up" with his more minimalist work may find this book rather "revelatory", but it pales in comparison with his own earlier style. Plus let us not forget that in 2016-2017, most of the younger people following the comics trend have been exposed to adults-only sites on the internet and so Nothing in "Garden" will seem new or shocking in any way. In fact, some reviewers have mentioned the fact that anyone can get these types of kicks online at any time, so basically "Garden" feels more redundant than anything else. As for me well I tried to get as much data in before I ordered the book but maybe my enthusiasm prevented me from being able to foresee that it wasn't a work of carefully and lovingly crafted art. Being a fan of Beto and for the sheer fact that it is an adults-only offering, I would rate it a 3 stars out of 5, but that is being very generous.
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