A three-act story following the life of a young girl adopted out of a hellish slum by a decent man. She eventually marries a kind, well-to-do man, but finds that she can't escape the darkness and violence she left behind.
Gilbert Hernandez's first original graphic novel from Fantagraphics follows on the heels of his acclaimed graphic novel, Sloth, from DC's Vertigo Comics in 2006. Chance in Hell tells the story about a little orphan girl who lives in the slum of slums. Nobody knows who she is or where she's from, but her fellow shantytown inhabitants collectively look over her. The three-act story follows our heroine as she is adopted by a decent man who raises her well, and she eventually marries a kind, well-to-do man, only to discover that she can't relate to the good life and the comforts it provides. This is the first in a series of standalone stories depicting the fictional filmography of Gilbert's Love and Rockets character, the B-movie actress Fritz. Hernandez wowed critics in 2003 with his epic work, Palomar, collecting more than 20 years of groundbreaking comics called "the most substantive single work that the comics medium has yet produced," by Booklist. Chance in Hell further establishes Hernandez as one of the great cartoonists of our age.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The rich emotions and passionate characters of Hernandez (Love & Rockets; Luba) are translated to a welcome new graphic novel, which fills B-movie situations with real drama. The story tracks the harsh world of the Empress, an otherwise nameless orphan who survives a hellish existence in an impoverished environment filled with machine gun–toting survivalists, roving gangs of delinquent murderers, and vile child molesters. She is taken in by a poet who resides in an urban hellhole of a different stripe, a place rife with vice and the exploitation of human misery. The adolescent Empress becomes influenced by the intellectual challenges posed by her poet mentor and the earthier realities evidenced by a teen pimp and his Hearts of Gold, a trio of multiethnic whores. While briefly in control of the pimp's stable, the Empress commits an appalling murder and flees to the more normal confines of a Catholic home for girls, growing up to meet a lawyer who will become her husband. A brief description only scratches the surface of the story; as always, Hernandez takes his readers on a harrowing journey that examines the damage done in childhood and how it affects the individual as she moves on through life. It's heavy stuff, but highly recommended. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Hernandez, who's been producing Love and Rockets with brother Jaime for more than 25 years, has recently turned his energies to creating original, self-contained graphic novels. The second of these, after Sloth (2006), traces the sordid life of Empress, a young orphan growing up in a horrific shantytown surrounding a garbage pit, alternately abused and protected by the male denizens. Adopted by a visitor from the nearby city who had grown up in the slum, Empress continues to associate with society's castoffs, particularly a young pimp and his prostitutes. Even after marriage to a justice-seeking lawyer, she is unable to shake off the pit. Hernandez's art shines brightest in his nightmarish depiction of the postapocalyptic pit, though his artistic strengths—bold composition, masterful character design, and expressive cartooning—are in play throughout. Chance in Hell doesn't have the scope or resonance of his epical Palomar stories, and the greater artificiality of its setting makes it possibly less convincing than the similarly elliptically told Sloth. Nevertheless, there's something very gripping about this strange, compelling little book. Flagg, Gordon
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Very uneven,
By
This review is from: Chance In Hell (Hardcover)
Gilbert Hernandez has an established pedigree as one of the finest artists working in comics today. His years of work with his brother Jaime on Love and Rockets, literally spanning three decades, have led him to great critical acclaim for his talents in storytelling, including receiving multiple Harvey awards.
Thus it came as a bit of a surprise to me how poorly I regarded his new book Chance in Hell. While some aspects of the story were quite engaging and the art itself was at times beautiful, I found the book as a whole to be lacking in some indefinable quality that tied it all together into a package that I could recommend. Perhaps it's my fault, in a way, for thinking the book would appeal to me in the first place. Hernandez's previous graphic novel from DC's Vertigo imprint, Sloth, had failed to grab me as a reader despite the fact that I could recognize his artistic skill in making it. Yet I still approached this book hopefully, with an open mind, only to end up disappointed a second time, in no small part due to some characteristics of that book that I find as faults in this one as well. With Sloth, many of the surreal quirks of the plot and its fragmented narrative at least fit with the underlying concept of the book. In Chance in Hell, these elements only serve to make the book feel disjointed. The book is really more a series of vignettes rather than a graphic novel, each one centering on a girl named Empress at various times in her life. We first see her as a child, living abandoned in a barren landscape that seems to serve as society's human garbage heap, and from there the book leaps forward in her life to follow her as a teenager and as a young adult. But each section of the narrative is drastically different from the last in terms of setting and subject matter. The surreal wasteland (and it is surrealism at work here, not magic realism as the book's dust jacket claims; there is no magic to be found there, only desolation) of the first section gives way to urban sprawl in the second and suburban comfort in the third. With each change in locale, there is a drastic tonal shift in Empress' attitude, so much so that it feels like each time we are meeting a different person. Thematically and symbolically, each section touches upon the same subjects. We frequently see fences being built in the story, ostensibly to protect the characters from some harm. And sure enough, whenever these fences are breached, danger does seem to rear its ugly head. The sheer hopelessness of each part of the story leaves you feeling there is no "chance in hell" of anyone surviving this life, not Empress and not us. None of the vignettes then seems to stand on its own very well because they all depend on each other to fully explore the theme. But the book never really comes together as a whole either, since each vignette's role in the overall narrative is unclear and the character arc Empress passes through is spotty at best and without a clear resolution. At the very least, you cannot fault the book's art, for in that regard Hernandez is very clearly a genius. His composition in many scenes is quite eloquent, managing to be both moving and nerve-wracking at the same time. The scenes of Empress' departure from the bleak environment of her childhood, her violent final confrontation as a teen with the man who rescued her, and a tragedy she witnesses as an adult are all very tense scenes as executed by Hernandez. Each scenario haunts Empress in a way, and Hernandez ensures that they all haunt the reader as well. In the end, these symbolic and thematic elements are well-executed and the incredible technical gift of Hernandez in drawing these scenes is obvious. Unfortunately, these qualities are packaged in a plot that never really gels featuring characters that are portrayed as mere sketches and are thus never given opportunity to show real dimension. Perhaps in the end it does boil down to a matter of taste, since as I stated above, I can find no fault with the art itself. If you know yourself to be a fan of the style of work Hernandez has done in the past, Chance in Hell will doubtlessly appeal to your tastes. But if you are like me and have never quite grasped the allure of this approach to storytelling, the best you can hope to feel after reading this book is cold indifference towards its characters and the world they live in.
5.0 out of 5 stars
this is a brilliantly published graphic novel,
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This review is from: Chance In Hell (Hardcover)
"Chance In Hell," by Gilbert Hernandez (128 pgs., 2007). This is a brilliantly published graphic novel on thick paper with full color artwork within cloth covers. The cover artwork is quite eye-catching & evokes the spirit of the story within the covers. Even the endpapers are exquisitely illustrated. Hernandez has been in the comics business since 1981. His graphic novel, "Palomer," was published in 1995 & is a compilation of 13 years of "Palomer" comic stories.
"CIH" is an original stand-alone graphic novel by Hernandez. The artwork is straightforward. Sometimes, it's almost seemingly childish. Yet, panels without words can be understood because of body language. This story is bleak. It concerns the underbody of life. It concerns the people who have been cast aside & conveniently forgotten by those better off in society. Children are incested or molested by strangers & left to fend for themselves. Very young children are raped both by adults & the other homeless boys they live among. Yet, others boys among them become protectors of the younger children. People die. Sometimes the innocent are killed by mistake. In this book, a young girl nicknamed Empress is a three or four year old homeless girl who gets raped repeatedly & then finds protection only to grow up & see both of her protectors murdered. She marries a seemingly respectable man who rescues her from her miserable life & everything is fine; or is it as it seems. Prostitution & a seemingly uncertain ending & other foibles of life intervene in this story. Admittedly, while the ending was confusing, I still suggest that others read this title.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
chance in hell,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Chance In Hell (Hardcover)
very good delievery. Great!!! Keep the good work.
Thanks a lot. Best Regards. José F.
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