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So I finally got the chance to meet Keith Knight at CXC this year (a story for another time), and I was wearing Jaime’s Tortilla Comix t-shirt. Keith has been friends with Jaime for years (he also told me that Jaime did the artwork for the second season of his Hulu series “Woke”), and he let me know that Jaime had intended to be at the convention too, but was dealing with some serious health problems but that things seemed to be looking up. I mention all this mostly because Jaime uses his introduction on the front inside cover to tell the reader all about it: he had a heart attack. And had two stents put in, but they got infected but he ended up needing open heart surgery. So yeah, there was a bit of a delay in getting the issue out! He does mention in his intro that the year pushed him into finally putting out a story about his dad, as his health problems put some things in perspective and made him want to get some of his more personal stories out before they “are lost to time.” That’s a lot before even getting into the comic, but it seemed like some context was important. Jaime has three stories this time around, and they really run the gamut. First up is a piece on his memories of Saturday morning as a kid in the early 70’s. His mom worked all day on Saturdays, so that meant he had that time almost completely to himself. The cartoons are the one thing that I wish kids today could relate to, but since every cartoon ever made can be watched at any time now, having that chunk of time set out specifically for certain cartoons is a lost concept. Still, it brought up a lot of memories for me, even though mine were mostly from the early 80’s. Next up is the story of the time he owned a new and used record shop in California, meaning that famous musicians would occasionally pop by. One time Carlos Santana and his younger brother came in and were having what seemed to be a personal and private conversation in Spanish, so Jaime politely asked them (in Spanish) if they needed any help in the store to show them that their conversation was not as private as they might think. They left, Carlos came back several times over the next few months, and it ended in a hilarious conversation I’m not even going to try to recap. Finally there’s the story about his dad. This is one of his more personal stories, and it’s a heartbreaker. His dad was drunk and abusive, to the point that his mother left him when Jaime was four years old. They spent a year in San Francisco, he eventually convinced Jaime’s mother to come back to him, and you can probably guess that things don’t have a happy ending. It’s a poignant reminder of the impact family can have even if they’re only around for a short time, and how even the most terrible people can leave you with at least a few positive memories. If you’re already a fan of his this is obviously a necessity, and if you’re new to his work this is as good a place as any to hop on. And if you’re a publisher reading this, for the love of all that’s holy, the man has been making comics for 30+ years. Get in touch with him and put out a complete edition of his comics already! $5
