The L&M Reader's Guide to Love and Rockets

"Maggie vs. Maniakk" and "100 Rooms" via

For those who like "Ti-Girls Adventures Number 34" try:

Jaime's "Maggie vs. Maniakk" in LOVE AND ROCKETS #3 (1983) is a hilarious fantasy in which Maggie finds Ultimax on skid row and becomes his sidekick, G0-G0 Girl. They finally go into battle with Maniakk and Ultimax prevails, sort of. The great part about this story (apart from the insane art!) is it's told by Maggie to a group of her friends, and each has their own reaction to Maggie's tale.

For those who want to read early Jaime, but are put off by sci-fi elements of "Mechanics" try:

One of Jaime's early epics was "100 Rooms" in LOVE AND ROCKETS #4 (1983) about Maggie and Hoppy staying with Penny Century in H.R. Costigan's mansion, ostensibly so Maggie can borrow some money for her dream boots. The main feature is of course Jaime's awesome party sequence, peopled with all sorts of odd creatures and some superheroes. This story is very character driven like later "Locas" stories, with Maggie having an affair with a mysterious man, but declaring her love for Hopey at the end of the story. With Jaime's, still developing, sophisticated storytelling we are left with only the expression on Hopey's face (who's hiding around the corner) to figure out her true feelings for Maggie (expanded version page 30, panel 7).

Love and Rockets Volume Two #16 via

For those who like "The Love Bunglers" try:

In LOVE AND ROCKETS VOLUME TWO Ray, for the first time in many years it seems, encounters Maggie at a bar while in pursuit of Frogmouth. Excerpt from "Life Through Whispers" (LRV2 #11 page 2, panels 5 + 6):

"[...]So then, I'm not two feet from the exit and blam! There
it is. My heart jolted but I still managed to make it outside"

"Damn, was it really her? Was it Maggie? Maggie with different
hair? What the hell was she doing here? Well, I know she knows Doyle, but...does
she know Vivian, too? Fuck, did she notice me? She looked right at me! My God,
what's next?"

Ray then very briefly reunites with Maggie through Frogmouth and Angel in the stories "Near Mint" and "Fine to Very Fine" (LRV2#15 and #16). Ray goes to a comics convention with Frogmouth in the first story and runs into Angel and Maggie, the second story continues as Ray spends the evening with Angel and Maggie at a couple of after-con parties. Ray's night ends on a sad notes as he leaves Maggie and goes back into the party (LRV2#16, page 6 panel 4):

"I went back into the party feelin' pretty fuckin' good.
That is, until I realized I never got any contact info from Maggie. In an
instant, I was back to my pissy, cynical self all over again."

And, that's how Jaime left Ray's short encounter with Maggie in LOVE AND ROCKETS VOLUME TWO.

I hope this helps some of you newer readers pick out a quick starting point, as all of Jaime's LOVE AND ROCKETS, WHOA NELLIE, and PENNY CENTURY stories are now in print in those chubby LOVE AND ROCKETS LIBRARY editions. I'll put out future installments of this guide if time or interest warrants.

Los Bros Hernandez Chistmas Shopping Guide

Tom Spurgeon recently posted his "Black Friday Holiday Shopping Guide '09" on comicsreporter.com. This included many gift ideas for comics enthusiasts, listed under the heading "Eighteen Perennials" was the newest LOVE AND ROCKETS LIBRAY seven-volume set reprinting the entirety of the original series in yet another format.
Inspired by Mr. Spurgeon's mammoth listing, here is a list of links to various Hernandez items on sale or out-of-print but still available around the internet:

All-Ages Comics by Gilbert:
MEASLES 1-8 (Fantagraphics) editor/"Venus"
YEAH 1-9 (DC/Homage) art
some of the above are in stock from mycomicshop.com and milehighcomics.com or your local comics store

Dark Horse:
GIRL CRAZY TPB
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL HC

Fritz Fantagraphics Novels:
CHANCE IN HELL HC
THE TROUBLEMAKERS HC

Ignatz-series by Gilbert:
NEW TALES OF OLD PALOMAR 1 2 3

Love and Rockets Old School Reprint Albums:
Signed Hardcovers on Sale
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 02: CHELO'S BURDEN
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 03: LAS MUJERES PERDIDAS
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 06: DUCK FEET
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 08: BLOOD OF PALOMAR
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 09: FLIES ON THE CEILING
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 12: POISON RIVER
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 13: CHESTER SQUARE
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 14: LUBA CONQUERS THE WORLD
LOVE AND ROCKETS BOOK 15: HERNANDEZ SATYRICON

Hard-to-find Mario Hernandez comics/anthologies:
Of course, if you are looking for something for the hardcore LOVE AND ROCKETS fan, you might want to do some digging around for some of the lesser-known anthology work of Big Brother/Inspiration Mario, or his sole solo book BRAIN CAPERS. RENEGADE ROMANCE had at least two issues, and all three Bros. contributed to that fondly remembered anthology. Some of these were in stock at various sites when I searched:
ALL SHOOK UP (Rip Off Press) lastgasp.com
BRAIN CAPERS (Fantagraphics) lastgasp.com
BUZZARD (Cat-Head Comics) in many issues
DARK HORSE PRESENTS somewhere in 93-104?? mycomicshop.com
HECK (Rip Off Press) ripoffpress.com
REAL GIRL (Fantagraphics) lastgasp.com
RENEGADE ROMANCE (Renegade Press)
THE NEW COMICS ANTHOLOGY (1991) Bob Callahan, editor

this website is not sponsored by any of the above publishers or websites, and does not endorse any retailer or publisher on the internet.

Love and Rockets Curiosities #5

Everyone's come across it at one time or another, searching on the internet for a certain phrase can lead one to something for which they really weren't looking. My Google Alert for "Love and Rockets" came back with a little item about an Australian "nightclub" called Love and Rockets. I put nightclub in quotes because, curiosity killing the cat (or blogger), when I did a search of "love and rockets" and "brisbane" together this is what I came back with (this link is probably NSFW, though I didn't go past the intro page):

http://www.loveandrockets.tv/

The homepage for a Brisbane, Australia gentleman's club, if you will, named after our favorite comic book series, deliberately or by unfortunate coincidence, I don't know.

Reviews of the two locations with addresses and maps can be found here and here. A quote from one of the reviews reads, "with a design drawing from the Enterprise and a luxury 70s lounge..."

If you want to see what the place looks like here's a PG-13 rated slideshow (still NSFW).

There's not anything else I can add beyond pointing out it's existence...

Love and Rockets in the Public Library

Brigid Alverson's column "Good Comics For Kids" links to Chris Mautner's recent "Comics 101" analysis of LOVE AND ROCKETS. Although her column is geared towards school libraries, this got me to wondering if some public or school libraries were placing this series in the Young Adult section. I did some quick research at the public library in the larger neighboring city. It seems about half of their Young Adult section (discreetly placed near the main fiction section, and on the opposite side of the building as the children's section) are dozens and dozens of manga titles with a few American titles mixed in as well (AMERICAN BORN CHINESE, ATOMIC ROBO, ELECTRIC GIRL, RE-GIFTERS, THE PLAIN JANES, Dan Clowes' GHOST WORLD, DEOGRATIAS, LEAP YEARS, and THE LOST COLONY). LOVE AND ROCKETS and other Hernandez Brothers books could be found upstairs in the non-fiction section filed under 741.59. They had a nice selection of THE EDUCATION OF HOPEY GLASS, LUBA: LUBA IN AMERICA, LUBA: BOOK OF OPHELIA, CHANCE IN HELL, SLOTH, and a Spanish-language edition of PALOMAR. Other comic strip, graphic novel, and comics history titles are grouped under 741.5 and 741.5973. I believe those hardcover omnibus volumes Fantagraphics has published in recent years (LOCAS, LOCAS II, PALOMAR, and LUBA) are ideally suited to libraries, as they are durable and dense reading.

So, what's in your public library? Check out all the graphic novels you may have missed because your budget couldn't handle it...

Hernandez Brothers News and New Releases

CITIZEN REX 2 arrived in stores yesterday in a timely fashion. That alone would be great news, but according to the FlogBlog LOVE AND ROCKETS: NEW STORIES 2 is now available from http://www.fantagraphics.com/ just go to the home page and wait for it to come up on the slidshow at the top of the page. It's not often two major projects of theirs are released on the same day, so enjoy!

LOCAS II: MAGGIE HOPEY & RAY (Fantagraphics, 2009) was given a "starred" review in Publishers Weekly "Fiction Book Reviews" online column, which can be found here. [via Flog Blog, also]

The hompage of Fantagraphics also lists a book signing by Jaime Hernandez at Skylight Books in Los Angeles on 9/12/09. For more information check out the store's website: http://www.skylightbooks.com .

Holamun2 Interview: Jaime Hernandez 7/17/08

Hernandez Brothers Links and Beyond

These three sites list CITIZEN REX 2 as being released on August 26th, although that's still not a guarantee you'll see it when you go to the comics store this Wednesday.

Two of the best reviews of Love and Rockets of recent vintage come from Chris Mautner at Robot 6 who answers Leonard Pierce's "Gateway to Geekery" essay (7/23/09) on entry points to LOVE AND ROCKETS with his own introduction to the world of L&R in his new column, Comics 101.

The second is the first review I've seen of LOVE AND ROCKETS: NEW STORIES 2, the yet-to-be-released second volume of the newest L&R iteration, it's quite in-depth and well-written by Rob Clough. Lots of information with frank assessments of the quality of the Los Bros current work, this used to be the kind of review you could only find in THE COMICS JOURNAL. It's nice to see these folks and many others carrying on that tradition on the internet, blogosphere, or wherever else they may be (including TCJ, of course). [these last two are via FlogBlog]

There have been a number of short reviews of CITIZEN REX 1:
Paul O'Brien at: http://ifdestroyed.blogspot.com/2009/08/x-axis-16-august-2009.html
Unknown blogger at: http://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11
Ian at: http://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/2009/08/that-is-not-our-boss.html

A review of the LUBA hardcover can be found at: http://www.wodtas.com/?p=170

My favorite feature of Tom Spurgeon's http://www.comicsreporter.com/ is his interactive "Five for Friday" feature (which often mentions Jaime or Gilbert Hernandez). I'd like to single out a recent segment devoted to comics that should be made into Broadway Musicals, this was suggested by columnist David P. Welsh and discussed on his blog. One of his suggestions was Gilbert Hernandez's "Palomar" stories. What an original idea, I certainly agree (in so much as I wouldn't exactly want to go watch it) there are many qualities in Gilbert's series that would adapt themselves to that unique format.

A thorough and welcome review of LOCAS IN LOVE, the out-of-print volume in the larger-size editions of LOVE AND ROCKETS reprints, recently appeared in livejournal by whereweather. This is the only book of the original series of reprints that I have never seen, so it was a real surprise to find such a detailed examination. Most of these stories can be found in the recently released LOCAS II hardcover. However, I think I'll wait until Fantagraphics decides to put this version back in print, whether in this format or their smaller reprint paperbacks. (hint, hint)

A Guide to Love and Rockets Reader's Guides

Leonard Pierce's 7/23/09 article "Gateway to Geekery: Love and Rockets" on the avclub.com website was a welcome attempt at reaching out to new readers of Love and Rockets and trying to give them a starting point. I completely agree with Jaime's "Death of Speedy" as a good short storyline for casual readers to try out, as this was the exact point I started buying the original magazine-sized series. It's a more traditionally plotted story with the characters, such as Maggie, Danita, Ray, Doyle, Speedy, and Esther explored in more realistic detail than earlier Locas episodes (in my opinion). Flashbacks that fade in and out of the narrative are a staple of Jaime's stories, and they serve this short story arc very well, fleshing out the backstory of Maggie making us care for a character we might not have even encountered before. The ending, where Speedy visits Maggie and it's not clear if he's a spirit or still alive at that moment, is the sort of element that elevated Jaime's work from sci-fi or punk moving it more toward literature.

Another good point of Mr. Pierce is the new reader moving onto Gilbert's "Palomar" stories, also mirroring my own introduction to Gilbert's work, as early on I bought Love and Rockets Volume 2: Chelo's Burden one of the big-size softcover collections they were doing in the late-80s. That reprinted Love and Rockets 3 and 4 with Gilbert's first Palomar story "Heartbreak Soup." This is also a shorter story at only 50 or so pages, although Gilbert manages to introduce nearly all his major characters and tell a compelling love story/tragedy in a more European-style story (in form, if not theme).

The only thing I disagree with is Mr. Pierce's assertion that the various collections and series of Love and Rockets are either confusing or unavailable (OK, maybe the former is hard to argue with). All Love and Rockets collections are available from Amazon.com in either new or used condition at varying prices. How do I know this? Simply search for "love and rockets hernandez" and the sidebar will have a link to "The Complete Guide to Love and Rockets" by Armando Milcevic. This lists all 24 large-size collections of L&R Volumes I and II, two hardcover collections of selections from Volume I, and all seven of the newest softcover reprints which reprint the complete stories from Volume I.

Of course, the logical thing to do when having trouble finding your favorite book is do an internet search for the publisher, in this case: Fantagraphics Books . Knowing that it might be difficult to keep track of all three Love and Rockets series (not to mention all the other related Hernandez Brothers titles), co-publisher Kim Thompson put together the invaluable "How to Read Love and Rockets" this covers all the newer collections, sorts them out, saying what books overlap, lists links for separate tiles in the catalog, allows you to browse either Jaime or Gilbert books, and points out the two (only two) books that are out of print (even though the material is/will be in print in other volumes).

Would someone please tell Mr. Pierce to buy a copy of Amor Y Cohetes the new softcover collection which reprints all our beloved "Rocky and Fumble" stories and "Errata Stigmata" as well (not to mention Mario's stories which are often overlooked)! This certainly isn't a good entry-level book for new readers, more like a bonus for all of us that already are Love and Rockets geeks.