Love and Rockets (often abbreviated L&R) is a black and white comic book series by Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, sometimes cited jointly as Los Bros Hernandez. Their brother Mario Hernandez is an occasional contributor. It was one of the first comics in the alternative comics revolution of the 1980s.
The Hernandez brothers self-published the first issue of ‘Love and Rockets’ in 1981, but since 1982 it has been published by Fantagraphics Books. The magazine temporarily ceased publication in 1996 after the release of issue #50, while Gilbert and Jaime went on to do separate series involving many of the same characters. However, in 2001 Los Bros revived the series as ‘Love and Rockets Volume 2’.
‘Love and Rockets’ contains several ongoing serial narratives, the most prominent being Gilbert’s ‘Palomar’ stories and Jaime’s ‘Hoppers 13’ (aka ‘Locas’) stories. It also contains one-offs, shorter stories, surrealist jokes, and more. ‘Palomar’ tells the story of a fictional village in Latin America and its inhabitants. Its vibrant characters and sometimes-fantastic events are sometimes compared to the magical realism literary style of authors such as Gabriel García Márquez. The series is also sometimes referred to as ‘Heartbreak Soup,’ after the first story set in ‘Palomar.’
‘Hoppers 13′ follows the tangled lives of a group of primarily chicano characters, from their teenage years in the early days of the California punk scene to the present day. (Hoppers, or Huerta, is a fictional city based on the Hernandezes’ home town of Oxnard, California.) Two memorable members of Jaime’s cast are Margarita Luisa ‘Maggie’ Chascarrillo and Esperanza ‘Hopey’ Leticia Glass, whose on-again, off-again romance is a focus for many ‘Hoppers 13’ storylines. The series is also often called ‘Locas’ (Spanish for ‘crazy women’) because of the many quirky female characters depicted.
One aspect of the ‘Love and Rockets’ opus is the way Los Bros Hernandez portray the passage of time in a relatively realistic manner despite the traditional constraints of the medium. For example, Maggie’s character, a pro-solar mechanic, debuted as a slight yet curvy young adult living in a world both distinctly chicano and punk with a sci-fi twist. As Jaime developed her character in more detail, she started to gain weight slowly. Over the years, Maggie and the other characters have evolved, growing more layered and complex as their stories develop.
The present Maggie is now the manager of an apartment complex with bleached blonde hair and a penchant for wearing sexy bathing suits on her rubenesque figure. Jaime has also made extensive use of flashbacks, with Maggie and the others presented at different ages from toddlers through teenagers and young adults to thirtysomethings. The first issue of volume two of ‘Love and Rockets’ featured a cover with a range of different Maggie ages/looks.
Many attempts have been made to make L&R into a movie, or series of movies. However, until recently, the movie rights had been held up in litigation for over 15 years.
The Daily Omnivore 
Leave a comment