The original Love and Rockets series ran for 50 issues between 1982 and 1996. Created by brothers Gilbert, Jaime, and Mario Hernandez, the three artist/writers self-published the first issue of L&R, which was later reprinted by Fantagraphics. Over the run of the original series, Mario gradually dropped out while Gilbert and Jaime developed their own distinct storytelling style.
Gilbert’s tales, such as Heartbreak Soup, were set in the fictional Latin American village of Palomar, were more literary with a degree of fantasy, while Jaime’s Hoppers 13 stories were set in punk-rock SoCal and followed the lives of a group of mostly Chicano characters, including the beloved Maggie and Hopey. Both brothers created detailed worlds for their stories, and relatable characters that would take on intricate personalities as the series unrolled.
The brothers have been recognized for their efforts with multiple Eisner and Ignatz Awards, most recently for their New Stories series, and their eleven Love and Rockets trade paperback collections continue to be among Fantagraphics’ best sellers, year after year.
“Over the past few years, Gilbert and Jaime had each casually mentioned more than once that it might be fun to try their hand at a regular comic book series again after a decade of creating the new annual every year,” says Fantagraphics Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds in a press release for the new series. “Gilbert joked at one point that he would simply love to be able to draw more covers — with he and Jaime trading covers, he was only creating one new L&R cover every two years! We agreed that something needed to be done about this, and we’re very excited to return L&R to its comic book roots.”
Watch for the new Love and Rockets on your comic vendor’s shelf in September.
Check out the Fantagraphics Books website!
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