Love & Rockets - classic or dud

So the short version:

JAIME: "Locas" = most of the Maggie & Hopey stories from L&R 1-50 (a few, particularly the ones that focus on other characters, are omitted). Go to "Whoa, Nellie!" (if you like the wrestling stuff), then "Locas in Love," then "Dicks and Deedees," then "Ghost of Hoppers."

GILBERT: "Palomar" = most of the specifically Palomar-set stories from L&R 1-50 (again, some omissions). While we're waiting for the third volume of the cheap Gilbert paperback reprints to come out, go to the old numbering system's vol. 10 ("Love & Rockets X"), then vol. 12 ("Poison River"), then "Luba in America," "Luba: The Book of Ofelia" and "Luba: Three Daughters."

Thanks so much for the help, Douglas! I know you actually already posted some of this up there, but I was *really* confused. I gotta start pinching those pennies, now.

I really appreciated those wrestling stories if Jaime's, actually... I always wonder why wrestling or sports comics never became a genre here, as they have in Japan. I found Rena Titañon's stories (as well as the other superhero stuff) pretty charming, the way they fit into that universe, even though Mechanics really is a very strange, semi-inappropriate introduction to the entire thing.

sooo when duz the american ed of the next lot of reprints come out? i dunno if i can hang on the additional however long it'll take for titan books to put their names on the spines, this time.

December, probably.

November/December, say Fanta.

That page I was always hoping for, a clear guide to what of the new and old trades to buy finally exists. In particular, "Love and Rockets X" and "Poison River" were reprinted in a third Gilbert volume, Beyond Palomar, and Amor Y Cohetes fills in the blanks.

All I need now is to know if they're going to reprint more of that post v1 stuff into new trades, like the Jaime stuff.

The tentative plan is to do a giant hardcover Locas II and giant hardcover Luba In America before they think about reformatting the later stuff into small books. Since they haven't even started collecting most of Beto's L&R v2 stuff into "old trades" yet, the "new trades" are probably a good many years off.

Amor Y Cohetes is the last book they are putting out in that format? thats fucked up.

hrm. complete vol 2 of l&r is $40 in floppies on the fantagraphics website => you're not going to get a better deal than that for it, however they collect it

I am sticking with the old format books, at least until I have bought all the ones my local shop is selling off cheap.

I like the smaller books, as I reckon that whole Palomar book would be intimidatingly big.

I reckon that you could do what I did and read Human Disastrophism/Blood of Palomar first, and then work backwords. The tragedy of Tonantzin almost works really well that way.

Do the characters from one brother ever appear in the other's stories? I saw Vincente and a woman (Pipo?) knocking around in a Jaime wrestling story, but beyond that they seem to like their own.

Nope, each brother does his own stuff--I think there are a couple of times when they've drawn their characters into the background of the other's as a goof, but that's about it.

I remember that ones in Eightball there was a story where Dan Clowes drew a one or two page strip featuring the characters from Hate ( Eighball-style, both in terms of art and storyline)... I was hoping for something like that from the Hernandez brothers.

but it was not to be.

Because I'm slow at these things, I haven't read the Gilbert stuff yet. If I read the nice new reprints (Heartbreak Soup to Beyond Palomar), will I be missing anything significant out, "Flies on the Ceiling"-style?

And just to baby feed me even more: does Gilbert's run have the same problem as Jaime's? (i.e. takes about three hundred pages to really start cooking).

The nice new reprints of Gilbert's stuff start at the moment he went supernova, so no worries there. (The earlier, messier stuff shows up in "Amor y Cohetes."

I had a dream that I was at a very colorful Palomar-themed amusement park!

I remember that ones in Eightball there was a story where Dan Clowes drew a one or two page strip featuring the characters from Hate ( Eighball-style, both in terms of art and storyline)... I was hoping for something like that from the Hernandez brothers.

But they did do that once! Beto did a Locas story and Jaime did a Palomar story. They were both collected in Hernandez Satyricon (vol. 15 of the original set of trades), and I assumed that they would be re-collected in Amor y Cohetes. Were they not?

Because I'm slow at these things, I haven't read the Gilbert stuff yet. If I read the nice new reprints (Heartbreak Soup to Beyond Palomar), will I be missing anything significant out, "Flies on the Ceiling"-style?

My understanding is that they didn't pull the choke job on the nice new reprints (or the NNRs, as they're referred to by the real fans) that they did on the huge old hardcovers (the HOHs) in omitting a lot of important stuff. I'm a big enough sucker that even I (despite owning all of the original trades) will probably end up buying the NNRs at some point, but I'd advise anyone interested in hopping on the L&R train to give the HOHs a definite pass at this point.

The tentative plan is to do a giant hardcover Locas II and giant hardcover Luba In America before they think about reformatting the later stuff into small books. Since they haven't even started collecting most of Beto's L&R v2 stuff into "old trades" yet, the "new trades" are probably a good many years off.

...darn. Well, considering I've been too lazy to buy any of these trades yet, we'll see... I'll at least pick up the last Gilbert and the odds n' edds books of the new reprints. I suppose I'll have to get Whoa, Nellie! and so on if I can find them (Locas In Love seems to be out of print already).

How do you know this, btw? Is there an official Hernandez Bros. site? Or did I just miss more buried news in Fantagraphic's site?

But they did do that once! Beto did a Locas story and Jaime did a Palomar story. They were both collected in Hernandez Satyricon (vol. 15 of the original set of trades), and I assumed that they would be re-collected in Amor y Cohetes.

eccelente, my local comic shop is selling off Hernandez Satyricon for a tenner.

How do you know this, btw?

Kim's said on the TCJ message board.

At this point, I've probably spent over three hundred dollars on bros. Hernandez work and it's in about four different formats. I think I've got just about everything, it's about cobbling it together.

I actually did read both Sloth and Chance in Hell recently, both of which I liked. They're both pretty dark and veer towards the more dreamy/metaphysical side of Gilbert's work.

The new three-part fantagraphics books of each artist (Locas/Palomar books cut in thirds & softcover) are like $9-10 each on Amazon right now.

So that's, what, $50 for the entirety of v.1? Next to the $2-300 I paid for the original trades? Blerg.

Fanta's deal of the lot of seven for $85 seemed ludicrously cheap already!

MegaLuba hardcover, I'm guessing, coming next February: http://www.amazon.com/Luba-Love-Rockets-Gilbert-Hernandez/dp/1560979607/

(BTW Deric 7 x $10 is $70)

Yes. My maths are good, but my counting not so much (I was thinking that there were only five of the newfangled reprint volumes).

P.S. Was just at the shop and confirmed that Amor y Cohetes does, indeed, contain Jaime's Palomar story and Beto's Locas story.

Woops, forgot to buy Hernandez Satyricon, bought #3 instead.

wait, amor y cohetes is actually out already?

haha i only just worked out what cohetes means

Oh man, you guys, I just read The Education of Hopey Glass in one sitting--seriously, there aren't many pleasures in life greater than reading a whole chunk of Jaime Hernandez's comics at once...

(This is the one that collects Jaime's stories from the last few years' worth of L&R: the serial about the week where Hopey gets her new glasses and starts her new job, and the cluster of stories about Ray, the Frogmouth, and the dude who gets shot.)

Oh man, you guys, I just read The Education of Hopey Glass in one sitting--seriously, there aren't many pleasures in life greater than reading a whole chunk of Jaime Hernandez's comics at once...

It's a shame "a whole chunk" takes about five years...God, I can't wait til July or whenever the GN effect takes hold.

So, having just read Locas in three days, I'm in the process of queueing up the rest of the Jaime bibliography at the library. Is there anything between Ghost of Hoppers and Education of Hopey Glass?

no, there's only the three of those skinny hardcovers

as probably enumerated upthread, there's lots of Jaime that's not in Locas though

Yes, arango. There are two collections between Locas and Ghosts of Hoppers. Immediately following Locas is the only-tangentially-related Whoa, Nellie!, which features the wrestling-related L&R characters and features them wrestling. You can probably quite safely skip that one if you're only interested in the bigger story, but it's fun. And then there's Dicks and Deedees, which is apparently out of print at the moment, but which is an actual, for-real Locas story.

For other, non-Locas Jaime goodness, consult the recently-released Amor y Cohetes collection.

Also can I just say that every time this thread pops up, it's like a knife in the gut that reminds me that most of my comics are in storage 200 miles away from here? Can I just say that? Thanks.

I feel bad continuing to push this thread upward knowing it hurts Deric so, but thanks for the guidance. The library doesn't have Whoa, Nellie! but it sounds excellent so will have to actually purchase it. The library's a little slow, so may be a while before Amor y Cohetes comes in. (And, to clarify, I've got Locas in Love and Dicks and Deedees arriving already, so will read those before Ghosts of Hoppers).

there are also various Locasverse stories not collected in Locas, like Flies On The Ceiling, which is Izzy's Secret Origin

Oh, yeah! I forgot about Locas In Love! I knew one was slipping my mind. That falls between Whoa, Nellie! and Dicks and Deedees.

And yes to energy flash gordon: the two big L&R hardcovers are disappointingly incomplete. I mean seriously!: Flies On The Ceiling and Poison River are two of the best L&R stories, and their omission makes the hardcovers a must to avoid, as far as I'm concerned.

Perhaps for completion, but as a newbie to the series I found them incredibly addictive and really wonderful. Especially for Locas, as that definitely takes a little while to really build up steam (as much as I like Mechanics and everything with Rita Titañon). Palomar is maybe a little better from the beginning, but for both hardcovers you really get this amazing scope, and see how the comics and artists themselves got better and better over time. I'm not sure the first paperback volumes in either series can adequately sell how great it gets later.

(i still have to get around to buying those new paperbacks with the missing material...)

I started reading Hernandez Satyricon yesterday... there is a great Jaime story which is just three pages of two boxers punching the shite out of each other... no craft, no "gah, I can take this!" interior monologue, just all fists and blood. My kind of comic.

That said, the stories about the girl who gets lost in space with her robot are probably the best things Jaime has ever done.

Vicar, if you liked the boxers story, I'd highly highly highly recommend checking out Beto's Fear of Comics collection if you haven't already. It's pure, unfettered id in places, and completely different from most of his Palomar stuff, but it's one of my favorite Hernandez artifacts.

might well do that.

eerrrrrm, what do people think of Birdland?

I remember the first one, maybe two, from when they came out and... erm... yes. I'll leave it to other people who can put it in better context.