Well you already know I dig Jaime Hernandez art and Love and Rockets in general so should be no surprise I was getting this.
I love it and it was one of the dozen comic purchases I have been eyeing for the year as I love adding those definitive editions of top-tier comics. You throw me a nice printing in some hardcover and slipcase them I’m usually in. Especially if it’s Love and Rockets.
Love and Rockets: The First Fifty celebrates 40 years of changing the game and continuing to do so.
I’m not here to blog about the greatness of the Los Bros Hernandez though. I consider that understood as Jaime and Beto, and in the early days, Mario contributed to a body of work that remains and continues to be among the best comics ever made. Google it, buy it, and if you were like young me and didn’t get it at first, you’re probably wrong and come back to it later when you are ready. When you do the whole world of Fantagraphics will open to you and I’m jealous of that moment of discovery for you. It’s a foundational scripture when it comes to indie and alternative comics and also remains the platform for some of best current contemporary cartooning in the world. Jaime and Beto somehow get even better.
Enough of the Los Bros though, let’s talk about important stuff. Let’s talk about me.
I’m more here to talk about getting caught at my front gate talking to someone who was walking by when it was getting delivered and I had to walk this 2200 pages, 30 pound box 75 yards down my driveway on a recently sprained ankle.
It would not be a falsehood to say I suffered for my Love and Rockets love. I’ve earned it. Many of you, dare I say all of you, haven’t walked 75 yards in my shoes.
In a previous post, about the great Zoe Thorogood, I talked about a figurative (and also maybe literal) all-time Top 100 shelf. Love and Rockets is in the Top 10.
There are many great episodes of Cartoonist Kayfabe that talk about Love and Rockets and I recommend you give it a listen to see what many people see and get out of these books, starting with the first issue.
