LOVE
& ROCKETS
Page One
The Complete Love &
Rockets, Volumes 1-4
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Page Two
The Complete Love &
Rockets, Volumes 5-8
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Page Three
The Complete Love &
Rockets, Volumes 9-12
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Page Four
The Complete Love &
Rockets, Volumes 12-15 + Girl Crazy
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Cast Page
The Cast of
Love & Rockets
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| The
Complete LOVE & ROCKETS |
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X
Volume
X |
| by Gilbert Hernandez |
Paperback: 128
Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 1560971010 |
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$12.95
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| The diversity
of the characters in these 15 incredible volumes is astounding. In LOVE
& ROCKETS X, Señor Gilbert Hernandez' characters give voice
to strong opinions that express a noble, active tolerance and appreciation
of the HUMAN condition, as opposed to the Caucasian or Latino or African-American
or gay & lesbian condition. The strong opinions continue in the many
musicological conversational asides. |
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In the end,
the message is this: The set of unspoken rules which govern human relationships
(govern them as the moon governs the tides) are not the same in Los Angeles
as they are in far away Palomar. And this is central to the running-away
experience of the characters Riri and Maricela: Los Angeles ain't Palomar.
Los Angeles is so unlike Palomar that it might as well be on another planet,
populated by a different species.
Later work based around
the LA-Palomar pipeline (specifially the unbelievable LUBA CONQUERS THE
WORLD and the NEW LOVE series) juggles all of these themes, characters,
plots and conflicts, but not nearly so explicitly. |
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| The
Complete LOVE & ROCKETS |
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WIGWAM
BAM
Volume
XI |
| by Jaime Hernandez |
Hardcover
Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 1560971215 |
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| WIGWAM BAM is
often considered to be Jaime Hernandez' most compelling comic book. It
mainly focuses on Hopey and the residents of the Hoppers 13 bario, as Maggie
leaves her girlfriend, Hopey, after a snooty party. From then on Maggie
doesn't turn up again. Instead, WIGWAM BAM gives us the opportunity to
find out more about Hopey: She actually does love Maggie and she has a
heart. |
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| We also get
to delve deeper into Isobel's twisted psyche as she goes and looks for
the two estranged girls. There is never such an emotional involvement with
any comic characters as there is with WIGWAM BAM. Even if you haven't read
the other volumes of the LOVE AND ROCKETS series, WIGWAM BAM is most definately
worth a look. |
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| The
Complete LOVE & ROCKETS |
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POISON
RIVER
Volume
XII |
| by Gilbert Hernandez |
Paperback: 192 pages
Fantagraphics Books
ISBN: 1560971517 |
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$19.95
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From Booklist
Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez's
Love and Rockets is the most critically acclaimed, artistically rewarding
alternative comics magazine of the past decade. The story offered in this
twelfth L&R collection is a "prequel" to the ongoing chronicles of
Palomar, the Latin American village in which most of Gilbert's work is
set. |
| This sprawling,
complex tale of gangsters, revolutionaries, and transsexuals focuses on
the early life of the pivotal character Luba, from her traumatic childhood
through her teenage marriage to a musician turned mobster right up to her
arrival in Palomar. The book presentation of this story adds many new pages
to the magazine version as well as chapter breaks that improve the pacing.
Hernandez's drawing style may strike traditional comics fans as inappropriately
cartoonish for his serious subject matter, but its visual exaggeration
provides an expressiveness that heightens emotional impact. The Hernandezes
may have lost luster since they burst on the alternative comics scene in
the early 1980s, but Gilbert's Palomar series and Jaime's "Locas" tales
together remain the most significant sustained work in the genre.
Gordon Flagg
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