Synopses & Reviews
The all-new annual graphic novel series from GilbertandJaime Hernandez!In 2007, the huge success of Fantagraphics' seven Love and Rockets reprints, beginning with Maggie the Mechanic and ending with Amor y Cohetes, brought renewed attention to this trailblazing series among the book-buying public.
Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 builds on this success by rebooting the ongoing "Love and Rockets" comic (heretofore only sold in specialty stores as a slim periodical) to a fat, all-new annual graphic novel length package that will be available in bookstores.
Jaime launches the new format with a story that's unusual even for him...A full-on, pulse-pounding super-hero yarn. Maggie's longtime friend Penny Century has finally realized her long-time dream of acquiring super-powers, but at a terrible personal cost. Now she rampages through the galaxy, half mad with grief, and a motley group of super-heroes assembles to try to stop herled by Maggie's girlfriend Angel and her mysterious neighbor Alarma, and involving a number of characters long-time Love and Rockets fans will delight in recognizing as the story progresses.
The epic-length 50-page story (only the first half of the saga!) combines Jaime's razor sharp characterization and superlative art with wildly inventive, Kirby-style slam-bang super-hero action. "The Search for Penny Century" does for super-hero comics what Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" did for car-chase movies: it miraculously manages to satisfy the pulp-fiction exigencies of the genre (with a vengeance!) while creating as involving and character-driven a tale as any other work of Jaime's.
Then Gilbert Hernandez explodes with a similarly generous helping of his fantastically creative one-shot short stories: "Tamanny" (rookie cop vs. demonic drug users); "Papa" (a turn-of-the-century story involving a traveling businessman); "The New Adventures of Duke and Sammy" (super-powered Martin and Lewis impostors in outer space); "The Tender Room" (Into the Wild as re-imagined by Beto); "Chiro el Indio" (written by third brother Mario Hernandez); and "Never Say Never" (a kangaroo gets lucky in Las Vegas).
One hundred pages of Jaime, Gilbert and Mario Hernandez at the peak of their powers: All-new Hernandez Bros. work available for the first time to the bookstore trade. This will be one of the major graphic-novel events of the season.
Review
"Love & Rockets has been American fiction's best-kept secret." Rolling Stone
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treasures of our impoverished culture.
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"Hernandez is a national treasure." Douglas Wolk
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Love & Rocketshas been American fiction's best-kept secret.A high point in the comics form, conventional in idiom, but not comparable to any strips before it.Hernandez is a national treasure. -- Douglas Wolk
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If you"ve never heard of Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, you"ve been missing out on two of the hidden treasures of our impoverished culture.Jaime's entry [in Love and Rockets: New Stories #1]... is like a huge riff on what might have happened if superhero comics started their evolutionary path by focusing on more female-centered concerns instead of testosterone-fueled fisticuffs... Gilbert's contributions are hard to describe, mainly because they are so surreal. They really have to be experienced and interpreted on your own. -- John Jakala
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"As painful as it is to wait a year for new Love and Rockets now that the Hernandez brothers have switched to an annual format, it'll be worth the wait if each issue is going to be as good as this one []. Jaime Hernandez created the best superhero story of 2008 for this issue, and it should be required reading for anyone who reads or creates comics." Salon
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"A high point in the comics form, conventional in idiom, but not comparable to any strips before it." The Washington Post
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"There is growing support for the argument that represents the greatest output of any cartoonist not named Charles Schulz." Nude
Synopsis
Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 reboots the ongoing "Love and Rockets" comic to a fat, all-new annual graphic-novel length package that will be available in bookstores. Jaime launches the new format with a superhero yarn: Penny Century has acquired superpowers, but is half-mad with grief and rampaging through the galaxy. A motley group of superheroes assemble to try to stop her. Only the first half of the saga, it combines Jaime's razor-sharp characterization and superlative art with wildly inventive, Kirby-style action. Gilbert Hernandez has these stories: "Tamanny" (rookie cop vs. demonic drug users); "Papa" (a turn-of-the-century story involving a traveling businessman); "The New Adventures of Duke and Sammy" (superpowered Martin and Lewis impostors in outer space); "The Tender Room" (
Into the Wild as re-imagined by Beto); "Chiro el Indio" (written by third brother Mario Hernandez); and "Never Say Never" (a kangaroo gets lucky in Las Vegas).
Synopsis
reboots the ongoing "Love and Rockets" comic to a fat, all-new annual graphic novel-length package.
Synopsis
Jaime launches the new format with a superhero yarn: Penny Century has acquired superpowers, but is half-mad with grief and rampaging through the galaxy. A motley group of superheroes assemble to try to stop her. Only the first half of the saga, it combines Jaime's razor-sharp characterization and superlative art with wildly inventive, Kirby-style action. Gilbert Hernandez has these stories: "Tamanny" (rookie cop vs. demonic drug users); "Papa" (a turn-of-the-century story involving a traveling businessman); "The New Adventures of Duke and Sammy" (superpowered Martin and Lewis impostors in outer space); "The Tender Room" ( as re-imagined by Beto); "Chiro el Indio" (written by third brother Mario Hernandez); and "Never Say Never" (a kangaroo gets lucky in Las Vegas).
About the Author
Gilbert Hernandez lives in Las Vegas, NV, with his wife and daughter. He is co-creator of the long-running, award-winning, and critically acclaimed series Love and Rockets. His books include Chance in Hell, The Troublemakers, Luba, Palomar, Speak of the Devil, Sloth, The High Soft Lisp, Love from the Shadows, Girl Crazy, Yeah!, and many books in the Love and Rockets series.Jaime Hernandez is a lifelong Los Angelean, where he continues to chronicle Maggie's life in the pages of Love and Rockets: New Stories.Mario Hernandez lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife and children.