Love & Rockets - classic or dud

three volumes each for Locas and Palomar characters, then one at the end for Mario and Rocky & Fumble* and BEM and Errata Stigmata and all the other oddments. All from v1 #1-50, none of the subsequent series covered.

*(which I totally forgot about in my really-kinda-belligerent post up above)

Anyway I'm not sure what I think of it.

I only got into this last year after reading some of Tom's old books. I found that I preferred Beto's stuff straight away but only this year did I get round to buying the collected paperback Palomar stuff (Heartbreak Soup and Human Diastrophism - a third one is out much later this year featuring Poison River, annoyingly left out of the second volume causing some confusion when readint the final section of that book, and Love And Rockets X tho i don't think i want to wait that long).

So I'm a little obsessed with the Palomar saga at the mo and am disappointed that I can't find any decent analysis or heavy discussion of it online tho I will look harder. I'd love to see a proper timeline of events as much as anything else. A lot of things at the end of Luba Conquers The World/Farewell Palomar/Chelo's Burden (confused by this being final chapter title as it was the title of L&R issue 3 Palomar story also?), particularly why Guadalupe hated Jesus so much.

So I have to read Poison River and then the post-Palomar Luba stuff. Is the Luba's Comics & Stories series good too?

The scene where (kinda spoilerish) Khamo finds Chancla

i didn't get why she looked so sheepish/embarassed as opposed to like completely hysterical/fearful - super creepy tho

i read g hernandez's 'sloth' last night. i'm not sure i have anything to say about it.

Luba's Comics & Stories series good too?

Peculiar - it's kinda Gilbert at his most rarefied and self-indulgent, in my opinion. There are any number of fantastic moments throughout (I've caught up with these via the LUBA trades), though Beto doesn't play anything remotely resembling catch-up with the reader (i.e. Be sure to know your Palomar history).

i didn't get why she looked so sheepish/embarassed as opposed to like completely hysterical/fearful - super creepy tho

That really resonated with me - it didn't follow logically yet felt completely right. I feel it's a massive gamble on Beto's part that payed off enormously.

Peculiar - it's kinda Gilbert at his most rarefied and self-indulgent, in my opinion.

SELF-CORRECTION: See GRIP. But the LUBA books don't fit the "user-friendly" tag, either.

I think looking at this comic now, the context of how different it was to pretty much everything else at the time might be lost. It's popularity really opened the doors for a lot of different things.

The early Mechanics stories were real cool. Later on the Palomar stuff became the best part of the book.

The early Mr. X comics that the Hernandez brothers did were really good. They got ripped off by the publisher and left.

The Palomar reissues have left me slackjawed at how good they are. Yay to Fantagraphix at making this cheaply available again.

They got ripped off by the publisher and left.

They later allowed that they didn't really get ripped off, just treated the way that most cartoonists do when dealing with undercapitalised companies running at the edge of their cashflow - it was just that that had never happened to them before.

That last issue of New Tales from Old Palomar was weird.

Not mind-blowing weird, just kind of odd and not that good?

That last issue of New Tales from Old Palomar was weird.

SEE: That story where Bruno Goya had his eye ripped out by a bird. "A Trick Of The Unconscious", I think.

was that story ever followed up? some sort of goverment experiment?

was that story ever followed up? some sort of goverment experiment?

SEEEEEEEEE: That story where Gato, Pintor, and someone else (I forget) get a glimpse of the future - NEW TALES IN OLD PALOMAR #2, I thiiiiiiiink.

Oh I see, I'll have to try and find that old storyline (collected somewhere in Palomar I assume??).

(collected somewhere in Palomar I assume??).

Yup - 's a grand little tale that's basically a Casamira solo (she also gets hints of her own end).

I bought a friend of mine Heartbreak Soup recently; I figure it's a good way to be remembered for life.

finally got the new woodring

A third sale: 20% off all pre-orders today, which includes the next digest/Library collection (the first in five years!), the next Psychodrama Illustrated, and a Fritz b-movie triple-feature.

Now this I like: https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/love-and-rockets-tote-bag

Fantabucks sale in two weeks: plan accordingly

Enjoyed the Kayfabe interview with Gilbert, it was funny when he said there was a period when he used to read Alter Ego to wash away a reliably depressing issue of Comics Journal.

Sorry this is random, but when I saw this great rendering of the "Luma" character in profile, I thought – "wow, that's pure Jaime":

https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/492/064/429/156/895/original/eef14dfe3115e58c.png

(Idk who specifically penciled it; this page says "Cover Artists: Curt Swan • George Klein • Ira Schnapp)

my copy credits Curt Swan and George Klein; would guess Swan was the penciller

Schnapp is the letterer

A new “scholarly book” is coming: https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/reading-love-and-rockets

Also coming, and enormous: https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/love-and-rockets-the-sketchbooks

time to pick up the above, or the First Fifty, or hundreds of other books for sorta-half-price

^ eight hours left

I did not know (or forgot?) that Jaime drew Shrinking Violet & Phantom Girl for DC's Who's Who in the mid-'80s (as seen at the end of this piece) – very cool!:

https://www.cbr.com/jaime-hernandez-dc-superheroes-1980s/

Meanwhile, though – if that article (which I found while searching for those images) is correct that this Maggie "pin-up" was the actual inspiration for Carrie Kelley, DKR's Robin... that is **VERY** F-N' COOL(!!):

https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/jaime-hernandez-maggie-as-robin.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1.5

I remember that sketch! <3

You can be reminded of it again tomorrow!

pretty sure I have it, I have the two sketchbook volumes?

(There is a LOT more in the new one, and most of it from improved sources, including Jaime’s original sketchbooks)

https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/love-rockets-vol-iv-16
weird ass cover

that *is* a weird ass cover

it was such a pleasure reading through one of the big editions recently, that going back to the smaller-sized collections feels like real stepdown